Every once in awhile, it’s smart to take a look at your personal Facebook profile page to make sure the privacy settings are set to your comfort level. They change things up around Facebook regularly, so sometimes you may think you’re on lockdown when really, there are openings into your profile you may not want public. Here are some tips to help adjust your settings.

STEP ONE: Click on your own profile, then on the right side of the page where you see “…”, click that, and the drop-down box will appear as below. Click “View As”. You can choose to see your profile as the general public, as a friend, or as someone on any lists (like “Limited” or “Restricted” profiles) you’ve created. My biggest concern is how my profile appears to the public. I like to show the bare minimum — only my current profile pic and header image. Nothing else.

STEP TWO: In the “Privacy” section (see left), look to see that your settings are as tight as you’d like. The “Limit Past Posts” is a quick and easy way to lockdown all your past years of status updates quickly. I also limit who can search for me by email and phone number.

STEP THREE: In the “Timeline and Tagging” section, you get to choose who can post to your timeline, who can see posts on your timeline, and manage posts off your timeline that people tag you in. This is VERY helpful for when you really don’t want to be tagged in photos other people take. Like me. Ha

Now go back to your “View as” option to see how it looks.

You can always edit individual photo albums or posts, too. You can choose to allow some people to view them but not others. Utilizing lists is a really great way to share different content with different friends. Like sharing photos with really close family and friends and just sharing other items with the rest of your friends. There’s also a “Blocking” section which I find particularly handy for removing unwanted people from my Facebook experience. I no longer have to see posts from that one person I dislike, and my ex boyfriends can’t view my profile or see my posts anywhere. Handy!

It’s really customizable and although absolutely nothing on the internet is really private, understanding these small tweaks can at least help a little.

Hope this helps!