How to Set Your Facebook Privacy Options

There are many professional groups on Facebook. This is becoming more and more prevalent. If you are considering joining a professional group on Facebook, you may want to establish controls over who can see your profile and content on Facebook. You can do this by learning how to set your Facebook privacy options.

Further below we’ll look at how to manage your Facebook privacy options, but first, let’s see why you might want to take the time to join a professional group on Facebook.

One group I started a long time ago had grown to over 6,000 members by the time I left (long story). Our BillQuick users group has quickly grown to almost 300 members. It isn’t the number that really matters. The engagement factor is what counts. If you post a question in this group, based on something you need help with, you will likely get an answer from peers. In addition, BQE Software staff will jump in.

Moreover, the answer is likely to come within about 15 minutes. You cannot get better support than that. Many companies are jumping on the bandwagon and setting up peer groups on Facebook.

If you are concerned about people in the group seeing your personal stuff on Facebook, don’t be. Here is a simple guide to how you can control who sees what on your Facebook profile. This is how to set your Facebook privacy options.

To access your Facebook Privacy Options

• Click the tiny lock icon at the top right of your screen.
• Click the privacy checkup option.
• Click through the screens to get an understanding of who can see your posts.
  • Then you’ll see which apps have accessed your Facebook account.
  • Next you’ll see your profile information, and who can see each item within your profile contact info.

After the check up you can go through the “who can see my stuff” section.

Whenever you change the setting for who can see a post, that setting sticks. If your last post was set to “public” then every post thereafter will go to the public until / unless you change it.

That gives you the quick run through on Facebook Privacy options. To access these Facebook privacy options in the actual settings area, click the tiny drop down at the top right of your Facebook page. On the left you’ll see your options.

Go through the security settings, and then go through the privacy settings.

Here’s how you can further control who sees what

You can put individuals on “restricted” status. This means they will ONLY see your public posts. It’s sort of like unfriending someone, without having to worry about the hassle of them reaching out and asking why you unfriended them. They can click over to your page, and see that you’re friends. Beyond that, as far as they can tell, and if they look closely, it will appear that all of your posts are public. Most people don’t even pay that much attention to notice that.

You can set up lists

This is a great way to organize who sees what. Then you can post to a particular list, and only the people on that list will see what you’ve posted there. It can take some work to set this up.

Another benefit to using lists, is that when you read the news feed from that list, you are seeing absolutely everything those people have posted. In your general news feed, Facebook, makes decisions about what you are more likely to be interested in, and only shows you that content.

Blocking People

If you simply want nothing to do with a person, you can block them. This means they will not be able to find you on Facebook at all. If you are in the same group as that person, neither of you will be able to see the other at all. The only time this gets weird is when someone you haven’t blocked references them in a thread. You can’t see them, so you cannot see what the person is referencing. Not to worry. They can’t see you either. It’s like the person doesn’t exist in your world. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do that in real life?

With the Facebook privacy options at your command, you can safely join any professional group on Facebook while restricting what anyone who is not your actual “friend” on Facebook can see. You can even restrict what your “friends” can see, by putting them on your restricted list, or using lists.

The bottom line is that there is no reason to cut yourself off from amazing resources like our BillQuick users group on Facebook. Set your Facebook privacy options and join today!