Who can see your Facebook posts?

Hey guys!

So, you may have seen us on The Doctors recently talking about the scary digital kidnapping trend and sharing tips on how to keep your family photos safe online.

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(If not, check it out here)

Based on your feedback, we wanted to highlight specific Facebook privacy settings to help you get comfortable knowing what level of security your family photos have.

 

Posting

When you go to share that picture of your kid’s first ice cream cone, click on the drop-down menu inside the post (it may say “Public” or “Friends”).

posting

 Image source: Facebook Help Center

If you click “More Options” you can change it to “Only Me” if you really want to be private, OR you can click “Custom” to create a list of people who can see this image.

Note: Look at your photo (like a private investigator). Make sure that no school logos, recognizable landmarks, or other uniquely identifying markers are present in a photo of your child if you are concerned about that living “out there”. Even though your privacy settings are in order, your friend’s could be set to “Friends of Friends” or “Public”.

 

Privacy Settings

Because technology is always changing, it’s a good idea to go to your privacy settings and make sure no one can Google your Facebook profile. When’s the last time you’ve looked at your Facebook privacy settings? Us? Well, it had been a while not counting the research we did for this post.

settings

Image source: Facebook Help Center

 

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Bottom Line

If you put something out there, be it credit card numbers, pictures, or text, you’re going to have to live with the possibility that it’s out there for anyone to see. Digital security is a growing field, but it’s growing in response to technology and hackers. Any time someone texts, Whatsapps, emails, Facebooks, Instagrams (those are words…we checked), etc. a photo, whoever can see that image can download and re-share it any number of ways. The good news is that most people aren’t creepy ne’er do wells waiting for the opportunity to wreak havoc. The bad news is that “private” isn’t as private as it once was. (This picture of a 2-year-old went viral.)

Here’s how easy it is to save someone else’s picture from Facebook:

Screen Shot 2015-04-21 at 4.19.05 PMScreen Shot 2015-04-21 at 4.19.27 PM

(I’m not Facebook friends with the person who posted this picture on Titania’s Timeline, by the way.)

**creepy music plays in background**

All you have to do is click on the image and either 1) click on “options”, 2) take a screenshot or 3) good ol’ right-click it and it’s on your desktop. If you’re on a phone, it’s just a tap of a button (or two) to take a screenshot of an image. If all else fails, you can even take a picture of your screen with your phone (or camera if you’re really old school). The point is, anyone who can see this image can save it and use it as they wish.

**creepy music intensifies**

Here’s a rule of thumb to keep in mind: Are you comfortable with strangers seeing this picture? No? Then don’t share it.

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Bad Luck Brian says, “My friend posted this online and now I’m a meme.”

We hope this helps in some small way, and please email us (support@mykidslink.com) if you have any questions about keeping your family’s data safe online.

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