Triona's Tech Tips

The Internet is abuzz with talk of the new Facebook privacy settings. But what does this mean to you, the average Facebook user?

It means you’d better go through your profile and make sure that everything is set the way you want it to be. While Facebook says the new rules increase privacy, you may find more of your settings exposed.

Forget the Transition Tool and go straight to the source. From Facebook, click on Settings in the upper right-hand corner, then Privacy from the pop-up menu. Then go through each section to check your settings. I recommend you set everything to Friends Only unless there are specific things you want to share with the entire Internet, like perhaps your web site if you run a business. You can preview your profile to see how it looks to others. Sophos has some good advice about Facebook security you should take to heart.

This is even more important now that major search engines like Google and Bing are scrambling to include updates from social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. What that means is that anything you put online could end up in a search engine and plastered across the Internet.

If I were you, I would consider social networking sites like cocktail parties. Anybody might overhear what you say, and it could easily end up front-page news tomorrow.

And while you’re at it, for heaven’s sake use different, secure passwords for each of your online profiles. If you don’t, you’re practically begging for someone to compromise your account. Through December 31st, new subscribers to my Tech Tips email list will receive my tip sheet on Creating Strong Passwords. Click here to sign up.