A Parent's Guide to Facebook

By now, parents are probably well aware of Facebook, the popular social networking site that allows users age 13 and over to register as members. If you've got teens or tweens, they're likely on it ... and you might even be too.

There are over 400 million active users around the world using Facebook to maintain personal profiles, add friends, post links and random thoughts, and share photos and videos. And according to a February report by the Pew Research Center, over 73% of American teens who are online now use social networking websites. That's a lot of people putting details about their lives on the Internet. And new changes to Facebook are exposing more personal information than ever before.

So, what does a parent need to know about Facebook? Here's what every parent should know about privacy settings, preventing cyberbullying, and the do's and don'ts of becoming a Facebook parent.

Facebook Privacy

Back in the "olden days" of Facebook (circa 2004), members had to be college students. In 2005, Facebook membership was opened up to high school students, and then on to anyone over age 13 with a valid email address. Increasing levels of exposure of personal information have accompanied the site's expansion. For instance, the newest Facebook revamp makes it virtually impossible to make details such as gender, profile picture, and "likes and interests" from being displayed publicly. And that's for the people who know how to control the confusing privacy settings that Facebook offers.

A recent Consumer Reports survey found that 23 percent of Facebook users either did not know the site offered privacy controls or chose not to use them. Translation? A whole lot of people are exposing everything from last night's party photos to their phone numbers and location, and many of those users are teenagers.

Why does it matter? For one thing, recent studies show that some college admissions officers use Facebook to take a peek at prospective students, which means that those incriminating photos aren't just embarrassing: they could actually hurt your child's chances at future success.

It may sound dire, but there are steps you can take to make sure you and your child are safer on Facebook. It all comes down to the privacy settings that control who can see what.

Privacy Settings 101

Believe it or not, it takes about 50 clicks to make you or your child's profile as private as it can be. Want to go the extra mile? To edit your privacy settings, log in to your Facebook account or work with your child on his account. Select "Account" in the upper right hand corner of the page, and click on "Privacy Settings." Once you've got that in front of you, follow these steps:

• Personal Information and Posts Select "Only Friends" for each item to make sure no one else can view information on your bio, birthday, religious and political views and more. Make Photo Albums viewable to only friends or customize further by specifying individuals who can or cannot view the album.
• Contact Information Select "Only Friends" for each item to make sure no one else can view information on your phone number, email, address and more. You may want to select "Friends of Friends" or "Only Friends" under "Add me as a friend" and "Send me a message."
• Friends, Tags and Connections Select "Only Friends" for each item to make sure no one else can view information on your relationships, education, hometown and more.
• Applications and Websites Facebook can share some of your information with other websites, and Facebook applications can also utilize details about you. Under "What your friends can share about you," make sure no boxes are selected. Select "Only Friends" for "Activity on Applications and Games Dashboards." Disallow the "Instant Personalization Pilot Program" by unclicking the box that would "allow select partners to instantly personalize their features with my public information when I first arrive on their websites."
• Search Edit whether your profile can be found through search, both on Facebook and through web search.
• Block List Block individuals from interacting with you, if necessary.

Select "Preview my post" to see how your profile appears to others. According to Facebook, name, gender, profile picture, and pages that you "like" are considered public information and are impossible to hide.