
In order to securely use the Internet, a few things like having a strong password, not enabling your password to be stored on the browser or computer are essential rules to be followed. Please go through the following 8 Facebook-specific points given below to maintain your Facebook profile professionally.
1. Add friends only if you know them personally
We usually get many friend requests on Facebook regularly. It could be from someone unknown or a friend of a friend. Do not add them if you don’t know them personally or if you are not sure about the person. Many of us add new friends just to increase the number of friends we have on Facebook. Please understand that increasing your friend count will just result in ensuring that the door to your private life is opened to the world. When you accept a friend request, you allow the person to access all your information, photos and contact details by default. You cannot be sure of the kind of person you have allowed into your life and what he/she will do with your personal data. The photos of you and your family photo can be taken from your album and misused without your knowledge. So, it is always better to say NO to the people you do not know.
2. Create different Friends List
Most of us do not know that you can categorize your friends once you accept the friend request. A list is like a group. For example, I have categorized my friends on Facebook as friends, relatives, business etc. This helps to restrict your posts to only specific people. Whenever you wanted to post something that should be visible to only a specific list of people, you can select from the status update window (as seen on the picture) before you click on the Post button. Your business circle des not need to see the pictures of your family vacation!
The different types list you can see on the status updates are
Public: Anyone can see your update
Friends: Only your friends will see your update
Friends except Acquaintances: The Acquaintances list is for friends you don’t need to stay in close touch with. People on your Acquaintances list will rarely show up in your news feed. By selecting this option you choose to exclude these people when you post something
A list name: Only the people in the selected list will see your update
If you like to organise your list, after logging in go to https://www.facebook.com/bookmarks/lists and see the existing lists. You can also create new list & add people to it. Also a person can be added to any number of lists.
When you accept a friend request, move the mouse over the button ‘Friends’ next to the name of the friend, which will list down all your existing lists. In the drop down list, you can select the list to which this person has to be added.
3. Allow Subscribers
Now Facebook helps you to have your subscribers. It means, if you don’t like to add people as friends but you still want them to get your updates and posts, allow subscribers for your profile by going to Account Settings > Subscribers and click on Enable Subscribers.
After enabling the subscribers, when you deny a friend request, he/she will not be added to your friends list but will be subscribed to your public updates. All your updates to the public will be added in the subscribers news feed.
4. Tag friends if only necessary
When you tag friends in a post or a photo, you are allowing the friends of the tagged person to see your update/photo. That is, a person who you do not know will be able to see your photo or the post.
You can also decide about approving each picture or post tagged with your name by your friends. In addition, you can control who can see the post/photo in which you have been tagged.
To set this up, go to Privacy Settings > Timeline & Tagging and click on ‘Edit Settings’
You can enable review of posts with your name tagged & who can see the posts where you have been tagged. You can change it as you like.
5. Like pages / apps selectively
When you like a page or an app on Facebook, it will be added to your profile & the updates from the page or app will appear on your news feed. Liking too many apps and pages will also spam your news feed. It may lead you to miss your friends’ important updates. Pick the apps and pages which will not waste your time & which can be useful to you. Also, before deciding to like an app/page, you can scroll down the app wall to see what kind of updates they send out and then decide.
Also when you like some page, your friend will get to know it. You cannot hide it! Recently one of my friends clicked one of a pornographic page by mistake. Within few seconds, all his friends came to know about it in their news feed. And his immediate boss was one of them. So, it depends on what you want your circle to know about you and your likes. So, select the right ones.
Now in recent times, even the recruiters check your Facebook profiles to know about you and to understand what type of a person you are. So, decide about what you do on Facebook.
6. Do not share everything, everyday
If you start clicking share whatever you see on Facebook, it may end up with friends ignoring your posts. Just share what you really feel are important and good. Today, we find too many groups with too many updates from them. People keep sharing it and our news feed is swamped with lots of unwanted posts. This results in the required posts getting lost in this spam.
I have unsubscribed from many friends who keep sharing posts when they login. They login, share 20-30 posts & log-off. If you like to unsubscribe like me, on the right hand side of the selected post, you can see a drop down arrow. Click on it, and select “Hide all from….”. By selecting this, the persons all posts will be removed from your news feed thereafter (Check the image).
7. Facebook is not life, you got something else to do
Facebook is not everything. You have something to do other than being on Facebook 24/7 and checking your notifications continuously. Restrict your time on Facebook & use it for the purpose you wish to. You do not gain anything from being online the whole day. On the other hand, you need to work and lead your life. Yes, it is a good feeling when people like your status and comment on it. But no one is waiting for your reply immediately. They like to comment and go on with their work. So you can do it, when you can. Facebook is the best time killer for anyone irrespective of what time it is.
8. Finally, its to connect not to sleep
Your Facebook account is for connecting with friends and to socialize, not just to see others updates and keep judging people based on their updates. You don’t need to update your status or photo often to show that you are active on Facebook. But you can be on chat once in a while and say Hi to your friends, have few words with whoever is online or message them using the message option.
I can add lot more related to privacy & settings on Facebook. But I felt these are the minimal things that anyone can understand and follow irrespective of their technical skills. If you like to know more, you can explore Account settings & Privacy Settings on Facebook during your leisure. They are self explanatory. If not, you can write to me. It is all about what to share and with whom. Not every person needs to know about what you do.
Remember, Facebook will not help you to find the best friends of your life. The bBest part of your life is outside Facebook!
Now, tell me how you use Facebook!