Facebook Fan Pages Now have Spam Filters…

… and this makes us Happy, Happy, Happy!

If you are an Admin on a Facebook Page you may have noticed already the new ‘Spam” option on your pages.   You may also already seen it at work hiding those pesky sales pitches for Magic Acai Berries and the like.

Facebook’s Help Center states:

Facebook Pages › Facebook Pages: Creating, administering and editing your Page

What is the Spam filter on my Page’s wall?

Facebook is now helping Page admins ensure that the most valuable content posted by users on their Page wall is more visible to anyone viewing the Page. We are now offering automatic content filtering on Page walls that will ensure that posts soliciting spam are removed from public view as well as ensure that posts containing good content remain more visible.

If you have your page setting such that posts to your page are separated by your organization’s and then all others, you will see the ‘Spam” link as the 4th option in this list. Not to worry’ only Page Admins can see this link.

Facebook Spam Filter

Clicking the ‘Spam” link will show you all the content Facebook as deemed spam worthy and moved off your page.
Mouseing over the spam post will reveal a little ‘X” to the top right of the post. Clicking the ‘X” will reveal several options:

Facebook Spam Filter
1.      Remove the post
2.      Unmark as Spam
3.      Report as Abuse
If the post does really belong in the general content of your organization’s Facebook page… then by all means click that Unmark option. If however the post does fall into that dark side of the internet category called spam, then I suggest you report as abuse and then remove it. This will alert Facebook to the insidious nature of the offending poster and may hopefully save a fellow organization admin a few moments of time later on down the line.

If you have a mixed wall, meaning you show all posts from your organization mixed with other’s post, you won’t see the spam link. You will want to first click the ‘Options” link, then following the same instructions above.

Facebook Spam Filter
Thanks to popularity of Facebook we can use it connect with like minded people and promote, support and grow our non-profit and for profit organizations alike… and… due to the popularity of Facebook the spammers will start to show up more and more. Thankfully, Facebook is putting measures into place to make the Facebook experience a good one for both admins and users.

Facebook Keeps A-Changin’

Yes,   Facebook has changed your privacy controls   yet again, which now feels like the 10th time this year. The repeated changes Zuckerberg has made to Facebook has subsequently confused and angered users, even prompting a “Quit Facebook Day“. With bad press circulating, Facebook decided to simplify controls making it easier to decide what and most importantly what not you want to share.

Understanding These Controls

The first difference you will see with the privacy settings is not new features, but rather the consolidation of many. Facebook has reduced the number of settings from nearly 50 to less than 15. Now users can change many different settings with a single click, rather than manually selecting (or more likely deselecting) each individually. Facebook has also reduced the number of separate pages in the privacy settings page from 13 to 8.

The picture above illustrates how the controls have been redesigned. Facebook hopes to alleviate your frustration with privacy, so next time you log in make sure to check out the lay out. If you would like to read more about the changes you can read “Controlling How You Share” explanation or the “understanding the changes” blog post.

It Takes a Village – Protect your privacy on Facebook

There has been a LOT of discussion about Facebook’s policies regarding your personal information on the web. The web site ReclaimPrivacy.org has launched a privacy scanner for you to use to see if any of your personal information is vulnerable on the web.

These directions on how to scan your profile are also available on the website:

  1. Drag this link to your bookmark bar.
  2. Log into facebook.com and click on the bookmark.
  3. A series of six scans will be run on your profile.
  4. Anything that rates below Good (green) will be flagged and will provide you links to those relevant privacy settings to change.

I initially received two Cautions (yellow) that I was able to tweak to attain Good ratings across the board. It is advisable you make the same tweaks to your settings to maintain the same level of security. We also recommend you encourage all of your friends to scan their own profiles.

Facebook, for right or for wrong, has taken a lot of flack for not protecting users’ personal information. However, all of these issues can be resolved if users take personal responsibility for their privacy settings. If you fail to take proper care of your privacy settings, you are leaving you and your friends’ personal information vulnerable on the web.

3 Facebook Updates That You Should Care About

In usual Facebook fashion, an array of features have been launched that change settings without warning and without your consent. While the features may seem impressive at the surface, you may not realize changes were made deep within your account.

Since these features were all introduced at once, many non-developers and the rest of us are asking, what do these changes mean? And how do we stay private online? In an attempt to understand these changes without the “developer jargon” the new features are listed below in plain English.

1) Liking Without Logging In

Arguably the biggest change to Facebook, actually isn’t found on Facebook.com, it’s found on a number of the most popular websites and possibly even you favorite. If you have visited a site like CNN.com lately, you have probably noticed the “recommend” button next to stories. (CNN opted to use the word “recommend” rather than “like”). This button automatically connects to your Facebook account without you even logging in, and displays your “liked” content on your wall. You only need to have logged into Facebook at sometime on that computer. The website will also show you how many of your friends “liked” the content as well.

2) Instant Personalization

The changes don’t stop there however; some websites will allow you to take this “liking” button even further and show you specific content based on the information on your Facebook profile. Yes, sites can now access your information to create a richer web experience for you. A feature that seems to drive the question, “how do I keep my information private online?”. Currently, three websites have this feature, Docs.com, Pandora.com, and Yelp.com. This feature can be turned off but, naturally, Facebook assumes you would like to opt-in by default.   If you are interested in opting-out, check out the help file.

3)   Sharing Your Interests

Perhaps the most misunderstood feature is that Facebook is now connecting users to pages based on their interests, likes and even education.   This is also the most intruding change seeing how it can access your information even if it’s private. However, users will be prompted before hand to decide to opt-in, but many people don’t realize what they signed up for.

What does this all mean exactly? If a user has “Lost” under their favorite TV show, (even if that’s private info because you don’t want people knowing about your obsession) Facebook will automatically link you to the public “Lost” Page. This could potentially lead to some damaging or at least awkward situations depending on the kind of interests you have. One example would be if your boss who isn’t even your Facebook friend saw “making fun of your boss” under your interests.

Even though Facebook does prompt you first about accessing your interests, they decided to pre-select all of your likes, interests and education, which can be a real hassle to un-select specific content.

Take the time to research exactly how your information is being accessed and realize that its becoming increasingly difficult to keep “private” information truly private. If you would like to follow up with the information here, be sure to check out the articles about “Sharing Interests” and the guide to the Facebook updates.