Facebook: Everyone can read your wall now...

<p>If you have a Facebook page, you should check your security settings. They recently changed things so that the default is that everyone can read everything (just peeked at my D’s wall for the first time before sending her a message saying to change your settings.) It also defaults to “public records” so that if you don’t uncheck that box, all your facebook info will come up on Google.</p>

<p>I have found since last week, that that message prompted many people to MAKE their account more private - I have yet to see anyone’s who is open to all who look since they made the new suggested changes. </p>

<p>I will check the “public records” thing…</p>

<p>When I went into mine, the “default” (what was checked) was “everyone” to everthing. My D obviously hasn’t done anything yet and I can read everything on her page and I’m not her “friend”…I couldn’t see anything but her picture before.</p>

<p>This message came up on the “search engines” info:</p>

<p>Worried about search engines? Your information is safe.
There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and see a link to your Facebook profile. They will still only see a basic set of information.</p>

<p>That’s weird - I remember when I looked at mine last week that everything was set to “friends only” as I thought I had it set.</p>

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<p>This is the message that Facebook has been posting when you follow the prompts that have been posted seemingly everywhere warning you about all of your information being on Google. You can see a preview of what will be shown if someone does a search. It’s very limited.</p>

<p>I saw that, too. I still unchecked the “allow” box.</p>

<p>What I noticed was that a lot of defaults had been changed from “friends” to “friends of friends.” This can be a huge number of people. It’s important to check your privacy settings, and to get your kids to do so as well. In the meantime, it’s a good time to check up on the doings of your kids’ sketchier friends.</p>

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<p>Oh, I was so tempted…there’s a kid at the HS who is sort of known for making inappropriate comments on other kids’ walls…but I know and like his parents and really don’t want to know bad things about him.</p>

<p>My old settings where more private. So where my sons.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the smile, hunt! :)</p>

<p>Will someone please share where this “allow” relating to “public records” thing is?</p>

<p>D1 already changed her settings, but D2’s wall is out in the open. I resisted the temptation to read and sent her a message to change things pronto.</p>

<p>yankee, go to privacy settings, then to search.</p>

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<p>I noticed this, too. I have noticed that a lot of users allow “friends of friends” to view photo albums, which is why since the most recent changes I have lots of people’s photos showing up on my newsfeed that I don’t know at all. I suspect they have no idea so many people are able to view their photos. I made sure my daughter changed hers to “only friends” option.</p>

<p>I AM your kid’s sketchier friend… AND I CAN SEE EVERYTHING.</p>

<p>Yeah, I guess the “friends of friends” setting may be what is letting me read D’s wall. son is a friend to both of us.</p>

<p>Thanks for the heads up. I checked a couple of friends of friends and sure enough I could see their pages. I had no idea. I just went in and changed my privacy settings to friends only and posted a warning in my status update to make others aware.</p>

<p>I went back into facebook and fixed all my defaults to ones of my own choosing. </p>

<p>So much for privacy, huh?</p>

<p>It’s wise to pay attention to the notices you receive from Facebook about upcoming changes. I’m a little surprised at how many people don’t appear to do so.</p>