Network Without Getting Bit

Some things are private!

Keep it private

All social networking sites have privacy settings. In Facebook, for example, here are just a few of the things you can do:

Hide your profile
Decide which people can see which photo album or posts
Block profiles
Create a limited profile

On Twitter you can protect your tweets. Other sites offer similar privacy protection tools.

But do you use them? If you don't, you're unprotected. If you do, double-check your settings. Only you can control what people see and know about you.

How to change privacy settings

This is an example of a main page for privacy settings in Facebook:

4212_privacy_01_25_10

From this page, you can:

Limit who can see your profile and post to your wall
Control who can contact you on Facebook and what contact information they can see
Control the information applications such as quizzes gather from you when you use them
Control who can see your Facebook information when they search for you from within Facebook or from Internet search engines
Control who can interact with you on Facebook

This is an example of the choices you can make on what people see in your profile:

4212_profile_01_25_10

You can select exactly what people see. When people search for me, they can only see two links:

One to add me as a friend (I can accept or reject)
One to send me a message (I can accept or reject)

The long road

I don't want to scare you away you from using social media sites. They're fun, keep you connected, and are the future of the Internet.

But you need to know how the information you post today can affect you tomorrow, next year, or even 10 years down the road. You wouldn't want one bad picture or one comment to keep you from graduating, getting into school, or even getting a job, would you? I didn't think so.

All it takes is a few simple steps to make sure that doesn't happen to you. You're already on Facebook a hundred times a day anyway, so just take a little time to make the changes. You'll be happy you did.

True or False: Franklin helped write parts of two of the documents that helped create the United States. Click Ben's head for the answer.

TRUE: Franklin helped write parts of the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States of America.

Age 22
Madison, WI

WRITTEN BY:

Kelsey

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"I appreciated this story so much. As an avid user of Facebook, I was reminded how much privacy is important. Although I had my profile private already, I definitely went back and double checked my settings to make sure nothing had changed without my notice. It is completely worthwhile to take a little extra time and make sure you're being safe while on the internet. Thank you, Kelsey, for creating a very informative article that will surely cause people to think twice about the settings on their account and what they post. "

Hannah457, 16, Camas, WA
04/19/10

"Wow, this was a great article. It really opened up my eyes on how dangerous the internet can really be. As teens we don't really think about how one small thing like a Facebook photo could greatly affect our future. This article was very well put together, and I love how it shows you the steps on how to make a safer Facebook. "

MarvinB , 15, Richmond, Va
04/19/10

"This is a great article and very pertinent to teenagers! It is very important not to give the wrong impression of yourself because of what you post online. "

Juice, 17, West Palm Beach, Fl
04/19/10

"This story was a helpful story about staying safe online. I opened up a Facebook account a few months ago and somehow it was hacked into and the hacker began posting inapproprite comments. I immediatly deleted my account and opened up a new one this time being even more careful about privacy. This story will help and show readers how to make their account private so they don't have to go through what I did. I liked how the author added links that were interesting. The story was easy to read and understand and I liked all the cool facts. Great story!"

Cheyenne R., 14, ontario, CA
04/19/10

"This story was helpful and I learned about being safe online. I made a Facebook account a few months ago and somehow a hacker hacked my account and was posting inappropriate comments. I deleted that account and opened up up a new one and made sure to be as private as possible. This story can help others have private account so they don't go through what I did. This story was easy to read and understandable. I also liked the extra links and cool facts."

Cheyenne R., 14, ontario, CA
04/18/10

"I enjoyed this story very much, it is full of information that should be important to every person, not matter what age they are. The Internet can be a very scary place and you need to protect yourself as much as possible."

Jbraddock1, 15, Hartsville, SC
04/18/10

"I really liked your story! My friends always tell me about untrue comments they find on their profiles. This article would be very helpful for them, as they spend most of their time posting comments."

curliques, 15, Dexter, MI
04/18/10

"This story is so important for people who are in high school and college to read! This article shows the dangers of using social networking sites, and how to stay safe when using them. Good job! This is helpful for anyone who is and internet user!"

