Is your private Facebook page safe from employers or recruiters viewing it? Did you know that there are ways for the public to view your page without you accepting a Friend Request?
It’s probably not as secure as you would think! When a Facebook user posts personal information, photo’s and videos on their profile page they expect that that this information would be kept private. Technically, employers and recruiters aren’t allow to use the private information on your site to monitor your behavior. Facebook’s privacy policy even warns that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable
So how can people get into your site without your permission? One way that I discovered was through my network. No, not my friends, my network. A network is often posted on the profile page as a college or high school that you attend, an employer or even region. When I first joined Facebook a few years ago I was nervous about posting private information online so I set my network to read ‘Boston’ instead of my home town of ‘Topsfield’. Unbeknownst to me, I just opened up my ‘private’ profile to anyone who put their network as Boston . . . 1,200 PEOPLE! Why did my page open to these people? Whoever you have entered in as your network can view portions of your site if they enter the same network, whether or not you have accepted their Friend Request. Also, many of Facebook’s Limited Access settings default to ‘Everyone’. That doesn’t just include your Friends, but your Network as well.
Many of you are new to Facebook and probably have unprotected accounts. I have posted step-by-step directions on my blog at http://blog.myriadmarketing.net on how to set your Limited Access account settings on Facebook.
It’s a good policy to remember that if you post something on the internet that is intended for only a few close friends, it might not be as private as you would like.
I will be posting short bi-monthly Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter tips on how to use these sites. Subscribe now if you would like to be kept up-to-date on the latest in social networking!
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