Photo: _Max-B / Flickr

Facebook is a great way to share information with friends and family but sometimes not everything one posts is as private as one hopes ‑ information can be accessed by people who are not ‘friends’ if your Facebook privacy settings are incorrectly set. If you would like to know how to control who sees what on your Facebook page, and haven’t yet figured out how to do this, read on. These tips will make your online social networking experience a whole lot safer.

Where to find your Privacy Settings

Head across to the Account Settings Menu on the upper right side of your page ‑ and go to the Privacy Settings Menu by clicking on Privacy. Privacy Settings will allow you to view settings and customise settings as well as edit your settings ‑ this option gives you control over your applications and is available at the Apps and Website section.

‘Friends Only’ is a safe option

Friends Only is one of the safest options to choose when you adjust your privacy settings (aside from customising) unless you want everyone to have access to your information. View Settings gives you options on who can see what on your page. Click on ‘Friends Only’ or customise further. Customise Settings is where you can edit what people can see and what they can’t.

Preview your settings

If you have made changes and want to check how your new settings look, click on Preview My Profile under Privacy Settings which will lead you to View Settings. You can also view your information from different friends’ perspectives. Double check that your settings are displaying your information correctly – otherwise re-edit your information accordingly.

You can also get a notification whenever your Facebook account is logged into – you will find this option in Account Security. Account Security (under Account Settings) will also give you the option to click on ‘Secure Browsing’ which facilitates a more secure connection on your computer – so you’re not sharing your information with everyone on the web.

Photo: Facebook

We’ve all seen those disturbing Facebook suicide status updates certain friends post – their disdain for life, morbid thoughts, and complaints of loneliness and lack of love. Sadly, suicide has followed some of these updates and Facebook is looking to combat that. Through an initiative with UK charity Samaritans, the social network will allow its users to report any friends they fear could be suicidal.

How it works

The initiative requires Facebook users fill in a form, with a detailed account of the worrying status updates and posts. Once deemed concerning, the Facebook operations team will give this user prior concern as they decide how to act on what they see.

The Facebook ops team will make a decision to phone either the cops or to hand over that Facebook users’ details to Samaritans. If, however, you don’t want the added effort of going through FB as a conduit, you will have the ability to contact Samaritans directly through a variety of telephone contact on FB’s help page.

Why the sudden concern?

The Facebook suicide curbing initiative follows reports that more and more people have been using the platform as a place to indicate they plan on committing suicide. A 42-year-old named Simone Black had updated to over 1,000 friends she had overdosed, yet authorities were only alerted the following day. For her, it was a day too late, but Facebook Samaritans looks to leverage the power of the network to stop this happening again.

30 million strong

Catherine Johnstone, who is the chief executive at Samaritans, says the scheme looks to leverage the reach of the 30 million strong UK Facebook users to save lives. She says: ‘We want to remind people that if a friend says that life isn’t worth living, they should always be taken seriously.’ She continues, adding ‘Facebook is a part of daily life for so many of us and we must make sure that people online have support when they need it.’ Ultimately the Facebook suicide threats and updates should not be treated as if they were idle, and the Facebook Samaritans initiative is a good place to start.

Say what you will about the social network, but this is a very good initiative.

Photo: Togetherville

Entertainment icon Disney has just purchased a social networks for kids, as the house that Mickey built looks to forward its digital efforts. While the price was undisclosed, it seems an intelligent acquisition for Disney who have been building a lot of their online strategy around digital communities that attract children.

TogetherVille goes Mickey

The social network, called TogetherVille, works much like its more open and much larger counterpart Facebook. The big differentiator, of course, is that it is open to children aged 10 years and younger. In addition it has various parental controls, too, where parents are able to moderate who their children are connecting with – this includes approving each friend their child has, as well as connecting directly with the parents’ Facebook social graph.

It’s a very intelligent system, though, allowing parents to communicate with their children on one level, while also allowing children to connect with their friends – other children – securely.

