New Facebook Privacy Tweaks

Facebook has finally rolled out its new privacy center, which offers some long-awaited features (preapproved photo tags!) and reintroduces some older, lesser-known security options.

Some of the most important facebook privacy center features which you should know are summarized below.

1. Approve tags before they're published.

Facebook finally lets you approve tagged photos and posts of you before they land on your profile. How many times has a friend tagged you in an embarrassing photo?


To Configure Tagging Privacy:
Go to Account -> Privacy Settings and you'll see an option "How tags work". Hit "Edit Settings" next to it and you'll be prompted to edit your Tagging Settings. Now, every time someone tags you in a status, photo, or place, the post will appear in the Pending approval section on your profile.






2. Decide who gets to see your posts.

Facebook reintroduced selective posting in this privacy update (in order to compete with google plus). Once you write your status, click on the small triangle next to the Post button to make the post visible to: friends, public (anyone on the Internet), or custom (exclude individuals or lists).


To change the visibility after you've posted, head back to the post on your wall, hover over it, and click the drop-down menu in the upper-right to change the visibility.









3. Change privacy for any profile item.

It's now much easier to change the privacy for every element of your profile. For example, you can share your hometown with everyone, but your birthday to just your friends. Or, make it so that only close friends can see who you're in a relationship with.


Go to your profile and select Edit profile at the upper-right corner of the page. Then head to one of the categories (on the left) and change the privacy of its elements using the drop-down menu next to each field.








4. Select the default privacy setting for posts.

Head to your privacy settings, and scroll down to "Control your Default Privacy." Here, you can select the default audience for all your posts--Public, Friends, or Custom.
Tip: If you frequently post content you'd rather keep private from a certain group of people, create a list of all those people and exclude them by default using the Custom option in this privacy setting.



5. Preview your public profile.

Once you make all the privacy tweaks, see how your profile appears to certain friends or anyone on the Web.

Go to your profile and select "View profile as..." in the upper-right corner. Enter a friends name or select the public link in the instructions above the field to see what it looks like to everyone.