Facebook Privacy: Are You In Control?

There has been much talk about how much (or how little) emphasis facebook puts on privacy. Personally, I have always ensured that I checked my privacy settings on facebook every now and then, but I took it for granted that not everyone understands how the facebook privacy settings works and facebook haven't really done much to rectify the problem either.

All the rage at the moment is how much control we have over our privacy and the obvious 'Big Brother' society. So, it is curious to know exactly how much control we have over privacy on such a simple platform as facebook.

Last night, I was undertaking one of my privacy checks on facebook ensuring there were no (visibly) added changes to the system as often occurs and sure enough there were changes. It was seem that facebook has heard and acted on calls for more understandable privacy settings and have provided a "simpler" format (pre-formatted) of options users can choose from.

The features on facebook now, that allow your friends to see your comments on the pictures and status' of another friend's profile (who they are not friends with), is in itself a testament to how much control we have over privacy. Let's just take a look at the facebook privacy settings page.

There are FIVE privacy options to choose from on facebook, FOUR of those are pre-formatted and the other is for personal customisation for those of us who really want to control what activities are and are not seen.

I was more curious when I looked at facebook's "recommended" privacy settings:

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I don't know, maybe it is me, but what exactly is 'private' about those settings?

According to facebook, it is recommended that you let the whole world see your status updates, photos, posts, bio, favourite quotations, family and relationships.

Apparently, only 'friends of friends' should be allowed to see photos you are tagged in, your birthday and religious views. The only thing that is truly "private" about facebook's recommended settings are permissions regarding the ability to post on your status.

SO, how do you feel about facebook's sentiments towards your privacy now?

The most 'secure' option of all pre-formatted privacy settings is the 'friends only' setting:

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While everything IS restricted to friends only what facebook doesn't tell you is that you can still appear in other peoples' news feeds based on what your friends post, for instance, if a friend of yours writes on your status, it can be seen by their friends in the the news feeds. Not so private, huh? You can control this though, let me show you how.

Facebook knows majority of users are lazy and cannot be bothered to take a few minutes to modify their own privacy settings, the same way Iceland knows a lot of people cannot be bothered to cook, so they provide a quicker alternative that suits their agenda but may not necessarily be healthy for you, but just to make you feel like you have a bit of control, they provide a variety of options. This is what facebook has done. The answer to the problem is to take control and you can do that by modifying your privacy settings to suit YOU.

The custom setting is where the real privacy control is at and it has options you will not be aware of if you choose a pre-formatted, buffet option.

This is what my privacy settings look like:

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My settings are a mixture of friends only and stricter measures about who can see what, oh did you know there is an "only me" setting that ensures only YOU can see certain things, for example, you had a night on the town, got drunk out of your head, a friend took a picture of you in an embarrassing pose and tags you in it. OH THE SHAME! But before you drop your head and wallow in self pity, the 'only me' setting ensures if applied, that only you can see any tagged photos of yourself, and your friends cannot. Again the only issue is those on the photographer's facebook will be able to see, but at least your mum/dad/boss won't see (maybe).

So when I am approaching my privacy on facebook I approach as if I am Steve Jobs, jealously protective of what I put out there. How you moderate your privacy settings is really down to what you feel should be private and what you feel should be public.

YOUR PRIVACY SETTINGS COULD GO FROM THIS....

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TO THIS...

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It is all down to how much control you want to have and forcing yourself to sit down for a good 10-15mins going through how each decision you make affects you for the better or worse. It is vitally important that people understand how crucial privacy awareness is, if you don't you could find yourself on this:

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youropenbook.org is a website that lets you search status updates based on keywords, I searched for 'my boss' and this gentleman's flattering status came up, in real-time written 2 minutes before I searched. It is not an issue of what you write, it is an issue of who can SEE what you write and redefining what 'privacy' means and what it extends to. The internet has taken privacy far beyond address, telephone numbers and bank details, and the fact that it has done this unchecked means that the power is with those who would abuse our privacy.

Google Chied Eric Schmidt stated, "I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time."  - I would imagine he made that statement with a smirk on his face given he is such a firm believer in targeted advertising, which is all about learning the habits of the consumer and providing products accordingly, but that is for another day.

What society needs to do now, for the benefit of the future is discuss what "Privacy" means now. If companies are profiling consumers based on their habits, thoughts and actions online does that not change the ball game?

While, this post focuses on facebook, it should serve as a starting point of thinking about privacy as a whole, where do we draw the line?

What do YOU consider to be private to you online and offline?

I predict 2011 to bring social media to the fore, for various reasons and I expect privacy to be right up there in the discussions.