In case you didn’t know, today is Quit Facebook Day: a date many Facebook users have chosen to abandon the popular social network. Their reasons? They seem to be unhappy with the way Facebook is dealing with their data. According to the official statement, Facebook “makes if extremely difficult for the average user to manage their data” – that is, decide what’s visible and what’s not. They’re also worried about “the usage Facebook could make of these data in the future”.
With all due respect, this is just nonsense. If you’re worried about online privacy, why did you join Facebook in the first place? You don’t need to be there, just because everyone else is. Want to find old friends from school or keep in touch with workmates? There are plenty of other ways you can use: email, IM clients, Twitter… not to mention Google’s recent social tools like Buzz and Wave. You can also use these to send interesting links, share videos or exchange messages.
In any case, if you still want to be on Facebook but don’t want to be concerned about privacy, you only need to configure your profile settings accordingly. Luckily Facebook has made it easier for the user – maybe in response to people threatening to quit their service. Simply click the Account link on the top right corner of the Facebook main page and select Privacy Settings.
This will take you to Facebook’s Privacy Settings menu, with four main areas:
Basic Directory information
Here you can choose the areas of your profile you want to leave open for everyone or make accessible only for friends, or friends of friends. Your choices here may affect other people’s results when they’re trying to find you.
Sharing on Facebook
This is where you mark exactly what you want to share on Facebook. Each of the 9 items can be set to either Everyone, Friends of Friends or Friends Only, so that you keep control of who is seeing what. Facebook also includes some ready-made profiles for this setting.
Applications and Websites
Here you can edit the privacy settings for the Facebook games and applications you’re currently using, as well as control the amount of information available for other apps when your friends use them. Another interesting option is the possibility to preview your Facebook profile as it appears in search engine results.
Block Lists
Finally, this is where you can create lists to block certain people you don’t want to interact with on Facebook. You can also block application invites and managed blocked applications from here
Now, if you really want to quit Facebook, go ahead. But don’t use privacy issues as an excuse. With the proper configuration, Facebook is pretty much harmless.
