Many of us use Facebook for various reasons like socializing on the internet, managing and participating in groups, creating and managing company pages, keeping in touch with friends and colleagues, sharing our updates & pictures, etc. But many don’t pay attention to privacy and security aspects of using Facebook.

Here are some pointers on what areas of privacy & security you should be looking at in Facebook. This post does not give you what setting / configuration you should be keeping / selecting rather it makes you aware about those settings and you should select / configure the option based on your requirements.

• Explore OTP / Two factor authentication using mobile / smartphone number / authentication app
• Explore notifications over email & mobile
• Explore options for your Cover & Profile picture – there is option to show your Profile picture to only your friends or network
• Check whether your default posts are Public / shown to friends / shown to friends of friends / shown to friends except acquaintances
• Check the type of groups you join: Public / Closed / Secret
• Explore the privacy options like LIMIT YOUR OLD POSTS, Who can search you by email / phone, Who can see your friends list, etc.
• Explore the options for people to Tag you in their posts
• Explore the option to create custom username
• Check the Location History option
• Check which profiles in your network are Inactive / Spam / Without data / Suspect / Unknown. It’s best to remove them from your network by clicking UNFRIEND. Stay in touch with them over other mediums like Skype, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, SMS, Email, Signal, Google Hangout, etc.
• Check the Apps & Website integration under Settings
• Check the locations from where you are logged in under settings
• Check your public posts by logging out & checking your profile or using the VIEW AS option under your profile
• Check the setting whether search engines should link to your profile under privacy
• Check the information in your profile added under ABOUT and who it is visible to on all sections and details of profile – Friends / Friends of Friends / Public / etc.
• Check manage sections option in your profile and check privacy options for each of those sections
• Check your advertisement preferences
• Check the options which show your relationship with others under profile – whether it’s only shown to you, friends or friends of friends or public
• Set up Trusted Contacts to recover your account
• For your Facebook Mobile App check what permissions it has been given by the operating system (Android or iOS) under App permissions and review them based on your need
• Check the people who are added as ADMIN for your company page if you manage one
• There are a host of other options in settings for company pages too from which you can manage options like – from which country the visitors can see the page, whether tagging is allowed, age profile of your visitors, etc. If you are managing a company page you should explore them too