What to Do When You Goof on Facebook

Here’s the deal: we all “like” stuff we don’t necessarily want people to know about. Like, is naturally in quotes here because it refers to the practice of blithely clicking a button that says “like” on an image, a video, a blog post, an article, an essay, etc. What we forget, sometimes, is that we’ve previously given a website permission to interact with Facebook and to let the Facebook universe know about our “likes.”

It DOES come to our collective attention when a “friend” (and yes, now I’m just being silly with the superfluous quotation marks) “likes” something that uh, I have to cover with black boxes to both hide that “friend’s” identity and the nearly naked body of a “public figure”/sexy model.

It may have happened to you. It may be happening right now, without your knowledge. I’ve done it (well, not quite THIS badly), and close friends (minus quotes) have done it, too. So given the inevitability of the situation, what do you do, when you “like” something private out loud?

1. Manage the situation. If it’s brought to your attention, or you suddenly notice, get into Facebook and UNLIKE that page.
2. Review your “likes” to make sure they’re appropriate for public sharing. If you don’t like what you see, fix it.
3. Take note of the privacy shortcuts and settings — the little “lock” icon in the top right hand corner of your Facebook profile. Pay attention to who can see what you post.
4. Go into App Settings (under settings) and make sure you’re comfortable with what apps have access to your Facebook account, and who can see what’s cross posted from those apps. You may be surprised at permissions you’ve unknowingly given in the past.