Top 10 Ways To Protect Your Privacy On Facebook

1. Customize who can view what on your page. The privacy settings of your Facebook account allow you to customize a fair amount when it comes to who can see what on your page. Setting wall posts, pictures from others and other items so that only friends or specific people can see them is a great way to improve your privacy.
2. Understand what information can be viewed by the public. While you can customize how much of your profile is visible to strangers, a few bits of info are always available for public review. This includes your profile picture, name, fan pages and networks. As such, being cautious with these specific profile features may help guard your privacy.
3. Hide your profile from Web searches. Facebook allows you to block your profile from showing up in search engine results. This can be toggled on and off by finding the "Search" section in the "Settings" of your account.
4. Get rid of third-party applications. Adding an app to your profile allows that app to access information you post in your profile. To limit the information that is pulled from your page, delete all those one-time quiz apps and any apps you don't use anymore.
5. Be selective of who you add as a friend. Your Facebook page is supposed to be a place where you can be yourself and interact with friends. If a co-worker or employer asks to be your friend on Facebook, it may behoove you to politely decline. If you wish, you may point your business associates to a LinkedIn account.
6. Ask friends to consider your privacy when posting pictures and other info. While you can limit what you post and say on Facebook, pictures and wall posts from friends can often be out of your control. Make it known to your friends if there is any type of material you would prefer not be posted to Facebook.
7. Be aware of who is in your networks. Members of school and employer networks may have the same level of access to your profile as your friends. As such you might consider cleaning up your networks to limit those who can see your whole profile. You can also adjust your settings to limit visibility of non-friends who are in your networks.
8. Customize visible profile information. Basic info about yourself, such as birthday and employer, may seem innocuous to you, but that may not always be the case. For example, birthdays are often a security question asked by credit card companies to validate identity. As such, it may be a good idea to limit what information is visible on your profile.
9. Opt out of Facebook ads. By default, Facebook is authorized to use your names, actions and likeness in ads used within your Facebook network of friends. If you wish, you can opt out of this by visiting the Facebook Ads tab in the Privacy Settings section of your page.
10. Hide your list of friends from the public. At one time, your list of friends was considered public record by Facebook. However, concerns about how some friendships might invade privacy have resulted in the ability to hide your list of friends so it doesn't show up on your profile.