What's the best way to use FACEBOOK safely? We don't want to be scammed or used for marketing .?

[rickaand53]

We know not to put too much info out there : don't tell people when you are leaving for vacation, don't put embarrassing photos online, don't brag about how much you party, don't talk bad about your employer, boss, or co-workers, etc. And we intend to be very limited in who we are "friends" with.
Is there a way to invite "friends" IN, without all your photo's and info being taken OUT ?
Thanks.

[Firstname]

You can go into privacy settings and make it so only certain people can see the things that you post, your pictures, your info ect (or make it available to no one at all). You can also set an option so that people will not be able to find you if they search for your name unless you add them first. As for scams and marketing, DO NOT ADD THIRD PARTY FACEBOOK APPS. Things like farmville or picture of the day or things like that (well, not all of them, but some) have small print that basically says they can use your profile to advertise things to your friends.

Facebook is pretty safe though honestly just set your privacy settings very strict and don't post anything you wouldn't want your parents/boss to see and you will be fine. The most important thing is the third party apps, you really have to stay away from those because if you install them they WILL use your information (why do you think they're free?). These are very easy to stay away from though.

[Kittysue]

I only allow friends to see my page, photos, etc -- not friends of friends or even people I might have gone to school with but am no longer in touch with. Honestly if I haven't spoken to them since 5th grade, I don't really need to be friends with them now.

You can change the privacy settings. I only accept people that I personally know - not friends of friends, random strangers, people I only know online from other sites, etc. I do not put my birthday, home address, phone number, email or any other personal info and the hometown I list is where I grew up, not where I am living now (I don't even live in the same country). And as the poster above says, I also never accept any third party apps - when you try to sign up you'll often get a message saying something like "Allow [company] to access my info and my friends' info" -- and whenever I see that I cancel out of it.

When I first signed up I used to accept more friends but have now gone through a purge and defriended ex-workmates, old school friends I never spoke to, people I might have met once or twice in the past but never stayed in touch with, etc

[Kyle Lawrence]

You can edit your Facebook preferences and turn all your specifics to private.