I don't like social media. I don't typically like social anything. Nevertheless a lot of people like Facebook and some of them seem to want to talk to me, through facebook. So I would like to enable them to do that, without the fear that people post messages on my Facebook page (by accident?) for the world to see.
My goal is to only allow private messages and accepting friend requests.
https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=privacy
Connecting on Facebook > View Settings
- Search for you on Facebook -> Everyone
- Send you friend requests -> Everyone
- Send you messages -> Friends Only
- See your friend list -> Custom -> Only Me
- See your education and work -> Custom -> Only Me
- See your current city and hometown -> Custom -> Only Me
- See your likes, activities and other connections -> Custom -> Only Me
Back to "Choose Your Privacy Settings"
My start off point will be setting "Sharing on Facebook" to "Friends Only"
Then press "customize settings"
Things I share
- Posts by Me -> Custom -> Only Me
- Family -> Custom -> Only Me
- Relationships -> Custom -> Only Me
- Interested in -> Custom -> Only Me
- Bio and favorite quotations
- Website
- Religious and political views
- Birthday
- Places you check in to
- Include me in "People Here Now" after I check in -> disabled
Of course, I have no existing photo albums or videos, so I don't need to edit the privacy settings for those.
Things others share
- Photos and videos you're tagged in -> Edit Settings -> Custom -> Only Me
- Permission to comment on your posts -> Custom -> Only Me
- Suggest photos of me to friends -> Edit Settings -> Disabled
- Friends can post on my Wall -> disabled
- Can see Wall posts by friends -> No One
- Friends can check me in to Places -> Edit Settings -> Disabled
Contact Information
- Address -> Custom -> Only Me
- IM Screen Name -> Custom -> Only Me
- mail -> Custom -> Only Me
Back to "Choose Your Privacy Settings"
"Edit your settings for using apps, games and websites."
- Turn off platform apps
- Public search -> disable
Back to "Choose Your Privacy Settings"
From the Facebook privacy explanation site:
Control each time you post
You can control who sees each and every post. Before you post a status update, link or anything else, click the lock icon to choose who can see it. What you select will override your "Posts by me" setting, which acts as the default.
From the top menu: "Profile" -> "edit profile"
- I am not filling in my Current city or my hometown.
- Disable "Show my sex in my profile"
- Don't show my birthday in my profile
I have not uploaded a profile picture.
From the top menu: "Account" -> "Account Settings"
- Name -> change -> Only filled in "First Name". Disabling "Alternate Name".
Facebook doesn't allow you to leave Last Name open, or only fill in the first letter, or to choose an obviously false Last Name, such as "Anonymous". So I'll have to get creative.
Under "Account" -> "Notifications"
I unchecked everything. Although it doesn't directly influences my privacy, I don't need more spam.
I did not fill in mobile protection (https://www.facebook.com/mobileprotection), because I don't want to share my cell phone number.
I supplied an email address and that should be enough to reset my password if necessary.
And no, I will not publish my profile page here. Any tips on making my profile more private are welcome through the contact form and kindly appreciated!
Update 29/6:
When accessing my messages I was confronted with a pop-up if I wanted to create a facebook email address. By default this is constructed like this [firstname].[lastname]@facebook.com. Although I really don't need more email address, it does provide you with a shortcut to your profile page in this form: http://facebook.com/[mailprefix]. So I created a mail address. I already set "Send you messages" to "Friends Only" (see above) which also applies to mail.