A guide to privacy on Facebook
Privacy on Facebook
Privacy is built around a few key ideas: You should have control over what you share. It should be easy to find and connect with friends. Your privacy settings should be simple and easy to understand.
On Facebook, there are three basic levels of privacy: Friends, Friends of Friends, Everyone. You also have a set of publicly available information, which helps your friends find and connect with you. This includes your Name, Profile Picture, Current City, Gender, Networks, Friend List and Pages.
Facebook's Privacy Policy
You can read our full Privacy Policy here.
How others see you
If you are ever curious about how your friends see your profile, or what information Everyone can see, use this tool to see how people see you.
View profile as: | Everyone |
|
Recommended settings
We offer recommendations for your privacy settings based on the three levels of privacy: Friends, Friends of Friends, and Everyone.
We recommend Everyone be able to see information that will make it easier for friends to find, identify and learn about you. This includes basic information like your About Me description, Family and Relationships, Work and Education Info, and Website, as well as posts that you create, like photo albums and status updates.
Remember, any information that's visible to Everyone may be seen by everyone on the internet. It will be visible to anyone viewing your profile, and Facebook-enhanced applications and websites that you use will be able to access it. Additionally, it may be visible in search engines or through RSS feeds.
Some information is more personal, so we recommend Friends of Friends be able to see that type of info. This includes the settings for your Birthday, Religious and Political views, Hometown, and Photos and Videos of Me, which is all the photos and videos you've been tagged in.
We recommend that your contact information, like mobile phone number and email address, only be visible to Friends.
Protecting your privacy
We are committed to protecting minors who use Facebook. Until their eighteenth birthday, minors will have their information limited to Friends of Friends and Networks.
Privacy Center
- Facebook Resources
- Privacy Policy
- FAQs
- Videos
- On the Internet
Control every time you share
You can select a privacy setting for every post you make. Whether you are uploading a photo or posting a status update, you control exactly who can see it at the time you create it. Whenever you share something, look for the lock icon. Clicking on it will bring up a menu that lets you choose who will be able to see your post, from Friends, to Friends of Friends, to Everyone.
Editing your settings
The Privacy page is designed to make it easy to edit your settings. Any changes you make will go into effect immediately. You can select a privacy level or choose to customize your privacy. For example, you may have some information that you only want your family to see. You can easily do this by creating Friend Lists from the Friends page and selecting "Custom Setting" any time you set your privacy.
