| 27 Jul 2009 - Facebook - Lists - Secure your profile and the Future of Facebook |
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| I've been on and off Facebook for a long time now, I go through phases. I hated the concept at first, then I found a real niche for it in terms of it being that one extra line of communication. But then I started on Twitter, likewise, it's a love hate relationship, and we often spend a few days not talking to each other. I - like many Twitter users - use my Twitter status to automatically update my Facebook status, so visiting Facebook is more of a way to catch up with friends who haven't yet crossed over to the 'Twitter Side'. Lately, I've spent a good deal of time trawling through my Facebook friends (170 odd), to group them into LISTS - something relatively new to Facebook, and certainly something not used by many - yet. I can see this being a very important part of Facebook's future strategy - why? Well not only does it enhance the Facebook experience if you do it right, it should also allow for even further targeting of advertising content from Facebook's perspective. If you haven't tried it, I can highly recommend it. Here's how it works, login to Facebook, then click FRIENDS >> ALL FRIENDS. Then, when you see your Friends list, click CREATE NEW LIST at the top of the page. Give it a name, and then simply click on the people you want to join that list! You can do this over and over again. Once you've created your lists, another option for adding people is to simply view your ALL FRIENDS list again, and on the right of each person, click the ADD TO LIST arrow, and choose a list. It really couldnt be simpler. Look for people with "Add to List", instead of "1 List" of "2 Lists", and add them to one of your lists. One other thing to be careful of is the "Limited Profile" list which was likely created way back when you first created your Facebook account. If you really want to group people, find all the people in that group, and associate them with one of your other more personal lists. What does this allow you to do? First and foremost, it allows you to view your 'news feed' for just that specific group of friends. I will admit, I've hidden the updates from a large number of the people in my friend list, for one reason or another, and given the frequency of my updates, I have no doubt many have done likewise for my updates! However, regardless of what you've hidden, it does 'filter' really well the bulk of information you have before you. That in itself is great. What about the information your friends see about you? I'm not one for huge conspiracy theories, but I will admit that the privacy issues around publishing your birthplace, birthdate, work details and such could be quite high - That is very useful information for someone trying to mine data about you, or hack your accounts. All it takes is for one of your friends to be hacked, or leave a Facebook open in an Internet Cafe, and that 'friend' now has your private data. I know this seems extreme, but it really can happen. So what can you do to protect that. Firstly, set up your groups around not only common usage, but around data you'd want to share. Think of it like Family, Friends and Work at the very least. Next you need to work your magic over the Facebook Privacy Pages. Click on SETTINGS >> PRIVACY SETTINGS. Then click PROFILE. In here you'll find a wealth of information that is available for you to customise. As a rule, you should perhaps be setting all the information to be visible to "Only Friends". That's your first line of defence. Next, think about what you want to restrict even just to your friends. Click Edit Custom Settings. In this pop up box, look down the bottom for 'Except these people'. In that text box, type the name of the group you do NOT want to see this part of your profile. It's as easy as that. A really powerful way to customise your Facebook experience. How could the good folk at Facebook make Facebook an even more powerful site for you to use to communicate to those groups? Here comes a new feature, not yet available to the public, but most certainly in trial phase with Facebook employees. I'm not sure what this is to be called, but let's call it 'Targetted Status Updates'. And it does just that. Currently, your 'Update your Status' Box, or 'what's on your mind' as it's labeled looks like this:  What is coming is a status update box that looks like this:  Notice the lock:  Clicking that little lock will drop down a menu, showing you your 'Friend Lists', which then allows you target your status update just to that set of friends. This will allow you to send a lunchtime message or 'update' just to your work friends perhaps, or family - something that is not for everyone, but it's a message that needs to get out. This will be another excellent evolution for Facebook, which by all accounts is really doing well to "keep up with the Jones'" next door (Twitter). |
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