This hidden Facebook feature gives strangers a sneak peek into your most private content

On Facebook, you must be careful what you have left open for the entire world to see and that includes your most private data.

When it comes to Facebook, people must be pro-active about how their image is being projected by their profile. Anything that may hurt that, must get hidden. (AP)

Your Facebook account has many things in it. Some are very secret and you would not want complete strangers to see them at all as they may be meant for husbands or wives or just the family and friends. It is surprising, but true, that people you do not even know, can actually, get to see your most private things. That is both surprising and horrifying for all. However, there is a silver lining to this particular cloud, as there is something that you can actually do about it. In fact, you can stop them completely, it is all in your hands. What needs to be done is a few clicks in the appropriate places. Not much of a cost to pay, is it, considering that it is your image in the world that is at stake and you must protect it as much as possible? Your job and even relationships can depend on that.

Here is what you can do. First of all, go to the Facebook Help Center and find a tab that says, ‘How can I see what my profile looks like to people on Facebook who I'm not friends with?' Thereafter, click on your profile page (PC/laptop), and then on ‘Edit Profile'. Locate a button that says ‘View As.' When you tap on it, Facebook will show you your own profile page. The difference is, that this will be the page that a complete stranger will see on your account. You can then check out what all is available to the entire world to see about you. Probably, tons of data is available there for all to see that you did not make ‘private.' There may be more material on News Feed and Search. Shockingly, you will realise that strangers can check out more on your Facebook profile about you than you would be comfortable with.

You definitely, need to do do something about it. To change things and ensure greater privacy for yourself, just tap on ‘Exit View' in the banner. To ensure that strangers are denied access to your most private media or other information, you can click on that particular post/media directly and change its settings. You can hide the content or simply make it accessible to ‘Friends only'.

Strangely, people are careless when it comes to social media. They generally believe that most anything they put there is restricted to those whom they actually want to share it with. However, more care is required to at least ensure basic hygiene factor is taken care of. Otherwise, get set for some nasty surprises sometime in the future.