Privacy Setting Alert

Something you might want to check on your ever-evolving, always defaulted to "open," Facebook privacy settings-- There is now (and has been for some users for a while, although I didn't have it) a box just floating randomly on the main Privacy Settings page that says "Let friends of people tagged in my photos and posts see them." That means that regardless of your other settings, all the friends of any person you tag in anything will see that particular item. So if I tag three people in a photo, not only will my friends see it, but all of their friends will also see it on their newsfeeds. Handle this as you see fit, but I unchecked it. 

Of course, if you want all your friends to see a photo tagged of you in someone else's album, and they've turned off this setting as I have... just copy it and post it yourself. Because, as Zuckerberg pointed out, once someone posts a photo or status on the internet, it's out there for people to take and repost or archive at their whimsy.

If you tag yourself in a photo, it will also show in your friends' newsfeeds.

There is a separate setting to control this somewhat from the other perspective, as a tag-ee. Under Privacy Settings>Customize Settings>Things Others Share, there is a setting for "photos and videos you're tagged in" and you can set that to whatever you want. If you've ever had to literally beg someone to take down a photo (as I have) you can set this to "Only Me" and no one on Facebook will get a notification that you were tagged in someone else's photo or video. Friends of theirs (or everyone on Facebook, or whomever they've set to see their pics) can still see the photo, but it won't be specifically pointed out that you're in it.

Speaking of taking down photos, Lauren made me take down another cute one of her the other day. Booooo. It's of her and Jake Thomas from the Lizzie McGuire show (Hilary Duff's big show) on the Disney Channel years ago. Her very first fan photo! She was ten. And so excited to meet him. That was also the day I met Bob Schneider, so I was pretty psyched as well. If I had a photo of THAT, it would be all over my Facebook.