Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A simple trick to prevent embarrassment on Facebook

Want to save yourself from embarrassment for putting posts that should not be there on Facebook. Thankfully, Facebook has come up with a simple way to assess your history and take off those unwanted posts. It's called the Activity Log.

To begin with, login into your Facebook account, then click the down arrow in the upper-right corner and choose Activity Log. To go to your Facebook page, you can also click your name in the top bar and then click the "View Activity Log" button on the right side of the cover photo area.

At first, the Activity Log may look a little mind-boggling, as there might be thousands of entries to go through. However, Facebook has made it easier with a few tools.

There is a huge list of filters in the left-hand column. Only the posts about those topics would be shown in your Timeline. For example, to only view the posts that you have posted, you need to choose "Your Posts." You can also just look at "Photos," things you have "Liked" and "Comments" you have made on posts, photos and videos.

To see more filters, click the "More" link such as "Videos," "Groups" and "Location History." Location History is especially helpful if you used to be a little too free with telling people where you were.

One probably is not aware that Facebook tracks your search history. Anyone who gets access to your account can view everything and everyone that you have searched for on Facebook.

Look in the left column of the Activity Log to view your search history and click "More" under "Photos, Likes and Comments." Then click "Search" near the bottom of the list. To delete individual entries, you need to click the "circle with a slash" icon and select "Delete." To remove everything at once, you can also click "Clear Searches" at the top.

Since there is no way that can prevent Facebook from tracking your search history, so one would need to keep coming back to delete it if you want it to stop searching on Facebook or don't want it to get recorded.

You can also view what apps you have installed and what posts they have made on your Timeline at the bottom. To change the settings on who can view the posts the apps make, you need to go to top of the log.

Even though you may be fine with your Facebook friends viewing some of your embarrassing posts, you may not be ok to let strangers view something that you may have posted in the past. The reason for that could be that your privacy settings might not have been set correctly in the past.

It could take days to change every past post manually from "Everyone" to "Friends". Luckily, Facebook has a faster option. Click the upside-down triangle at the top of the page and choose Settings.

In the left-hand column, then click the "Privacy" link. Under "Who can see my stuff?" choose the "Limit Past Posts" link. Then, click the "Limit Old Posts" button to change the privacy setting of every post in your profile to "Friends."

One would have to keep in mind that the posts that you want everyone to view will change those as well. You will have to go to change those posts back to "Everyone" manually.

Next, go to your Facebook page and to the upper right, click the three dots next to the "View Activity Log" button and choose "View as..." This allows you to see your Facebook page the way a stranger would, or any Facebook user you choose. In this way, you can quickly locate problem posts and change their privacy settings or remove them.

"View as..." is particularly useful if you have set up custom lists. Lists let you select specific friends who can view certain posts.

While you are making changes to your old Facebook settings, you may want to take some time to examine the information that you have added to your account. A lot of information is asked by Facebook regarding your life, home address, etc. that you should not probably disclose.

No comments:

Post a Comment