Steps to Make Facebook Private and Protect Your Info

By default, Facebook tends to make everything you put on its network public. Facebook critics see this as an invasion of people's right to privacy. However, it is easy to make changes that protect your privacy.

Nusha Ashjaee @Lifewire

Change the Sharing Default Using Privacy Settings and Tools

Make sure your default sharing option on Facebook is set to Friends and not Public so only your friends can see your posts.

To get to the Facebook Privacy Settings and Tools screen:

Select the arrow in the top-right corner of any Facebook screen.
Select Settings in the drop-down menu and then select Privacy in the left panel.
The first item listed is Who can see your future posts? Select Edit and choose Friends from the drop-down menu.
Select Close to save the change.
You can also change the audience for previous posts on this screen. Look for an area labeled Limit the audience for posts you've shared with friends of friends or Public? Select Limit Past Posts, then select Limit Past Posts again.

This setting changes all your previous posts that were marked Friends of Friends or Public to Friends. You can override the default privacy setting on individual posts whenever you want.

Take Your Facebook Friends List Private

Facebook makes your friends list public by default. That means everyone can see it.

On the Privacy Settings and Tools screen, select Edit next to Who can see your friends list? Select either Friends or Only me to keep your friends list private.

Screenshot of Who can see your friends list? in Facebook Settings

You can also make this change on your profile page:

Select your name at the top right of any Facebook to go to your profile page.
Select the Friends tab under your cover photo.
Select the pencil icon at the top of the Friends screen and select Edit Privacy.
Select an audience next to Who can see your friends list?
Select an audience next to Who can see the people, Pages and lists you follow?
Select Done to save the changes.

Review Your Profile Privacy Settings

Your Facebook profile is public by default, which means it is indexed by Google and other search engines and viewable by anyone.

Privacy experts recommend you review the profile settings for each item in your profile.

Select your name at the top of any Facebook screen to go to your profile.
Select Edit Details in the left pane of your profile page. The Customize Your Intro box opens.
Clear the checkboxes next to the information you want to remain private. This includes boxes next to education, your current city, your hometown, and other personal information you've added to Facebook.
Review the sections under your personal information and edit the privacy sections of each one by clicking on the pencil in the section. Sections may include Music, Sports, Check-Ins, Likes and other topics.

To see what the public sees when they visit your profile, select the More icon (three dots) in the bottom right corner of your cover photo and select View All.

If you prefer for your entire profile to be completely invisible to search engines:

Select the arrow in the top-right corner of any Facebook screen.
Select Settings in the drop-down menu and, then select Privacy in the left panel.
Next to Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile? select Edit and clear the checkbox that allows search engines to see you on Facebook.

Use Facebook's Inline Audience Selector

Facebook provides audience selectors that allow users to set different sharing options for each piece of content they post to the social network.

When you open a status screen to make a post, you'll see the privacy setting you chose to serve as the default at the bottom of the screen. Occasionally, you might want to change this.

Screenshot of Who should see this? on Facebook post

Select the button with the privacy setting in the status box and select an audience for this one specific post. Options include the usual Public, Friends, and Only Me, along with Friends except, Specific friends, Custom, and an option to select a Chat List.

With the new audience selected, write your post and select Post to send it to the selected audience.

Change Privacy Settings on Photo Albums

If you've uploaded photos to Facebook, you can change the photo privacy settings by album or by individual photo.

To edit the privacy setting for an album of photos:

Go to your profile and select Photos.
Select Albums.
Select the album you want to change the privacy setting for.
Choose Edit.
Use the audience selector to set the privacy setting for the album.

Some albums have audience selectors on each photo, which allows you to select a specific audience for each photo.