Facebook Settings 2021

No child under the age of 13 should be permitted to create their own Facebook account. There are no built-in parental controls available on the platform. For teens creating an account it, is best to manage the General Account Settings to ensure profiles are as protected as possible. Parents are advised to have full access to their children’s account by sharing it and having the application installed on their own device. This enables a parent to see in actual time what content is being consumed by the child, the contacts who the child interacts with, Friend requests, and the Messages the child sends and more importantly receives.

 

Parents also need to be aware of the Personal Data collected by Facebook and the potential for harm in the future. Society is still coming to terms with the negative implications surrounding the harvesting of Personal Data, it’s sale to third parties and the subsequent use of it. Please take a moment to read any terms and conditions before downloading any application.

 

Age Rating         PG Parental Guidance

It’s strongly recommended children under 13 years do not use Facebook

 

Restrictions Available

• Ad Preferences
• Inappropriate Content
• Online Chat
• Privacy
• Limit Social Network Posts and Contacts
• Prevent Identity Theft

 

 

Setting up the Privacy and Security Settings

• Log in to the Facebook account using the email address and password
• Select the three lines on the top righthand side of the screen
• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen then select Settings and Privacy.
• Now select the Privacy Shortcut option
• A menu will appear on screen which has a variety of different settings to review. It is important to take time to go through each of the individual sections to ensure the account is secured to meet the needs of the child or teen using the application. For now, however select Review a few important privacy settings

 

 

• Select Who can see what you share, this menu allows you to restrict access to your Personal Information, Posts and stories and there is also an option to Block specific Facebook accounts
• Select Continue on the page which opens
• Where personal information is concerned, it is strongly advised that no personal information should be accessible to anyone on this platform. Often people over share too much personal information, which could be used to target an individual through Social Engineering or leave the account holder vulnerable to identity theft
• By setting all options to Only Me, no personal information is available to other platform users
• Once finished select Next

 

 

• Select the Posts and Stories option
• When it opens select Future Posts. It is important to limit who will have access to this content as countless people have done incredible harm to their Online Reputation by posting inappropriate content. Review this carefully with your child or teen and discuss the implications for posting or sharing negative or harmful content
• Return to the menu and select Who can see your story. Again, serious consideration is required regarding who will be able to access the content shared on the platform. The more restricted it is the better. However, parents need to remember that a post shared on the platform may be reshared by other users.

 

 

• If your child or teen has had an account and has been active on the platform for some time, if there is content which has been posted which would reflect negatively upon them, by selecting the Limit option all previous posts to date will be limited regarding who can access them. Once this option is selected, a user will have to go back through any post that has been shared to change it manually if they wish to make it available to other users who are outside of the limit being set.

 

 

Setting up the Security Settings

• Log in to the Facebook account using the email address and password
• Select the three lines on the top righthand side of the screen

 

 

• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen then select Settings and Privacy.
• Now select the Privacy Shortcut option
• This menu permits you to
  • Update your personal Information to change
    • Name
    • Contact info
    • Identity Confirmation
    • Manage Account
      • Legacy account
      • Deactivation Settings
    • Change your password
    • Get alerts about unrecognized logins
      • Ensure this option is activated to ensure that you are immediately made aware should someone other than you attempt to, or be successful in logging in to your account
    • Use two-factor authentication
      • It is strongly advised that Two-factor authentication is enabled to protect the account. Also, we would advise against using a mobile phone number as the second form of authentication. Instead use an authentication app.

 

 

Setting up Ad preferences

• Log in to the Facebook account using the email address and password
• Select the three lines on the top righthand side of the screen
• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen then select Settings and Privacy.
• Now select the Privacy Shortcut option
• Select Ad Preferences
• Select the appropriate settings under each category
  • Learn about ads
    1. What data is used
    2. Your Controls
    3. Why you see a particular ad
    4. FAQ
  • Ad Preferences
    • Advertisers
    • Ad Topics
    • Ad Settings – Select this option to manage Ad preferences
  • See your Ad settings

 

 

• • Select this option to manage your ad settings

 

 

How to access Your Facebook information

• Log in to the Facebook account using the email address and password
• Select the three lines on the top righthand side of the screen
• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen then select Settings and Privacy.
• Now select the Privacy Shortcut option
• Select Your Facebook Information
• Select Access your information

 

 

Your Activity Across Facebook

• These options afford the ability to review many of the essential controls relating to Posts, photos, Video’s, Comments, Messages, Groups and many more. Each setting should be reviewed individually to ensure the appropriate settings for a young user

 

 

• Adult Facebook users should also take a moment to familiarise themselves with these settings to protect their own accounts

 

 

