Securing Facebook profiles.

   The article I read was 5 ways to secure your Facebook profile in a post-Timeline world, written by Logan Kugler, and was published on February 7, 2012.
   Facebook's recent timeline feature causes a major security and privacy issue. This new layout presents all current, and past activities on Facebook, in a convenient timeline format that is available to anyone who can access the profile. The five ways to help secure your profile are limit connections, tailor tags, rein in app permissions, stop others from taking your information with them, and reduce your social footprint.
   Limting your connections refers to editing your personal privacy settings, which are accessible by clicking on the arrow in the right-hand corner of your home page. The first three settings set who can look up your profile and see contact information, and who can submit a friend request and send you messages. According to the article, for maximum privacy, change the first and third settings to Friends. The second setting governs who can send Friend requests. The more secure choice would be Friends of Friends, but that would limit your connectivity on the world's largest social network.
   Tailoring your tags allows you to take control of your profile's privacy, as some taggings can be pretty invasive. Disabling the fourth setting on the list makes it harder for friends to tag large quantities of photos featuring you or other people that look like you. The last setting is most important because it determines whether or not friends can check you into places. This wil allow friends to broadcast your location, even without permission. 
    The Rein in app permissions refers to allowing certain apps to have access to your profile information. The privacy fix for this is somewhat difficult and time-consuming since each app's settings must be tweaked individually. Also some permissions cannot be altered, so if you don't like certain information being accessible by apps, then remove it.
   Stopping others from taking your information with them is another important privacy issue. Other users may be able to bring your personal information with them when they use apps and websites. Unchecking all the boxes next to each informations category in the edit settigns of 'How people bring your info to apps they use", will prevent others from using your personal data.
    The final way to secure your profile is by reducing your social footprint. Basically if you don't want someone to read or see something, then don't post it. Deleting certain posts can take forever because it has to be done individually. As a precaution, you can also limit posts to just friends, however there are dowfalls to this as well. Use your common sense! Future employers have access to the internet and know how to use it.