Facebook is Messing Around Again…Or Are They?

Anyone who is on Facebook with any sort of regularity knows that they change the site around on a regular basis. Depending on these changes the general public likes them or hates them.

I have a theory…

It is a FREE service so I have relatively little room to complain. I regularly go through my accounts settings and make sure everything is still good. I also don’t post things that I don’t want the world to know.

But every so often a rumor spreads like wildfire through a dead forest. Generally this rumor is about Facebook and some evil thing they are now doing to wrong us all.

One such rumor is beginning to spread this weekend. So I looked into it. I ALWAYS take the time to investigate these “rumors” before I go posting them and adding another match to the fire.

So here is the rumor and my findings regarding it…

IMPORTANT:WARNING!!! FB IS MESSING AROUND AGAIN!!! Go to the top right of your screen, click Account & then click Edit Friends. Go to the left side of your screen and click Phonebook. Everyone’s phone # is being published. Please repost to let your friends know of this change in security, so that they can remove their phone numbers or change their privacy settings.

So if you follow the steps outlined in this “rumor” you will see a Phonebook. That part is true.

But…

This is not Facebook showing the world your private information. This is Facebook showing someone you are connected to the information you have told Facebook it is okay to show that person.

The last line about your friends checking their privacy settings is also accurate. You should check your individual privacy settings. But you should be doing this anyway. On a regular basis.

Say one day you are feeling particularly generous and you go into your profile and fill in your address and your home town and your cell phone number and your main email address etc. Then a month later you are wondering why random people are calling your cell phone so you ask one of them how they got that number and they tell you Facebook.

Facebook is not to blame. You may not remember why in a time of sharing you decided to post this information, but you did post it. Facebook did not look up this information and post it without your permission. They have multi-millions of users and to be honest they don’t have that kind of time.

They did however take the time to include privacy settings that make it so you can determine EXACTLY who can see each piece of information you post on your profile. Right down to the individual if you want.

The key is for you to take the time to learn how to set these things up. Take the time to learn what setting goes where and for what purpose.

If something is showing “to the world” on Facebook….I hate to break it to you, but it is user error.

I even went so far as to test this specific “rumor” myself. Here is what I did:

I logged out of my account and logged into my partner’s account (http://facebook.com/elydelaney). I went to his profile and added our company phone number in the Land Line/Main Line field. Then I saved it.

I then went over to his privacy settings and set that information’s privacy setting to “Me Only” (side note: if you are setting things to “me only” then why are you posting them on Facebook to begin with? Just curious, this never made any sense to me… Anyway that is another post entirely ). Again I saved the settings. Then I logged out of his account.

I then logged back into my account. And followed the instructions in the “rumor” to view my Phonebook.

Guess what?

No phone number. Facebook didn’t show me anything I wasn’t supposed to see. In fact his name isn’t even on the list because he is not “showing” any phone numbers at all.

So what is the point? My point is this: Please, Please, Please stop re-posting this kind of stuff. It doesn’t actually help anyone. Everyone is so focused on the bad evil thing that Facebook is supposedly doing that they forget their part in the situation.

If you want to “Help” your friends, instead of posting “rumors” post reminders to check their privacy settings once a month or every couple of months. This is helpful and useful advice.

And as always….if you don’t want people to see it….don’t post it on the internet…..

(Just my two cents.. )

Other Resources

• ALERT: Facebook Phonebook Is Not A Security Threat
• Facebook Privacy Settings
• Facebook Launches New Resource To Educate Users On Privacy

About The Author:
Cindy Clemens is a mom, author, speaker, marketing consultant and Co-Founder of Your Marketing University. Her goal is to teach marketing in a simple easy to understand format that businesses can use to help gain marketing ideas & market their businesses to boost sales.

Are you marketing in sequence? Are you following a strategy or focusing on tactics? Claim your copy of our free “Small Business Marketing Roadmap Report” by my partner Ely Delaney to find out.