The one concern is

If one couples TogetherVille with Disney’s massive Club Penguin, it’s obvious to see why the corporation bought this social network for kids. If kids are half as engaged on this platform as adults are Facebook, given Disney’s massive merchandising inventory running from pens to food and even DS games, it will give the company a direct line to children by using its platform to communicate what’s new in the world of Mickey.

Unified effort

Disney has spent a lot of time in recent years acquiring a combination of technology companies, social gaming firms and web services as the company adjusts to the digital age. While Pixar films, merchandising and attendance at Disney’s parks still account for a massive chunk of the company’s revenue, the house that Mickey built clearly sees its future being a digital one.

What do you make of a social network for kids, and do you think it was a smart acquisition?

Photo: Guardian

Months ago rumours began swirling that a Facebook phone with deep integration of the social network’s social graph was being developed. While that may still be true, and under wraps, INQ is the first company to release major Facebook integration on a handset in the form of the INQ Cloud Touch.

What’s in the box?

Outside of integration with the world’s largest social network, the Cloud Touch also has automatic integration to streaming music kingpin, Spotify.

TheGoogle Android 2.2 powered device sports a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen, a 5-megapixel AF camera and a 4GB microSD card. On a more disappointing side, an underwhelming 600MHz Qualcomm processor powers the phone, with the device having a paltry 4MB of internal memory.

It’s not all that bad

In defense of the INQ Cloud Touch, the device is aimed at the young Facebook generation and is positioned as a budget handset, so its specs make sense.

It’s all about Facebook

However, uninspiring specs aside, and even to the discount of Google Android 2.2, this phone is all about the Facebook integration. Facebook Single Sign On is active across the handset, with people being able to check into their locations using Facebook Places, a feature that is active on the user’s homescreen.

Facebook Events is integrated into Google Calendar, too, with the INQ Cloud Touch looking to be the hub for all your Facebook-related tasks.

Furthermore the deep Facebook integration sees a large customizable widget built into the device, allowing you the ability to really stalk your five closest FB friends by leveraging the social network’s social graph.

Pricing and release

The INQ Cloud Touch has been given neither a price tag nor a release date. INQ has, however, given a release window, with the UK being the first region to get the handsets some time in April.

This may not be the Facebook phone we first suspected would be announced, but if it is a sign of what to come, Facebook is coming to the smartphone big time, and it isn’t afraid to use its biggest competitor’s Google Android 2.2 platform to do so, either.

Photo: Facebook

Rumour sirens should be buzzing right now, but this is too huge to ignore: word is a Facebook voice calling service is imminent, and it will be deployed in partnership with none other than the VoIP company, Skype. A Facebook Skype pairing should scare every VoIP service on the web.

‘Call me’ using Facebook

TechRadar reports that a number of Facebook’s users have reported sighting a ‘call’ button upon looking up people’s profiles, which is why a voice calling related announcement is what Facebook has planned for a press event it is holding next week Monday.

The publication followed up with both Skype and Facebook, with both companies, unsurprisingly, offering the classic ‘no comment’ line. Facebook’s spokesperson went one further and gave us the classic: ‘We don’t comment on rumour and speculation and have nothing to announce at this time’. Incidentally, ‘nothing to announce at this time’ reads as ‘something Facebook Skype related to announce later. Like Monday later,’ to me.

The very important connection

Incidentally, Facebook and Skype share a key investor – Silicon Valley ‘statesman’ Marc Andreessen. Known for his ability to connect powerful companies together, and given his elevated position as a member of the board of directors of both companies, it’s safe to say if a viable, mutually beneficial partnership opportunity existed, he would likely push for it.

Be afraid, tech entrepreneurs

In the 80s and 90s, if you were a technology company, no matter what niche you were in you lived in fear of Microsoft coming into your space. The same was true in the 00s regarding what Google would do. Now the same seems true with Facebook.

And while it may be exaggeration to say this brilliant partnership with Skype is proof that Facebook is the new ‘it’ company, how long can the world pretend that it is not? Sure, it’s ‘just’ a social network, but a social network with 600 million strong users is something very different. This Facebook Skype hookup could be very telling. Very telling, indeed. VoIP vendors need to prepare for this potentially huge announcement.

