Facebook: Is changing your status to a custom setting really secure?

[M.]

On Facebook when you're writing your status, you have the option to decide who can see it. When your status gets posted, it usually has a gear logo on it. (If it's "public", it has a world logo. If it is "friends", it has a person, etc.)
My question is: can those people that you customize not to see it, can they really NOT see it?

The reason I ask is because sometimes on my news-feed, I get photos of my friends with the custom gear logo but I cannot like or share those photos. Why is that so?

Thank you. And I'll be happy to answer your question too.

[abraXus]

the little custom gear icon can mean lots of things - if the custom setting has nothing to do with you specifically, you still see it as "custom" even if you can see it

but there are ways for others you dont want to see your status, like if one of your friends shares it, or if a person who isnt supposed to see it gets tagged in the post

so in summary, it still works just fine, assuming you dont have friends that want to expose your post to their friends as well