The Confident Copywriter

In an earlier post, I promised to provide you with the manual steps for protecting your privacy on Facebook. Without further ado, let’s begin.

1. Log in to your FB account
2. In the top right corner, click on Account
3. Click on Application Setting

In the drop down box at the top right of your list of applications, change “Show” to “Authorized.” You can now view all of your current applications.

For each app you wish to remove, click on the X in the right hand column of the list corresponding to that app. A pop-up box will appear. Click “Remove” to delete the app, then click “Okay” to confirm removal.

Being that the issue here is privacy and confidentiality, and given that FB offers little choice, some experts suggest deleting every app- wiping the slate clean, so to speak.

To avoid sharing your personal information, such as location and phone number, we’ll need to adjust the Privacy settings.
Once again, in the top right corner of your profile, click on ‘Account’. Then choose ‘Privacy Settings’.

From your privacy settings page, click each of the individual options, such as Profile Information, Contact Information, etc. and follow the on page directions to go through and choose the settings you want. In almost every case, you have the option to select ‘Only Me’ to ensure no one but you can see certain private information. You can select ‘Specific Friends’ by inputting their email addresses. You can select ‘Friends Only’ or ‘Everyone’.

From Privacy Settings, select “Applications and Websites.”

On the next page, go through each option and choose the settings you want. Most importantly, choose “Edit Setting” next to “Instant Personalization Program”.

You will arrive at the Instant Personalization Pilot Program page, the page causing all the hubbub. “Allow select partners to instantly personalize their features…” will already be checked. Facebook has kindly done this for you, so your information can be shared with sister websites Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft docs. If you wish to disable this feature, and we assume you do since you’re reading this, simply uncheck the box. Confirm your opt-out choice in a new window by clicking on ‘Confirm.’

ONE FINAL STEP…

You must also opt-out manually on Microsoft Docs, Pandora, and Yelp. Visit the following pages separately and select “Block Application.” A new window will ask you to confirm as before. Select OK.

Microsoft Docs: http://www.facebook.com/docs

Pandora: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=139475280761

Yelp: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=97534753161

VOILA! Control over your privacy! Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?

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