Disable Yourself on Facebook

Facebook can be a fantastic tool for communicating with others. What a lot of people may not think about is how they are representing themselves in the digital world. How many of you have used either Google, Facebook or Twitter to “research” a potential employee? Boy/girlfriend? Boss? Adding to the frustration of keeping a low (unprofessional) profile is Facebook’s auto-tagging feature. 

Say you go out with a group of friends and indulge in one too many beverages. No harm done, until you realize the next morning all your friends have already seen scarring images from your previous night of drunken fun. Even if you keep your friend list tight and refuse to mix business and pleasure, those images are floating around waiting to be seen by the wrong person.

Because not everyone has the common sense to KIPS (Keep It Professional, Stupid), you should make sure to disable the “suggesting photos of me to friends” feature Facebook has so conveniently already enabled for you.

Here’s how you do this:

1. Go to your profile on Facebook and click on”Account” then “Privacy Settings” in the top right corner.

2. Under “Choose Your Privacy Settings”, click on “Customize Settings” at the bottom.

3. Under “Things Others Share”, look for  “Suggest Photos of Me to Friends”, click on “Edit Settings”.

4. In that pop-up box, look for the option box and make sure it says “Disabled”, click “Okay”.

Personally, I keep everything on a “Friends Only” basis for most everything, but others may feel more comfortable with exposing more information. As long as you are controlling the information and images that are revealed online, you are ensuring you are seen how YOU want to be seen by others.