When you befriend someone on Facebook they become privy to your status updates and profile information unless you change your privacy settings or their list status. You might also share other information you consider personal or, at the very least, outside of work. So, how do you balance adding your boss when they send a friend request your way and being able to dish about work, if you choose? If you want to add someone as a Facebook friend, you may limit what they are able to see when it comes to your information, postings and comments made regarding any number of causes or issues. So, how can you have someone as a Facebook friend while simultaneously limiting what information about you they can see? Try the following:
Log into your Facebook account, and then on your Facebook home page, find the ‘Settings’ menu close to the search field located on the upper-right corner of the page. Click on the menu and, from the drop down menu, select ‘Privacy Settings’.
Upon selecting “Privacy Settings”, a screen will appear with four or five sections on it so you can change your privacy settings. These sections are: Profile, Contact, Search, Block List and Applications. Now, click on the Profile section. You will see a menu with various options and drop down boxes for selecting who can see your “About Me” or Religious views, for example.
The next step is finding the “Status Update” area. From the drop down menu in the Status Updates section select ‘Customize’ as this allows you four levels regarding who may see a section of information. ‘Friends of Friends’ and ‘Only Friends’ are just 2 of the four available options. This allows you customize who may see which pieces of information within your profile. I will also prevent you from blocking your status from all of your friends.
From here you will be able to adjust your privacy settings. You will notice that one of your options is to exclude certain people from the overall setting you select. So, for example, you can select “Only friends” regarding who may see your profile status updates. Another option is to choose “Except These People”. When you choose this option you then get to make a list by typing out the names of the people you want to restrict from viewing your updates. As you start to type a name in, a drop down menu will appear and you can select your friend’s name off that list, or continue to type in their name.
Once you have indicated who may or may not see each section of information, save your changes. Going forward, while someone may be you friend on Facebook, they will not be able to see your status updates. If you decide you want to grant them access, you simply undo what you did previously by deleting their name from the “Except These People” section of the status updates privacy settings or add them to your Friends list.
