Concerned about your Facebook privacy? I wasn’t until I realized how much of my own information was available to complete strangers! Facebook View Profile As feature allows you to see how your profile information appears to the public.
It’s also the best way to check if you’re privacy settings are set up and working correctly.
Privacy has also been a touchy subject since Facebook rolled out it’s Open Graph Search Feature and if you noticed, Facebook also recently introduced it’s own privacy shortcuts menu.
SEE ALSO: Find out Who Likes your Fanpage
Privacy Shortcuts
Within the shortcut menu you can set up your Facebook profile privacy settings including:
- Who can see your stuff — including future posts, things you’re tagged in, and what do other people see on your timeline.
- Who can contact you — such as filtering options for your inbox and who can send you friend requests.
- How do you stop someone from bothering you — by blocking them by name or email
Take your time to set up your profile privacy settings! Once finished, it’s time to use Facebook View As Feature to see how others will see your profile.
Here’s how:
Video Tutorial
View As Public or Specific Person
After accessing the Facebook View As tool, you will be able to choose between seeing what your timeline looks like to the general public, or a specific person by simply typing their name. Obviously this is going to look very different depending on how you originally set up your privacy settings.
You know you’re in the right spot if your screen looks like this:
Keep in mind things you hide from your Timeline still appear in news feed, search, and other places on Facebook.
Once you see this black bar, scroll down and take a good look around your Timeline. Visit your about page as well as photos. This way you can make sure people who aren’t your friends or subscribers aren’t seeing something you didn’t want them to.
To exit the Facebook View As feature simply click the “X” in the upper left hand corner.
Now I highly encourage you to check your privacy settings. I didn’t realize how much of my information was readily available until I did. It’s important to know what you’re allowing total strangers to find out about you from your Facebook page.
How do you feel about your privacy on Facebook?
6 responses to “Using Facebook View Profile As to check Privacy”
Jacob, nice reminder. I always think people should be checking their settings at least once every couple of months due to all of the changes that Facebook tends to make
@google-42d4485f138ee3e4e8c9947f5c7856cb:disqus this is a great point to make. Facebook doesn’t necessarily do a good job informing people on when they change their settings so being pro-active in checking from time to time is a solid idea!
Privacy is often harder to maintain in Facebook. There are some mechanisms that you can tighten the ‘who can see what’, but I’ve faced some situations where I had no control. For example, if there is something you don’t want to share publicly or let others know about it, but when you are discussing something else, any of your friend might pronounce it due to some context. Its better to use Facebook as professional means only, rather than sharing your personal stuffs!
Hey @shkhanal:disqus , interesting take you have about using Facebook as professional means only. I feel like it always comes back to the age old saying:
“If you don’t want people to know about it, don’t put it on the internet”
And if you’re friends are bringing it up, well that’s just wrong on their part.
Regardless, thanks for stopping by!
Jacob, this is a fantastic article. I just tweaked around with my privacy settings using the “View as a specific person” and it was super easy thanks to you!
Keep up the great work man!
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