Facebook recently unveiled a new way for users to define privacy settings, intended to make it easier to share your posts, photos, tags, and other updates with only those you define. Previously, Facebook users could utilize lists to allow certain groups of people to see certain things. For example, some users allowed all of their friends to see their Info tab, but not their Wall by using these privacy settings. Facebook users should be aware that with these new privacy features recently rolled out, all friends of a Facebook user can now see all areas of another friend’s profile by default.
This flaw in Facebook’s new privacy features means that those who previously blacklisted certain friends or family from seeing certain types of posts — or the wall entirely — can now see this information. Users will have to visit their Facebook privacy settings to change the default privacy setting from Friends to Custom to revert their privacy settings back to what they were before Facebook implemented these changes. Otherwise, any friend on Facebook can, by default, see all of your Facebook content, except for photo albums previously marked as private. (Users can optionally change the privacy of each post using the inline settings, but this can become time-consuming and burdensome, especially if the same settings consistently apply to the same people.)
This “flaw” with Facebook’s new privacy settings highlights the concern that some users on Facebook do not want other friends to see media that they post. While you can take the time to change your default privacy settings, this may be a good time to think about whether you should be posting these photos or status updates to Facebook — or anywhere online — at all. There is nothing that prevents a user with access to the restricted media from copying and disseminating it to other friends or publicly. And remember — Facebook owns your data. There is no guarantee that restricted material will stay private forever.
Have you been impacted by Facebook’s new privacy features? Let us know your thoughts about the new default settings and inline features in the comments below
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