Privacy on Facebook, does it exsist?
Hi there,
Lately I hear people say the following quite often:
I have privacy on Facebook
or
I have Facebook set in a way so my privacy is secure.
Well, to those people, you may want to run away from this post, because I am about to give you a wake up call!
While it is indeed possible to set a LOT of privacy settings on Facebook, which will greatly increase your privacy on there, there are also options that can NOT be set which harm your privacy, I will explain the two most important ones below.
1: the private messaging system on Facebook
While the name of the function says: PRIVATE messages, in fact they are NOT private.
Why am I saying that?
Simply because it is a FACT!
Yes, the private messages make it so that you can send a message to a certain person without other members of Facebook reading that message, that does not mean the message is private in any way. What causes this is that Facebook itself DOES read all private messages (no not personally, but the system reads data from them) to get interesting data to server you ads they think you will like.
This means that if you have a discussion with someone about a certain product through the PM system, it is quite likely that shortly after you will start seeing ads for that exact product, if you don't believe me, give it a try ;-)
So to clear things, Private Message are private when it comes to the general public seeing them, but NOT private as in a personal letter in a closed envelope to someone.
For this security issue is NO other solution then to not use the system and contact people in a different way.
2: Facebook tracking your each and every move.
Most of you will most likely think that when you leave your facebook account and then surf the internet, that Facebook will no longer be able to follow you, well think again.
When you leave Facebook, chances are you are NOT logging out, and as long as you are logged in, Facebook will follow your each and every move around the internet.
Even if you DO logout, they will still be able to follow you through like buttons that are just about everywhere.
Is there a solution to this?
Yes there actually are 2!
If you are only concerned about the tracking Facebook does to serve you ads, then you can change the settings in your account, for that go to settings--> ads you will find three options there, read them closely.
If you do not want Facebook to know anything you do outside of their site, then there is only ONE solution, to do that you need to use 1 browser for Facebook, and another browser for the rest of internet, for example, if you use Chrome to do your Facebooking, then use Firefox for ALL other things you do online, ofcourse you can use any browser of choice.
Now folks, on a final note, while it is quite dsiturbing to see how our privacy is being used, keep in mind that there is also an upside to these technologies, sites that use tracking (like Facebook) will serve you only ads that indeed interest you, meaning you do not see ads about buying an expensive vacation while you are trying to make ends meet, and so on.
These technologies will only grow larger and larger, and there is nothing that is going to stop them, so just use the options websites provide to set the levels of privacy to the level you are most comfortable with, and if a site does stuff you can not accept, simply do not use that site.
Have an awesome day
Peter
Recent Comments
14
Wow, Peter, this is good information, I had no idea. I thought when I logged out, that was it. Thanks for pointing this out.
I was aware of that, when I visit a page, prompt there is a pop-up besides on FB with the same articles, you can try it out, visit a page and than open your facebook and watch the adds :)
Love it Peter! That is why I rarely use facebook and other places as well. Google is the same. Have a great rest of the day! Very nice informative post.
Crikey! It's not right though, it's really not. And it will all be used to actually control people one day soon. Yeah, read that Facebook and governments and whoever else, - we already know!
Whether you feel it is right or not, like Labman says, you only have tow options, accept it or log off the internet, but then again, you are building a business online, would you not like to know who your customers are? what parts of your site work and which parts donot? cause basically that is using the same technology :-)
Have a great day
Peter
I'm back, hehe!! Only just, as of yesterday. Still broke but managed to get enough together for a year's subscription so at least I'm safe for a while. Finished my degree and graduated with a first last month, so I'm all set to work on this new venture now. Got to start over though. Good to hear from you! :)
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Now this what I call insightful information. Peter...two words "Great Job!." Thanks for this article. Wishing you continued success, both in and outside of WA...
Best as always,
Keane:-)