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Safe Keeping

A 'Facebook friend' recently sent out the dates of her vacation. On the surface, your Facebook family is just a group of friends, right?   With the scrolling side panel in Facebook, I have viewed many items from people I don't know, including more information than should be broadcast.  So here are some tips to help you become 'Facebook smart'.

Check how your profile looks publicly.
  1. Don't post private information such as times your home may be unoccupied such as vacation or when you are home alone. If you want to tell family members or close friends, do so privately so it isn't broadcasted over the social network.
  2. Do not share your phone number, address or any other personal information on your Facebook wall. You can give your family and friends this information personally. If they don't have it, they can ask privately.
  3.  Review all your privacy settings. You can customize the settings for your profile (Timeline), contact information, tagging, location, photos, chat, your wall, messages, News Feed, groups, events, videos and notes.  You can also limit viewing of past posts by changing your privacy settings (Manage Past Post Visibility).
  4. Make sure your profile isn't public. You can change your settings under your profile AND view what it looks like to the public by clicking the "view as" button on your profile.
  5. Learn to manage your friends list, being sure you are comfortable with sharing your updates with some people and not with people you have met once or twice. 
 Taking these things into consideration and you can protect yourself, your property and your identity.

Be wise, be smart and be cautious.  Be safe. ☺

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