For those worried about their data on Facebook, here are some steps that will protect you well – as far as is possible – in a social network where the connectivity between persons and personal data is the main purpose.
Limitate the connections.
Click on the arrow at top right corner of your facebook profile, and select “Privacy Settings” from the drop-down menu.
Then click “Edit Settings” and select “How You Connect”.
The first three options manage who can see your basic information, such as contact information, with who you can become friends and who can send you a private message. For maximum security change the first and the third options to “Friends”. So you will exclude all strangers.
The second option keeps control over who may ask you to become friends. This depends on how open you are and how picky you are. The best choice for maximum security-Friends of Friends, but this reduces the chance of finding new contacts. If you don’t wish to do, leave it “Everyone”.
The last two options control who can “post” in your timeline, and who can see your posts. Apparently, “only me” is the safest option, but selecting this reduces your interaction with your firend and maybe it’s better, just to quit Facebook.
Another privacy issue is the tags. The choice “How Tags Work” must be set carefully, that because this gives the right to your friends to tag you in their photos, videos or even wall updates.
The options “Timeline Review” and ”Tag Review” are very useful and you should pay attention on setting them up. If you want to keep control over tagging, you should enable both of these options for maximum privacy.
The third option – “Maximum Timeline Visibility”, must be set to “Friends” or customized to specific friends in order to make sure that your posts, cannot be seen by anyone.
Last step, turn off the fourth and the fifth option -”Tag Suggestions” and “Friends Can Check You Into Places” for maximum privacy and less private data.
In general, avoid posts which include your position, or report that you are -or will be- away from your house. Even if you have only 1 friend in facebook, you never know if his account get hacked, and who can see your pricate data.