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!
