This is too long for a Facebook status update, so here’s a clarification on Facebook privacy settings: The only information that should be going from Facebook to Google is information set via privacy filters to “Everyone”.  And presumably if that is done correctly 100% of the time, then all would be right with that formula, except that I’ve already read by one person that his privacy settings didn’t take… do you notice there’s no “save” button!??  WTH, Facebook!?

Listen, here’s the deal:  Google didn’t get to be Google by asking nicely for you to give it the information it indexes.  It GOES OUT and GETS and TAKES information by “crawling” the internet.  You gotta be nuts if you think that Facebook can actually guarantee that your information won’t be seen, copied, archived, and saved for eternity by Google.  No, it’s not paranoid that Google saves things forever.  They’re tracking things like the most common words used in a given language.  They’ve got the disk space.

To this, I say two things: (1) Why take the chance with Facebook, a private company who changes TOS willy nilly; (2) Get a Google Profile and/or free LinkedIn account to be found by long lost friends and associates.  All Facebook has to do is make an error on your settings once and Google indexes them forever.  There’s no law that says Google has to respect Facebook’s privacy settings!

However, these are my personal opinions and recommendations; feel free to share any info, thoughts, concerns and ideas you have on the topic.

This was based on a Facebook status update where I posted the following, thanks to Ilene:

If you don’t know, as of today, Facebook will automatically index all your info on Google, which allows everyone to view it. To change this option, go to Settings –> Privacy Settings –> Search –> then UN-CLICK the box that says ‘Allow indexing’. Facebook kept this one quiet. Copy and paste onto your status for all your friends ASAP

Please go through and read each and every privacy setting as soon as you can make the time so you can know what the settings are.  And then go back to your privacy settings a few hours later to make sure they saved properly; remember there is no save button.  Me? I basically set just about everything to Friends only.  If you are an actor or singer trying to make yourself available for when Steven Spielberg tries to call, you probably want to widen that circle a bit, keeping in mind that the information you put out there can also be used to stalk and harass you, seriously.

Friends, please use the comments below to add to whatever I have said here, my blog is meant to be a collaborative space, and I have installed a comment system that is supposed to make it easy to do comment and reply to others’ comments.  Thank you in advance for participating!

The Medium – Facebook Exodus – NYTimes.com

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This advice goes for other accounts besides just email accounts.  If you switched your email in the past few years, take note:

When you set up an email account, you usually enter a “secondary” email address.  When you have a login problem, the system will send an email to that secondary address.

Well, if you use hotmail or yahoo, but you haven’t logged into that account in a year, guess what?  You lost that email address.  So go and change that email address to something active.  The best way?  Use your internet provider’s address (Road Runner, Earthlink, Verizon, Comcast, Optimum, etc.).

If you lose your password from your internet provider, they can verify your identity somehow and reset your password.

Now this is an important security issue for the following reason:  Let’s say you registered your bank account with a hotmail address.  Let’s say you stopped using that hotmail address a year ago and have not logged in the past year.  Well, that hotmail account was made inactive after 9 months and deleted after 1 year.  Someone trying to break into that bank account can then go and register the correct hotmail address in their name and go forward with attempting to break into that bank account.

While the security issue is huge for a bank account, it would be an ordeal if you had a problem with your daily email and somehow you couldn’t reset your password because you no longer had access to that secondary email.

So make a little checklist for yourself today to check your accounts – and that all your emails are set to your current, correct email.

It’s all about TweetDeck.  For Mac, Windows and Linux.  (Written via Adobe Air, you’ll need that installed.)  This program lets you create groups so you can effectively filter the people you are following.  In my screenshot, I made an “A List” with the people’s tweets that I don’t want to miss.  The columns for Replies and Direct Messages are preset by the program and made good sense for me.  In fact, there was a reply that I never saw until I installed TweetDeck.  Sorting the messages this way really helps me make more effective use of Twitter.

My Twitter feed.

In fact, within a few hours of using TweetDeck, I was able to finally win one of Rahul Sood’s cool contests for a VooDoo keyboard!  He has a great feed.  David Pogue is of course enjoyable.  I use Icanhascheezburger for humor, but then I found out that someone’s cat is tweeting (“the poop is coming from inside the litterbox get out get out”) – and that feed is the bomb, I tells ya!  Now if we could just get Stewie to tweet!

Another David Pogue post. You people really need to subscribe to him, I can’t be making a blog of David Pogue posts.

David Pogue’s blog on the New York Times is the most useful information on technology I know of.  I never find his blog posts to be anything less than “very useful”.

I am trying to twitter, via Twitterific.  What I have not figured out is how do I deal with people I wouldn’t mind subscribing to, but to pop them out of my feed temporarily so I can see everyone else who had a recent post.  Some people have an insane number of posts, and unless I know you and I really really like you, I’m not that interested.

The best twitter feed.

Oh, and I should be clear about something.  Twitter is a time wasting device used mostly by self-absorbed people who either do not have employers or otherwise have lousy work ethics.  Mr. Pogue gives a great example of someone using Twitter with great results, but for the rest of us it most likely has limited application.  I predict that a bunch of us will sign up and we’ll figure out some great ways to use it, or say eh.

I’m probably limited in how much I would ever get out of it because I will not, ever, subscribe to an unlimited text messaging plan on my cell phone, so I will not be using Twitter via that method.

Required reading for all of us with a digital camera.

Maldives (click to go to interfacelift download page.)

I have yet to see someone publish the fact that they think Windows Vista is a flop in large part to the color and visual scheme. It’s so “enclosed” and dark and dismal to me. I just think it’s awful. Here’s a sample of some wallpaper I get over at InterfaceLift. Their stuff is safe and free and the wallpaper comes in various sizes. It’s dreamy. Pick something up today!

Oh, and I desire the blog to be collaborative. Please register and post a link to a place where you might have seen good graphics for wallpaper. Thanks in advance!