This blog post is an alert on how to update your Facebook settings to prevent your pictures from appearing in ads on friends’ pages.  As always seven simple steps, and a big picture message, follow:

The policy. As part of their existing privacy policy, Facebook can use your photos in ads that appear on your friends’ pages (e.g., to let them know about Pages that you fan). “We’ve run advertisements from our own advertising system for more than a year that let your friends know if you have a direct connection with a product or service.” -Facebook

The fix. Update your privacy settings:  1) Log in to your account.  2) Click Settings, Privacy Settings, then News Feed and Wall. 3) Click the Facebook Ads tab. NOTE: the alert that pops up has a blog post that further explains this policy. 4) Under “Allow Ads…to Show My Information to,” choose “No one” and save changes.

The strategy. You don’t have to avoid or prohibit social networks to use them wisely.  Stay aware of policy and update your accounts accordingly.  Set Google alerts for “Facebook privacy,” “MySpace privacy,” and other networks you use, and when buzz begins about policy changes, you’ll be the first to know! Oh, and a savvy option #2 would be NOT to post CRAZY PICTURES of yourself on social networks in the first place.

The request. While you’re in Facebook, review all of your privacy settings and customize them.  Then log in to other networks you are part of and really read, understand and update the permissions you have set there, as well - MySpace (”My Account”/Privacy), LinkedIn (”Account & Settings”/Privacy Settings), Twitter (”Account”/Protect My Tweets), etc.

The truth. Social networks are a way of life - not just for our students, but for millions of adults and working professionals!  It is critical that we get familiar with them and their safe use so that we can effectively reach and serve our students.  We also must make sure our students are familiar with them and their safe use so that they are employable in the 21st century.  If a school or program is blocking student access to social media - instead of teaching students best practices - they are creating an artificial digital divide that will disadvantage their students when they arrive at college with kids who have been building Web sites and working on homework wikis since middle school.

The CLIC’s privacy commitment. We built The CLIC two years ago with the counsel and support of teachers, counselors, administrators and more.  That’s why we have so many privacy protections built in - blocking student names from user IDs, blocking access to student pages from all but students the user invites to see, hiding all regional information on student pages, only allowing pre-scripted splats between students and from institutions…  The list is long, and we invite you to read more about our privacy precautions in our Help section and our Privacy Policy.  We want students here to do one thing - graduate from college.

The benefits. Students can do many fantastic things on other social networks, too.  Many universities have Facebook pages students can join to interact with officials and students - these days, it is likely a student will have met his or her freshman roommate online before arriving on campus!  On MySpace, they can share their own music and art and thoughts in creative ways, and as those opportunities vanish from schools, it is critical students have a place to continue to develop those gifts.  On Twitter, schools and programs can easily reach their students on cell phones with alerts.  And on those social networks and more, all of you can “friend” and “follow” and “fan” and be served by The CLIC.

As always, share your own recommendations and experiences below!

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DMA is the CEO of The CLIC, the revolutionary new site where students can powerfully plan for college and institutions can effortlessly recruit students from a single home page in our FREE interactive network. CLIC students can connect to college matches, scholarship searches, college access programs and the nation’s first master calendar of all college-related deadlines and events, with streaming video tips and much more, at www.theclic.net.

Tags: digital divide, facebook ads, facebook privacy, linkedin, myspace, privacy policy, social networks, twitter

November 24th, 2009 | CLIC Communities, CLIC Families, CLIC Schools, CLIC Students |

Last Modified: Friday, November 27th, 2009 @ 14:27

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 5:31 am and is filed under CLIC Communities, CLIC Families, CLIC Schools, CLIC Students. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.