How to access and download all your Facebook activity and Information

• Log in to the Facebook account using the email address and password
• Select the three lines on the top righthand side of the screen
• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen then select Settings and Privacy.
• Now select the Privacy Shortcut option

 

 

• Select Your Facebook Information
• Scroll to the bottom of the screen and select Download Your Information
• On the screen that opens, scroll to the bottom of the screen, and select a Date Range, if you are looking for specific information. Otherwise select Create File to download all content

 

 

How to access the Facebook Safety Centre for Parents

• Log in to the Facebook account using the email address and password
• Select the three lines on the top righthand side of the screen
• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen then select Settings and Privacy.
• Now select the Privacy Shortcut option
• Select the Find resources for parents
• There is a wide variety of options regarding educational content for parents here which provide information on
  • Get to Know Facebook
  • Parenting Tips
  • Expert Advice
  • Our family of companies

 

 

How to set up your account by doing it manually

• Log in to the Facebook account using the email address and password
• Select the three lines on the top righthand side of the screen
• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen then select Settings and Privacy
• From here you will be able to access all the above settings. Using Privacy Shortcuts enables you to use these settings far faster

 

Other important settings

General

• Allows you to change the account holders contact information
• You can choose to direct notifications to your own inbox
• It is possible to deactivate the account also under this heading

 

Security and Login         

• Allows you to change the password for the account
• It is strongly advised you activate two-factor authentication with an authentication app
• It is possible to see what devices are connected to the account. Check this regularly and deactivate any devices you don’t recognise it

 

Your Facebook Information       

• This is an important setting as it permits you to view, download, all activity history on the account
• It is also possible to delete the personal information gathered by Facebook

 

Privacy

• This setting determines whether the account profile is Public, Only Friends or Customized
  • Manage who can see the account activity
  • Manage who can friend requests can be received from
  • Manage who can access personal information connected to the account
  • Manage who can make contact with the account holder
  • Manage who can make contact with the account holder
  • Manage whether the account profile will appear in search engine results

 

Timeline and Tagging

• Another important setting which allows you to adjust whether others can tag the account holder in photos or posts of their own.
• This should always be restricted and ensure posts are reviewed when the account holder is tagged before it appears on a timeline

 

Blocking

• Enable the account holder to block others from viewing you’re the account holder’s posts, send messages or event invites.
• It is also possible to block entire Facebook pages

 

Face Recognition

• Enables the user to set whether Facebook will be able to recognize the user in photos and videos. It is strongly advised to disable this feature

 

Public Posts

• Enables the user to regulate access to the users’ public posts, including who can Follow, Like or Comment

 

Controlling the News Feed

It is possible to review and block content on a post-by-post basis

• Open the Facebook App
• On any post select the Three Dot Icon in the top-right corner of the post
• A drop-down menu will give four options from which you can
  • Hide the post from the Feed
  • Snooze the source for 30 days
  • Unfollow the source
  • Give feedback on the post

 

How to verify the source of the content posted on Facebook Pages

• Select the name of the profile who has posted the post in the newsfeed on a PC
• Under the post’s cover photo select the More information icon in the bottom-right corner
• Hang the mouse over it to see Show more information about this link and select it
• An About This Website pop up will appear
• Some basic information about the host will become available such as
• A summary of what the profile host does,
• The time they have existed on Facebook
• When the post was shared etc…

 

If you don’t trust the source, use the tools outlined above to report, unfollow, or block them.

 

How to review Privacy settings using a Smartphone

• Open the Facebook App on the device
• Select the settings option which a box containing three dots under the profile owner’s name
• Scroll down to View Privacy shortcuts there is a picture of a padlock next to it

 

In this section the following options are available

Under the Privacy option you will need review

Please review this information in the account profile and decide who should be able to access it. Review each of these and set them as appropriate to the specific needs of the user

The options available to secure each option under the heading are Public, Friends or Only Me

• Who can see what you share?
• Email
• Birthday
• Relationship
• Current City
• Friend and Following
• Future Posts
• Limit Past posts
• Blocking

 

How to keep your account secure

Review your password settings

Notification if your account is accessed from an unknown device or location

 

How people can find you on Facebook

Who can send you friend’s requests?

Who can look you up by your name and email address?

 

Your Data Settings on Facebook

Review the Apps and websites from other companies you’ve used Facebook to log into and have regularly used. You can remove any that you no longer use here.

 

By taking your time and slowly going through each of these settings, it is possible to enable a more private Facebook account. However, while this may prevent unsolicited contact with children, they will still encounter posts and content created by individuals with who may be strangers. Therefore, it is so important to regularly monitor their newsfeed, friends list, likes, shares, comments, and messages.