How to keep your Facebook profile safe

Facebook's Lock your Profile feature is available only on Facebook for Android and Facebook Lite for Android. iPhone users can’t access this feature yet.

Off Facebook Activity feature essentially gives users a summary of the activity that businesses and organisations share with Facebook about users’ interactions. (REUTERS)

Facebook is arguably one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. The company has nearly 1.73 billion people accessing its platform everyday. This makes it the go-to destination for people to connect with their family and friends.

While on one hand Facebook gives people the means and tools to interact with new like-minded people, it also gives people the tools to safeguard their profiles thus ensuring that their personal information remains safe all the time.

So, here are a bunch of tips and tricks that will help you keep your Facebook profiles safe:

Lock your Profile

This feature allows users to lock their profiles and restrict access to their photos, timelines and posts. The company says that feature has been designed especially for the people in India where people want more control over their Facebook experience.

Here's how you do it: From your profile, tap More under your name > tap Lock Your Profile > Tap Lock Your Profile again to confirm. Notably, this feature is available only on Facebook for Android and Facebook Lite for Android. iPhone users can't access this feature yet.

Safety notices in Messenger

Facebook introduced a new feature in Messenger earlier this year that helps users in avoiding potential scams and harmful messages by popping up safety notices in chats. These pop ups provide users tips to spot suspicious activity and take action to block or ignore someone when something does not seem right.

Off Facebook Activity

This feature essentially gives users a summary of the activity that businesses and organisations share with Facebook about users' interactions. This information is then used to show users more relevant ads, suggest groups and events they might be interested in, help them discover new businesses and brands, or even identify suspicious activity to help keep Facebook safe.

Here's how users can manage their off-Facebook Activity: go to Settings & Privacy > then click on Settings > scroll down to Your Facebook Information and click on Off-Facebook Activity > click on Manage your off-Facebook Activity > enter your password > tap on Clear History option.

Manage your Activity

This feature lets users archive or trash old posts, all in one place. The archive feature is for content that you no longer want others to see on Facebook, but still want to keep for yourself.

Restrict your data for ads

Apart from preventing people who are not your friends from accessing your account, you can also prevent advertisers from using your data. You can also restrict advertisers from accessing your data completely.

Here how you can do it: go to Settings & Privacy > go to Privacy Shortcuts > go to Ad Preferences and click on Review your ad preferences > click on Ad Settings > select your preferences and you are good to go.