From WREG.COM
Not crazy about Facebook’s new auto sharing features? There’s hope.
But for the few who may not have heard, when Facebook rolls over your account to reflect the new Timeline (and they will – soon), clicking “like” will no longer be the way you share information.
Instead, apps can share your activity without asking. For example, according to a recent article on the tech news website Mashable, if you install Washington Post’s new social reader app and read a story about Scarlett Johansson’s nude photos, guess what? Your friends will know because the Washington Post app will post it to your Timeline, which is the equivalent to your current Facebook wall if you haven’t manually switched over to the new Timeline. (If you want to, here’s how.)
Unfortunately, to install apps, you have to grant them permission to access your Timeline. But here’s the good news, once you’ve added the app, you can opt out.
Here’s how:
- Log in to Facebook
- Click the triangle next to your Home button in the top right
- Click Account Settings
- Click Apps (far left column)
- Click Edit next to App you want to edit
- Click the box with the little triangle on it
- Click Custom
- In the pop up window, click the drop down box and select “Only Me“
Facebook’s Bullhorn
But wait, Facebook’s Timeline is a tell-all bullhorn. While it’s not sharing details of your life you haven’t already posted, it does make it easier for prying eyes to pry.
Here are a couple ways you can lock it down, but you have to have the new Timeline. (If you don’t, and you want to wait until FB rolls it over for you, save this article for a later date.)
Lock Down Your Timeline
In the new Timeline, click the “View Activity” tab at the top. This tab is only visible to you and gives you a list of individual stories that you’ve posted since you began using Facebook. Yikes! But, good news, you can hide or delete these items by clicking the triangle on the right. You also have the option of customizing these items to be visible to the public, your friends, friends of friends, or just you.
Your Main Privacy Settings in the New Timeline
Something else to note. Once Facebook’s new Timeline is launched, your main privacy setting (public, friends or custom) only applies to new posts. Old posts that were not made public to “everyone” remain private. If you’re not quite sure, you can set the visibility of your Timeline to “Limit the Audience for Past Posts.”
Here’s how:
- Log in to Facebook
- Click the triangle next to your Home button in the top right
- Click Privacy Settings
- Scroll down page
- Click the Manage Past Post Visibility link on the right
- Click Limit Old Posts
If you have a Facebook “brand page” (a page that users “like”), Facebook is said to be rolling out changes to those too, but they haven’t announced when or what those changes will be.