Brooke , 16, Helena, MT
04/18/10

"This story is so important for people who are in high school and college to read! I think sometimes young people just assume that pictures and comments that they post on their social networking sites aren't going to ever make a difference in their lives, but it may more than they expect, like not getting the job because of the bad picture your friend posted of you. This article did a great job explaining the dangers of using social networking sites, and how to stay safe on them. Good job! Very helpful for anyone who is an internet user. "

Brooke , 16, Helena, MT
04/18/10

"This was a fantastic article, and it had very useful information. I currently do not have a facebook due to the fact that my parents have warned me about the same issues that this article warns teens about. This article helped me realize what I can do to prevent these things happeneing if I ever decide to join a social network. Thank you Kelsey for informing me on all the settings I could use to make myself safer. Awesome job Kelsey! "

Bribear101, 15, mount Holly, NJ
04/18/10

"This was a great article for me as a teen who uses facebook a lot.It didn't bore me and I liked the many examples and clarity of the work. This article helped me to understand facebook a little better and what to watch out for. "

Jon H, 15, South Rockwood, MI
04/15/10

"The story was very well done. It was organized well and had valuable information that social networkers can use to make sure that they are protected on the internet. Before reading this article I knew that there were settings you could set to say protected but until reading this article I was unaware of how many there were. Great job Kelsey."

MichelleW159, 16, Gibsonton, FL
04/15/10

"I enjoyed this story. It is full of information that everybody should now. I love knowing that I can still socialize with my friends while being safe! Thanks for the great advise! "

writer10, 14, Chubbuck, ID
04/11/10

"Wow, I really enjoyed reading this story. You did an amazing job informing others about the risks of social networking but also on giving them tips on how to stay protected. Personally, I love Facebook because it keeps me in touch with family I'd normally never talk to or see. Knowing how to stay safe and still have fun is great! Thanks so much!"

Sammi Jo, 15, Westby, WI
04/08/10

"This story is awesome for people who aren't aware that the internet is a dangerous but awesome tool. There are people on the internet who look at other's profiles when they are not private. Public profiles are a good way to get into bad situations, like meeting strangers. This was an excellent article because I learned so much more about the protected features that Facebook has. I'm going to log on and change it right now. Thank you!"

kendallweb, 15, Klamath Falls, OR
04/07/10

"I think that this story shows some very helpful truths about internet security. I use Facebook and I didin't know about all those security features. Another great part was when you talked about future jobs. It's crazy how one picture from high could ruin your chances at a great career. Thanks Kelsey."

ImGoin2MIT, 14, round rock, TX
04/05/10

"I think this story is a great way to tell kids about how they should be safe on the internet. Its crazy how just something as small and harmless as a picture you took in high school could ruin a career for you in the long run."

ImGoin2MIT, 14, round rock, TX
04/05/10

" as teenagers alot of us never fully understand the extent of the things we post online, im sure that if we knew that one day college adisson officers or our future employers could see that ebarassing picture of us at that party, we wouldnt want stuff like that on our facebooks."

Ray, 16, San Marcos, TX
04/05/10

"This is story has very worthwhile and very valuable information for everyone no matter what age groups. The story was very well written and easy to understand and will help many people take advantage of their options to have privacy. "

melissalyn, 16, mechanicsville, md
03/31/10

"There is a need for education on internet security. I never realized that college admission officers could view things I put on the internet."

JoshScowden, 16, Round Rock, TX
03/31/10

"This is a wonderful article that everyone should be reading. It would help notify all of the middle and high schoolers out there posting bad stuff on Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter."

JH22, 13, Tigard, OR
03/28/10

"busybee123 I didn't realize facebook can change the privacy settings. Thankyou for letting us all know. Kelsey thank you for using a website that so many teenagers use. I learned a lot. "

sparkler, 16, Dracut, MA
03/28/10

"This article was great. Even though I personally already knew about many of these things, it is filled with a lot of helpful information that needs to be shared. I also liked the examples of the website pages. It really shows a person who doesn't know what to do, the perfect steps of completing it. Thank you for help sharing this information. It is so important that people know these things asap!"

Brianna, 17, Pensacola, FL
03/26/10

"This article was extremely helpful. I've always heard warnings about keeping your facebook private , but reading this has pushed me to go check my privacy settings more carefully and more often"

alinatrucvo, 15, Tucson, AZ
03/24/10

"This is the perfect article to put on this website. I know on my facebook, I have all of the privacy settings on the highest possible settings and I check every couple of weeks to make sure that facebook didn't change anything on me. I would also like to add that whenever facebook does a renovation of its site, one should go and check the privacy settings again because they usually change them so that everyone can see everything when they do a renovation. "

busybee123, 16, Stafford, VA
03/14/10

"Great job Kels!! This story for securing your private information is very good to know. Next time I log into Facebook, I will double-check my privacy settings."

KevO, 18, San Marcos, TX
03/07/10

"I really like this article, my mom always warns me about this kind of thing, you do have to be acreful. The sample facebook pages really added to the story and are very helpful. Alexandra Majewski"

moloko528, 14, fort myers, fl
03/01/10

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