Girls Beware-Your Facebook Privacy Matters

Hey ladies, have you checked your Facebook privacy settings lately? If not, you could be in for a real shocker. If you have not set up the privacy settings on your Facebook account, your Facebook page is public to anyone who performs a search engine search on your name or any other keywords found in your profile.

For example, if you list Old School as your favorite movie, your profile could show up in a search engine results page when someone searches for Old School. If they click on the link, all of your information is now available in the hands of someone you don't know, not just your Facebook friends.

But that's not the worst part.

Thanks to your Facebook settings and the implementation of geo-location applications, such as Girls Around Me, you're actually more at risk than you think.

Girls Around Me is a smartphone app that people can use to find others close to their location. When a user logs in to Girls Around Me, it searches for their location. Once it has determined where they are, it then shows (in map form) where girls are. It pulls this information from check ins that people do on Facebook or Foursquare, and it pulls information from their public

Facebook profiles.
Users can then see pictures of these girls, know exactly where they are and how long they've been there, and by clicking on their picture, they can see the girls’ Facebook profiles and even view their pictures. Depending on how detailed a Facebook profile is, this could easily set women up to be stalked or taken advantage of.

For example, if you have a very detailed Facebook profile, which includes your place of work, your name, your age, the names of your family members, where you went to school, etc., people using an app like Girls Around Me or who come across your public Facebook profile now know more about you than you'd like. If they go to the location you recently checked in at, they can use this information to make you think that you know them. You will then be more inclined to trust them, which could end up putting you in a dangerous situation.

What can I do to stop this?
Facebook allows you to change your profile from public to private. It also allows you to customize your settings so that you have complete control over who exactly sees your profile, your posts and your photos.

If you want to protect yourself, you need to also refrain from using geolocation applications. Don't check yourself in to places on Facebook or Foursquare, otherwise you run the risk of showing up on apps like Girls Around Me. Even if you have altered your Facebook privacy settings, checking in will still allow users to see your location, they just won't be able to publicly access your information.

Unfortunately we live in a world where anybody can access our information, and this information can fall into the hands of an undesirable individual. Luckily, if you refrain from using check in applications and change your Facebook privacy settings, you can keep yourself and your information safe.

  Mey Lau

About the Guest Author:

Mey Lau from SEOMap writes about marketing and social media, you can read more of SEOMap's contributions at sexy social media.