Photo: keepthebyte / Flickr

Game developers who run on the Facebook platform have been given a deadline. Come 1 July 2011, Facebook Credits will be the sole payments methods for any games running on the platform. In other words, Facebook is making it mandatory.

Shore up revenue

The move is the first of many such moves the social network will likely make in the build up to April 2012, when it will reveal its financials for the first time. Having every social game on the platform using Facebook Credits will shore up the company’s revenue even more, since the social network will keep a 30 per cent ‘tax’ on all transactions for FB games.

This isn’t overnight

It’s also important to emphasise that the process isn’t borne of a sudden decision, but has been a long time in the works. Facebook’s been deliberate about getting major social games publishers, like Zynga and EA (who own Playdom) to adopt Facebook Credits. While this was once the cause of a major rift between the social network and Zynga, it seems all is sorted between the two companies.

What’s more, it stands to reason that Facebook social games are only the first product category required to pay the social network if businesses plan on building out on that platform. Everything from virtual gifts, to music startups, to whatever social startups use Facebook as their launch pad will be required to do their billing exclusively through Facebook Credits at some point.

Facebook proliferation

In short, Facebook’s play to become a legitimate business beyond just advertising is in motion. Credits has the potential to be a big money spinner for the company, and if they play their cards right and this momentum continues, Zuckerburg and company will be drawing revenue from more than just social games and gifts. Add music, films, and most any appropriate business that could leverage the social network’s social graph.

What’s to stop the company from becoming a legitimate payments platform using smartphones if they’re smart about it? Not much. Not much.

Photo: opensourceway / Flickr

Not sure if you read the news recently, but Facebook, the world’s largest social network, that also happens to have a mountain of information on you, wanted to push the envelope further with how it treats your privacy. How much more could they push the envelope, you ask? Oh, just by sharing your home address and telephone number with third-party Facebook developers, that’s how. Crazy? Absolutely!

Whoa, Nancy!

Naturally, there was quite a stir as a result of Facebook pulling this stunt, with tech pundits accusing the social network of not doing enough to inform users of the change. This move for third-party Facebook developers was justified with the social network pointing out that whenever users sign up with a developer that requests this info, they’re asked if you’re prepared to allow this.

The problem is the info box that requests this information is so small that most web users are likely to agree to it without so much as batting an eye – because they won’t even notice it. No, not because it’s tiny, but because of how at that point, we’ll just be skimming the information.

Okay, we’re sorry

Facebook has since changed their minds about this initiative, putting it on hold for the time being, citing the feedback they got as a reason for the change. In a blog post announcing the change, the company says: ‘Over the weekend, we got some useful feedback that we could make people more clearly aware of when they are granting access to this data. We agree, and we are making changes to help ensure you only share this information when you intend to do so.’

While they get their ducks in a row – or make it more explicit to users that they could be sharing their telephonic and address details with Facebook developers – the social network has put the initiative on hold.

Tags for this article: Facebook, Facebook privacy, social network

Photo: waldopepper / Flickr

Remember Goldman Sachs made an investment in Facebook that would value the company at an eye-watering $50 billion? Can that even be the true Facebook valuation? Depending on who you believe, that may be too little. A play on the famous line from The Social Network would be: ‘You know what’s cooler than $50 billion? One trillion dollars.’

One. Trillion. Dollars

Silicon Alley Insider reported this story based on what they’ve been told by sources. ‘Last night, we heard from two industry sources close to top Facebook execs that these days, when the company hires you, you’re told the goal is to turn Facebook into the world’s first TRILLION dollar company,’ they wrote.

They continue the piece asking the inevitable: ‘So how does Facebook get to be a trillion dollar company?’ before throwing up their hands in defeat. ‘But $1 trillion? We haven’t a clue.’

Back of the napkin maths

I mean, let’s be fair here for a second – Apple, who are the second biggest company in the world by market cap, and make $60 billion revenue annually, have an overall market value of $300 billion. Exxon Mobile, who are the biggest company in the world, routinely hover in the $400 billion range. Facebook would need to be two and a half times larger than the current biggest player in the game by market cap to reach this ridiculous target.

