Watch: Facebook Privacy: Yes You Can!
Facebook continues to update its privacy policies. Every time Facebook makes a change, parents and kids should immediately take the time to redo or review their privacy settings.
The changes themselves can be a mixed bag. In the most recent overhaul, many of the Facebook privacy options have been set to defaults that allow broad access to what your children post on their pages or on their friends' pages. And the default for many privacy options for minors is "friends of friends," which could be thousands of kids that your kids don't know. In other words, your kids' privacy settings must be redone. Our step-by-step video shows you how to do it.
All about the settings
1) Unless your kids have reset their privacy settings, some of their information will be far more public than you'd like.
2) Even after the new settings are completed, more personal information will show up when people search Facebook for your kids' names (name, profile picture, gender, current city, networks, friend list, and pages).
3) There are two levels to the privacy settings -- the obvious ones that show up under privacy settings, and the less obvious ones that show up under "applications settings."
4) The overall privacy settings are pretty clear and are improved because they offer consistent choices.
5) The "applications settings" controls have to be gone through one by one. When your kid uses an application, it's the same as "friending" someone. Their information -- and their friends' information -- can be shared unless they go in and manage their privacy levels. It's essential that your kids go through these options and determine who can see their pictures, birthdays, etc.
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