Prepare Your Facebook Page for Public Disclosure

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Facebook may be the king of online social media right now, but it has also suffered a number of security issues recently. The latest setback was a security breach that allowed users to view their friends live chats. Facebook also recently required users to opt-out of third-party information sharing. Assuming you want to keep using Facebook, consider making some changes to the content you share.

Assume everything on Facebook is public

Sure, you can make photos private, or only share them with your friends. But what if you clicked the wrong button? What if all your drunken pictures are publicly viewable? That is not good. Maybe none of the recent security issues impacted your account, but the next one could.

Rather then worrying about your privacy settings, how about not posting that stuff in the first place? Does that make me sound old?

Assume every future employer and opposing attorney will see your page. That should help with your clean-up efforts and prevent you from posting something ridiculously stupid for everyone to see or read.

Think before you post to Facebook

Instead of thinking before you speak, think before you post. I try and keep my political views off Facebook, but sometimes I need to speak up. When I do, I am still very careful about what I say.

Hide your profile from public search results

Under Account Settings > Privacy > Search, you can uncheck the box that allows your Facebook page to show up in public searches. Uncheck it, and if random people on the internet are trying to find you, your page should not show up.

If you are concerned about employers finding your profile page, that is a quick fix. Nevertheless, going forward, put more thought into what you post on your profile page.

Randall Ryder is a Minnesota consumer rights attorney who sues abusive debt collectors and is a publisher of Elder Parent Help. Follow him on Twitter @randallryder.