facebook.com DON'TS

Facebook Don'ts

Don’t leave the default Facebook privacy settings as set. Go in and customize your privacy. Of particular importance, limit what people can see when you poke or message them before you have added them as a friend. The default setting allows people who are not friends yet and whom you poke or message to see your entire profile. To customize your privacy click the “privacy” link in the top right hand corner, click the “Poke, Message and Friend Request” link and adjust the settings accordingly.
Don’t leave the poke option on if poking is getting to you. You can turn it off by going to the “privacy” link in the top right corner, click on the “Search” link and uncheck the “Poke You” box.
This will stop people who are not your friends from poking you. Sorry, friends can poke at will.
Don’t post the year you were born. This lets people know how old you are and if you are unfortunate enough to run in to an online predator you are more likely to become a target if they know you are young. Also, since Facebook reserves the right to sell your stats and email address putting your full birthdate up could set you up for more spam than you'd otherwise receive, since your birthdate identifies your age group demographic which is a primary demographic identifier. Spammers often ask for specific age ranges when setting up targeted email lists, omitting the year you were born makes it less likely that you'll be put on such a list.
Don’t be afraid to allow some people to only see a limited version of your profile. Limited profiles show things like your profile picture, your name, your basic info and your friends lists but do not show things like your wall, your interests, your contact info and any photos or videos of you that are not used as in your profile. People who should only be allowed to see a limited profile include; people you do not know well offline, people you meet through Facebook (also known as Facebook friends), people who claim to be from your past but whom you can’t quite recall, people you add as friends because you have a mutual friend, and people you recognize by face but can’t recall by name (or vice versa, know by name but can’t recall by face). To set up a limited profile click the “privacy” link in the top right hand corner, under the “Limited Profile” heading on the bottom right click the “Edit Settings” link and check only those things that you want to have appear on your limited profile.
Don’t ever announce on your wall, or on any public wall, where you plan to go or who you plan to go with. Cyber stalkers are a real threat and if you have one this tells them where to find you in real life.
Don’t be afraid to join public groups about interests you share. Just be careful what you post on the walls of these groups.
Don’t be afraid to make new friends on Facebook. Facebook friends aren’t much different than pen pals of yesteryear. Just be sure to limit the access Facebook friends have to your profile information. This is easily done by clicking the “limited access to my profile” box when you add a friend you have made on Facebook.
Don’t accept Facebook invites to events. Even if you plan to go put down “maybe attending” or “not attending” even if the event is listed as a private or closed events. When you say you are “attending” an event it let’s everybody on your friends list know you where you will be. If you feel must accept invites set your “privacy” settings to omit this information from your mini-feed so people won’t be told you plan to attend.
Don’t use Facebook to bully, harass, spread rumors, challenge fights or otherwise incite violence. Facebook is a social utility, not an anti-social utility.