Internet Research 5 Team Assignment

Social media sites have options for users to secure their accounts and increase their privacy. Facebook has many of these options available to their users. Facebook users can change their security and privacy settings at any time. Users can choose to log in with a password or by clicking on a profile pic. Users can access their login history which shows all the devices that have attempted to access their account. They can also turn on alerts about unrecognized logins. To ensure the user never gets locked out of their account, Facebook has an option to choose 3-5 friends to contact in the event a user is unable to login.

            Facebook has many privacy settings to allow users to control who can see their content and personal information. There are options to limit who can post on your timeline, what others can view on your page, restrict who can see stories, hide certain posts, review posts/pictures/videos you are tagged in before they are posted, control who may send a friend requests, and many more options. There is also a choice to opt out of other users finding you by name or email. Users can also choose if they want their account to be accessible by a search engine.

In addition to restrictions, Facebook has many options pertaining to blocking. Users may block profiles, messages, posts, app and event invites, app and pages, and more. If a user blocks someone’s profile, they will not see anything you post, cannot search for you, and cannot message you and that user, in turn, can not view the blocked profile. Users are able to block or unblock at any time.

To protect users from potential threats of hacking and/or accessing a user’s account, it is advisable to change your password often. Users should also use caution when turning their location on. Facebook also tracks your location history, so users can choose to disable that feature. Users should check the profile of a user sending a friend request to ensure it is safe. Facebook updates their site often, so users should review the terms often and check to see if any settings have changed with every update. Users can also opt in to require a two-factor authorization code to be sent before making any changes.