Social Media - Staying Safe Online

Facebook Buzzwords

Cover photo: The cover photo is the main image on a user’s profile. This image is always public and anyone who uses Facebook or has access to your profile is able to view this image.

Profile Photo: The profile photo is how people identify who you are on Facebook. This image will appear when people search for you, write posts or comments to you, and when you update your status or post comments. The profile photo is public by default. You can change the privacy settings on each individual profile photo but this will simply prevent other users from enlarging the image. Whatever you have in your profile photo will be viewable to other users. Profile images can now be short video clips.

Post: A post can be text, photos, videos or links to other websites. You control the privacy of all your posts and decide who you want to share them with. If you post something publicly by accident, you can press the down arrow on the top right corner of every post to edit the privacy settings.

Timeline (Wall): A timeline is the area on your profile where you and your friends can post text, photos, videos or links. You choose who can view the content on your timeline. It can be 'Public', so that anyone can view it, 'Friends', so that only people that you add or accept as a friend can view, 'Friends Except', 'Specific Friends' or 'Only Me'; this means that only you can view the content.

News Feed: The News Feed is where you can view all posts that your friends have made in one place. You can set this to ‘Top Stories’ which means that the posts which have the most activity, i.e. the most likes, comments or shares, will appear at the top of your News Feed; or ‘Most Recent’, which means you will view a chronological list of what your friends have been doing. Both the top stories and most recent stories are live and will update as you view the News Feed.

Activity Log: You have an activity log on your profile which shows you a chronological list of what you have been doing on Facebook, e.g. which posts you have liked or commented on and when you add or accept a new friend. This can only be viewed by you.

Tagging: When you tag someone, you are creating a link to that person’s profile i.e. you can click on that person’s name and Facebook will take you to their profile. A tag is basically a link.

You can tag your friends in your posts and you can be tagged in your friend’s posts. You can tag and be tagged in a text post, a photo or a video. When you tag someone in a post or you are tagged in a post, you will receive a notification to alert you to this.

You can remove the tag if you do not want to be associated with the post and you can turn on ‘Review Tags’ so that your friends cannot automatically tag you without you first accepting it. (See Timeline Review)

Reactions (formerly 'Like'): Users can choose how they want to react to a post. There are currently 5 reactions; Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry.

Timeline Review: This is a tool that allows you to approve or reject posts that you’ve been tagged in before they go on your Timeline. When people you’re not friends with tag you in a post, they automatically go to Timeline Review.

When other user’s view your profile, they will have access to your timeline and everything you or your friends have posted.

Check In: Facebook allows you to ‘check in’ your exact location. This feature is most used when people are at an event and want to show their friends where they are. However, if you check in at your house, you are giving all your friends access to your home address.

Messenger: Messenger is a sister app to Facebook, owned and created by Facebook. Messenger allows you to send private messages to any of your Facebook friends. Any Facebook friend with Messenger will also be able to make voice or video calls to you even if they do not have your phone number.