Keeping Facebook Locked Down

I am a fan of Facebook. This is part nostalgia for the service I joined within hours of it arriving at my alma mater’s campus, and part appreciation for foresight turning it into one of the World’s largest social networks. The strategy was simple; build buzz for a new social network by restricting access, and slowly release those restrictions as the service evolves. In September 2006, Facebook announced two changes that altered the scope of its service.

On September 5, 2006, Facebook introduced two products; the news feed which highlights events within a user’s entire social circle, and the mini-feed which highlights events focusing on any specific user. These two products were created to help users stay current on their friends lives, but have also created a voyeuristic aspect because they automatically post social actions within the service to a users’ profile. These actions include public messages between friends, newly formed social connections, plans to attend events, and the addition of new photos and videos to the service. And on September 26, 2006, Facebook opened its doors to everyone allowing students, parents, grandparents, cousins, and colleagues to connect with each other. This altered Facebook from a niche social network for students to a multifaceted website serving over 120 million global users.

Driving Facebook’s changes was the Company’s long-term monetization plan, using the news feed and mini-feed to push targeted advertising to its users. But broadcasting profile changes and personal actions to unanticipated audiences proved to be problematic. Nearly two months after the launch of news feed and mini-feed, North by Northwestern; an online publication of Northwestern University, wrote an article discussing how the products were changing interpersonal relationships.

One thing I absolutely adore about Facebook is how it has championed subtlety.

It begins nudging your friends two days in advance to wish you a happy birthday. It shows you just how many of your friends are attending that party you weren’t invited to. And when you break up with the love of your college life in the middle of exam week while all your friends are out of town and your beloved dog, Mr. Waggles, just died, Facebook showcases your heartbreak via 37 mini-feed alerts, 26 of which are attached to a broken-heart icon. I believe the other 11 feature Nelson from The Simpsons pointing and laughing.
North by Northwestern - Why you should break up with your Facebook relationship status

The article continues on to cite the Facebook relationship status, and how it muddles the obscure world of collegiate dating. But the concerns outlined in the article transcend to users of all ages. My first lesson when joining the workforce, was the essentiality of protecting my personal brand. In corporate America, the light that your managers, peers and suborniates view you weighs equally in importance with your performance. An errantly posted comment meant to vent frustration with your friends, could generate serious complications in your professional life. A teacher in Charlotte, NC was fired after she commented about the poor economic condition of her school, on what she thought was a private Facebook profile.

A teacher at Thomasboro Elementary School also could face termination after writing on her Facebook page that she was “teaching in the most ghetto school in Charlotte.” The teacher met Monday with Superintendent Peter Gorman, who recommended she be fired.
news-record.com - Charlotte school employee fired over Facebook post

But personal responsibility is only half of the battle. Your friends have the ability to post social actions independent of your own, which may portray you infavorably. One of Facebook’s most popular features is its Photos application, which allows users to upload pictures and connect them to friends who have been photographed. An unsuspecting user may not use the Photos application themself, but a friend may post a candid photo involving alcohol that all those user’s friends see. And as this picture circulates throughout the network, it may be inadvertantly delivered to that user’s boss. A police officer in Washington State was dismissed after images of him dressed in uniform, were intermixed with images of him under the influence of alcohol.

“Everybody’s got their right to privacy, but when there’s an intermixing of images of the state patrol and state patrol cars … with less than professional-type comments, images of drinking or conversations surrounding things that might not be moral, it doesn’t present a good image for the state patrol,” said state patrol Capt. Jeff DeVere.
PoliceOne.com - Two Wash. officers fired over Facebook indiscretions

Examples such as those cited above highlight how important it is for young professionals to be cognizant of their actions and responsibly use Facebook in a post-collegiate environment. To mitigate the risk of Facebook interfering with my professional life, I use the following tools and procedures to limit how the information it shares with my friends.

Friend Lists:
Settings>Privacy Settings>Profile>

Facebook offers its users the ability to assign friends to specific lists, which can be used to limit what information is displayed to your friends. I personally use three lists; a list for family members, a list for friends with whom I am comfortable sharing my social actions with, and a list for my remaining friends with whom I want to minimize my visibility to. The preceding picture shows a sample of my Profile Privacy settings and how I limit what people can see. Low-impact actions are open for everyone including the existence of my profile, basic information and my status updates. While status updates pose the potential to create problems, that can be managed by responsible use. High-impact actions including the display of pictures linked to me that were not taken by me, have been limited to my friends and family.

News Feed and Mini-Feed Actions:
Settings>Privacy Settings>News Feed and Wall

To limit the impact of profile changes, comments made on mine or my friends profiles, and new connections forged on the news feed and mini-feed, I restrict what information Facebook publishes. In my post-collegiate years, the necessity of displaying these actions has waned. Plus, I do not want loose Facebook acquaintences to know if I ended a relationship, commented on pictures of a close-friend’s child or became friends with someone new.

Application Settings:
Settings>Application Settings

Changing the settings for individual Facebook applications combines friend lists and news feed and mini-feed settings, to further tweak how users see your profile. In the preceding picture, I set my preference for how I want Facebook to share newly published notes to my news feed and mini-feed. Because many of my posts on Facebook are imported from this blog, I like having the option to share the action with my friends.

Furthermore, I can limit the number of users that can actively find my posted notes. In the preceding picture, I set my preference to exclude the notes application from my profile and limit viewing of all my notes to my the members of my friends and family.

View Mode:
Settings>Privacy Settings>Profile>See how a friend sees your profile

To ensure that your privacy settings have been properly tweaked, Facebook offers a view mode that allows you to see your profile through another user’s eyes.

In the preceding photo, I show my profile through the eyes of a user who is on my general friend list. The information that this user sees is limited to what I would feel comfortable being broadcast on the general internet.

But above all else, there is no substitute for using prudent judgment when posting to the internet. If you are concerned that what you put on the internet may be misconstrued or used inappropriately, it is best keep it offline.