Flashback

It’s remarkable to think Facebook was started just seven short years ago. Now it’s one of the biggest companies in the world, by any measure, with over 600 million users, and this could quite possibly hit the 1 billion mark. People can debate the Facebook valuation until the cows come home, but what is undeniable is its reach.

It’s the first app many smartphone users first download, and with word emerging that an official Facebook-powered and branded phone, built on Android, is on the horizon, folks began wondering how many more avenues the company can leverage its social graph.

What do you make of the Facebook valuation? Bogus or, somehow, amazingly, ridiculously possible?

Photo: Facebook

Social network Facebook seems to be able to do no wrong. Even though privacy scares are par for the course, the service continues to add users relentlessly, sell shares at high prices on secondary markets, and raise money at unbelievable valuation levels. The latest investor in Facebook is none other than finance titan Goldman Sachs, who were involved in a $500 million round, raising Facebook’s valuation to an unreal $50 billion dollars.

This is happening

The NYT’s Dealbook reported the deal, which also sees previous Facebook Investor DST upping its stake in the company. The Goldman Facebook deal will see the finance giant reportedly put up $450 million (£290,41m), while DST added to its trunk full of Facebook stock to the tune of $50 million (£32.27m). At this valuation of $50 billion (£32.27b), it means Goldman roughly owns 0.9 per cent of the social network, while DST adds 0.1 percent to the stake it already has.

An additional component of the deal sees Goldman having the option to sell $75 million (£48.4m) of its Facebook stake to DST.

Thanks for that IPO

Not only does the Goldman Facebook deal validate the social network’s amazing valuation by a titan in finance, it also paves the way for Facebook’s inevitable IPO. More importantly for Goldman, it puts the company in pole position to handle the IPO, which could be a very healthy bounty indeed.

What’s next for Facebook

It’s proving very difficult to predict how far Facebook’s momentum will carry the company. The social networking giant scored a major symbolic victory over Google recently, getting more US visitors than the search engine. Furthermore, there are already rumblings that it has crossed the 600 million users mark, only a short few months after it reached the half a billion users milestone.

Who would’ve thought that we’d be speaking about a Goldman Facebook deal? More importantly, who could have predicted a short few years ago that the social networking group, which is at home on smartphones, computers and likely more devices in coming months, would grow to the magnitude it has?

Photo: Facebook

The computing landscape changes faster than any other industry in the world. Google, a company founded in 1998, that was all-conquering, holding a massive share of all the internet users in the entire world - that rose to prominence and an IPO in a short six years has been eclipsed in the US by a company that was started a short six years ago itself, Facebook. As ridiculous as that description sounds, Facebook got more visitors in 2010 than Google did. Talk about the Google Facebook rivalry getting intense.

Hitwise stats

The latest Experian Hitwise statistics show that facebook.com was the most visited webpage between January and November 2010, representing the first time the company eclipsed Google in terms of visitor numbers. In terms of monthly visitors, Facebook first eclipsed Google back in March, but this is the very first time this has happened over the course of a year.

Thanks for the traffic guys

What’s funny about Facebook taking the lead in the Google Facebook rivalry is the search giant’s hand in all of it – forwarding a large percentage of those users to the social network. How many, you ask? Oh, the term ‘Facebook’ was the top-ranked search term on the engine for two years running, with four of the ten top terms including the word ‘Facebook in it’.

Not outright victory

The victory is not outright, though, with all the websites under Google’s network accounting for all 9.85% of US visits. Facebook got 8.93% of those visits. Again, one has to be mindful that Google’s network includes YouTube, which is, oh, only the fifth most visited site in the US, as well as Gmail.com, too.

The Facebook revolution

With Facebook reportedly launching their own branded smartphone in 2011, and Google ploughing on with its gangbuster-performing Android smartphone OS, it’s clear the Google Facebook rivalry is only just starting.