Facebook launches new guide to understanding your security settings

By David Nield April 5, 2015

facebook launches new guide to understanding your security settings primer — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you don’t fully understand the privacy and security settings associated with your account, then you’re not alone — Facebook has tried many times to explain everything in simple terms, and this weekend it’s giving it another go with a new set of guides in its Privacy Basics portal. They cover topics such as setting a secure password, identifying a trusted contact, and looking for suspicious activity on your account.

“We’ve expanded Privacy Basics to include 11 new visual and interactive guides,” writes Facebook’s Melissa Luu-Van on the company blog. “They focus on the tools we make available to help you secure your account, the steps we take to keep your information secure, and the ways you can recognize and avoid attempts to compromise your information. The content is available in 40 languages and ready to be accessed wherever you are — on your phone, desktop, or tablet.”

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“Online threats are a growing concern for people, and our hope is that this helps people better understand how to stay safe and secure on Facebook,” adds Luu-Van. The Privacy Basics section launched last November with a new look and new content but Facebook is always tweaking its help guides and resources to try and get important information over to users.

Most of the new content provided by Facebook offers step-by-step guidance to measures users need to take (like logging out on public computers) as well as background information it’s helpful to know about (like how Facebook deals with the data requests it receives from governments). If you’ve never fully understood just how security and privacy works on the site, then the updated set of guides might be of use.

Naturally, once you’ve read through a guide, you have the option to share it with your friends on Facebook.

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Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…

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