Recent news about Facebook and your personal information has many of us suddenly doubtful about using our accounts. Our friends at AARP have done great research and have valuable tips for us.
It seemed harmless at the time, but what has become clear over the past week is that even the tiniest Facebook click can unleash your personal data and information in ways you likely never considered. The revelation that the Cambridge Analytica data analytics firm obtained access to the personal information of more than 50 million Facebook users by manipulating a quiz app called “thisisyourdigitallife” has caused a reckoning among Facebookers, and brought a round of face-saving interviews by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Luckily, short of simply deleting your Facebook account, there are ways to better safeguard your personal information. Taking these steps will make it harder for companies to mine data from your Facebook account.
Those quizzes and other apps on Facebook usually require you to grant access in order to use them — and it’s easy to remember to “ungrant” that access once you’re finished. "Access" means those apps remain linked to your account, with access to your personal information. Facebook comes right out and states this, though the reminder is placed deep within your apps settings page:
"On Facebook, your name, profile picture, cover photo, gender, networks, username, and user id are always publicly available to both people and apps. Apps also have access to your friends list and any information you choose to make public."
The good news is it’s fairly easy to unlink those apps, if you know how:
You can dictate who will see what you post to Facebook. By default, your profile is set to “Public,” meaning anyone on the social network can see your information and posts. Here’s how to limit the audience that can see what you post:
Facebook does offer a handy link that allows a quick adjustment to your account settings.
If you don’t want Facebook to serve up custom ads based on your personal information and site use, you can opt out of that program as well.
This privacy tweak isn’t restricted to Facebook, but the site is one of many that uses the GPS location tracking in your smartphone or mobile device to gain insight into your personality and habits. You can restrict this access by changing your settings on your device.
iOS users (iPhones and iPads): Open your Phone Settings, click to “Privacy” and then to “Location Services.” You have the option to turn off all location services, and while from a privacy standpoint that’s advisable, if you use your phone’s maps function often that could be problematic. In that case, you can scroll down and disable location services on an app-by-app basis, including Facebook.
Android users: Go to Account Settings, then “Location” and make sure the Facebook access slider is set to “Off.”
One useful tool Facebook offers its users is the “View As” option, which allows you to see your profile page as any Facebook user, either a stranger or one of your friends, would when they look at your page. To see this view:
We found the information in this blog useful and hope that you do, too. When you have an insurance question, we are here and ready to get you the answers you need. Call us.
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