Understanding Facebook privacy settings: part three

Continuing our discussion of privacy on Facebook from our previous posts on general privacy and timeline and blocking, we’re diving into privacy and application use.

Apps

The Apps menu, located on the left-hand side of settings underneath the “Public Posts” menu, shows you the full list of apps that you’ve allowed Facebook access to. Every app will list what information it is gathering from your Facebook account, such as a date of birth or your Friends List. If you’re worried that one (or more) of your apps is collecting too much information about you, you can prevent an app in this list from connecting to your Facebook profile by clicking on the “X” button, which is found next to the Edit pencil icon near its name. This will not erase any previously collected data, however, and will only apply after you remove the app.

Underneath this list, the Apps section has four other box sections:

Apps, Websites, and Plugins

This section lets you determine if you want Platform to be Enabled or Disabled. In other words, if you readily use apps and games through Facebook and/or prefer a customized user experience, then leave Platform on. If you want to have a more ‘hidden’ experience from applications, games and ad tailoring, choose to disable Platform.

Game and App Notifications

Getting too many notifications from your apps and games? In this field, you can decide whether or not you’d like to receive any game/application notifications from Facebook, Gameroom, etc. If you switch to “Turn Off,” you can stop receiving pesky notifications without inhibiting your ability to play the games. If you don’t regularly use your apps or games any longer, turning these notifications off could help keep your notifications inbox clear.

Apps Others Use

In this section, you can control what information is shared and used by your Friends when they use apps and connect with you. There are several categories of information that you can check or uncheck to control what is shared between users over apps, such as your bio, when you’re online, your birthday and more. If you’d like to forego the entire process altogether, you can switch Platform off to prevent any app sharing data between Friends, or elsewhere, as listed above.

Old Versions of Facebook for Mobile

This area is for using your Facebook account on any older devices (such as a Blackberry phone or outdated iPhones and Androids) or versions of Facebook that don’t allow you to naturally select an audience for your posts. With this button, you can select the targeted audience that you’d like to share with as a catch-all for all older versions/devices without worrying about its settings being out-of-date. As mentioned in our other posts, the greater number your audience is, the less privacy you’ll have.

Have any further questions on Facebook applications, games or their settings? Contact us here and let us answer your cybersecurity and privacy questions. Stay tuned for our fourth and final blog post in this series detailing advertising settings!