Take action to reclaim your metadata and keep it out of Facebook’s grip. Here are tips for limiting your exposure on Facebook (and where to find the controls to do it!) These suggestions can also be applied to Instagram (another Facebook product).
Manage Your “Friends” and Your Posts
Take control over your personal information made vulnerable by your “friends” on the network.
Friends List & Privacy Settings
- Prune old “friends” — acquaintances and family members with whom you have weak ties.
- Give remaining “friends” restricted access so their Facebook status is reflective of your actual relationship: close friends, acquaintances, etc.
- Restrict who can see who your friends are.
- Use the “Limit all old posts” feature to make all old public posts only visible to “Friends.”
Reclaim App Logins & Contacts
Create unique logins and revoke Facebook’s access to your contacts.
Settings > Apps & Websites & Find Friends
- Remove apps that use Facebook for your login or update app accounts with a username and password so Facebook’s access is revoked.
- Remove contacts you have synced to Facebook and ask your friends to do the same. (This is what Facebook uses to prompt creepy “People you may know” intros and create shadow profiles.)
Delete Ad Preferences, Update Ad Settings & Block Ads
See what personal data Facebook is offering advertisers about you and take action.
Settings > Ads
- Remove all ad categories Facebook has collected and make sure your ad settings reflect your preferences.
- Use a private browser with an ad blocker that doesn’t set cookies and blocks ad trackers.
Update Your Profile
Delete old affiliations and decide what you want Facebook to know about you
Profile, Groups & Pages
- Review your profile and make data like work experience, birthday, etc private.
- Unlike pages you no longer feel strongly about.
- Leave groups that you’re no longer active in.
Monitor Your Feed
Be mindful of the metadata you give Facebook every time you use your News Feed.
Feeds
- Be conscious of tagging people and places in posts.
- Reconsider reacting to posts with “likes”, etc.
Returning to a world that honors basic privacy is up to all of us. People shouldn’t need a tutorial like this one to keep their personal data and that of their friend’s private. Stop collecting “likes” to measure your self-worth, start valuing your personal space and lead a happier life!
Learn more about how we put your privacy first at Keepsafe.
