Even though you might connect only with people you personally know, you will still want to know how to protect yourself from curious eyes and ears by adjusting your privacy settings. Here are a few hints.

Where are the privacy settings?

When you are logged into your Facebook account, you can find a link called 'Account' on the top right. Once you click on it you will see a drop-down menu appear and 'Privacy Settings' as one of the options. Once you have clicked on it, a screen will appear where you can adjust the various settings.

Circle of friends

The choices are always fairly similar: Everyone, my networks and friends, friends of friends, friends only or others, where you might be able to customize more specifically who has access and who not. By choosing one of the options, you decide how many people are able to access your information.

Let's go through the different areas on the privacy settings page:

Connecting on Facebook

The first heading on the page will allow you to control basic information your friends will use to find you on Facebook. Click on 'view settings' to personalize it.

You will be able to customize the following areas:

· Who is able to search for you on Facebook

· Who can send you friend requests

· Who can send you messages

· Who can see your friend list

· Who can see your education and work info

· Who can see your current city and hometown

· Who can see your likes, activities and other connections

For each section on this screen you will first find a symbol and title, then a detailed explanation and the options to choose from with the lock symbol. As you click on the down arrow you will find the various options to choose from.

Sharing on Facebook

Back on the Privacy Settings main screen the next area is where you can personalize the settings and control who can see what you share.

You will be able to customize the following areas:

· Your status, photos, and posts

· Bio and favorite quotations

· Family and relationships

· Photos and videos you're tagged in

· Religious and political views

· Birthday

· Permission to comment on your posts

· Places you check in to

· Contact information

On the left you can see the different options to chose from: everyone, friends of friends and friends only. You can opt to have all the areas be able to be seen by either of those options or alternatively create your own personalized settings under 'other'.

You will find a recommended settings option or you can customize your own. To do that simply click on the 'Customize settings' links which you can find in blue below the list of areas.

Below the large box you will find three more areas next to each other:

Applications and Websites

Here you can edit your settings using applications, games and websites.

Block Lists

Here you can edit your lists of blocked people and applications. You might have added friends that you don't want to 'unfriend' but you want to limit their ability to browse your profile.

Controlling How You Share

Here you can learn more about privacy on Facebook. This is a good area to educate yourself if you are unsure about the choices you should make.

Nathalie Himmelrich brings technology closer to you - learn how to use social networks efficiently and easily. Nathalie is working as a mentor and coach one-on-one and in groups to support clients in their personal growth and on using technology.

Want to know more? Have a look at my YouTube channel and my Technology Tutorials page on Facebook.