# Facebook newbie questions
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 17, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208 "2011-05-17T15:33:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/1 "2011-05-17T15:33:08Z")
A friend of mine (no, really) has been thinking about getting onto Facebook. However, he’s also heard that Facebook steals your address book and has other bad habits.
As a complete newbie who would like to use FB to communicate but still retain his privacy, what settings should he make? And where does one find those settings? Any help would be appreciated.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/2 "2011-05-17T16:27:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> However, he’s also heard that Facebook steals your address book and has other bad habits.
Tell him to create an alternate e-mail address on gmail and sign up using that. He’ll have a bit harder time finding his friends, but that pretty much guarantees against any of his fears.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/3 "2011-05-17T16:40:41Z")
Facebook asks if you’d like them to go through your email addresses to find Facebook friends. It asks for your email address and password in order to do this. You don’t have to accept. Just decline when it asks.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/4 "2011-05-17T16:41:17Z")
Facebook can’t steal your address book if you never give it your email password. He should probably opt out of facebook connect and he should go into his privacy settings and set everything to friends only. That will lock his profile down tight but he’s still not safe unless he absolutely doesn’t add any applications. They pretty much won’t work unless you give them access to all your information which means it’s a breeze for spammers to make a fun app that will give them your email and phone and stuff. He also can’t do comment on anyone’s walls, statuses, or photos because those fall under the privacy settings of his friends so if they’re not set to friends only, he’s still exposed. Happy facebooking?
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/5 "2011-05-17T17:49:35Z")
Separate newbie question - I’ve seen facebook posts saying ‘change your status to this’ and I’ve been told that your ‘status’ is just the last thing you posted, which shows up at the top of your wall. Is that true or is your status something different?
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/6 "2011-05-17T17:50:57Z")
Yes, when you make a post, you are posting your “status”.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/7 "2011-05-17T17:55:35Z")
Yes, whatever you post in the box at the top of your personal page that says “what’s on your mind” gets posted as a status.
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### Author:  [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/8 "2011-05-18T15:13:44Z")
Hmmm. Sounds like creating a “throwaway” gmail address would be the simplest thing to do.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/9 "2011-05-18T16:14:12Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#):
>
> Hmmm. Sounds like creating a “throwaway” gmail address would be the simplest thing to do.
Not really needed. Facebook can’t do anything with your email account unless you explicitly give them permission and then type in your password.
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/10 "2011-05-18T16:51:15Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> Not really needed. Facebook can’t do anything with your email account unless you explicitly give them permission and then type in your password.
Not quite true. When someone gives Facebook permission to look at their own email, Facebook will check to see if that person has your email address in their contact list.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/11 "2011-05-18T17:02:55Z")
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> Not quite true. When someone gives Facebook permission to look at their own email, Facebook will check to see if that person has your email address in their contact list.
That has absolutely nothing to do with the statement you quoted. Facebook poking around a third party’s e-mail account has nothing to do with Facebook poking around in YOUR e-mail account. The OP’s friend isn’t worried about Facebook having his e-mail address, he’s worried about Facebook having access to that e-mail address’s account.
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/12 "2011-05-18T17:17:35Z")
The OP is concerned about their privacy in Facebook. It is useful to know how Facebook uses your email account’s address, even if you don’t give it your email account’s password.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/13 "2011-05-18T17:32:50Z")
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> The OP is concerned about their privacy in Facebook. It is useful to know how Facebook uses your email account’s address, even if you don’t give it your email account’s password.
If you are concerned about having your profile recommend to others as possible “friends” then this could be an issue. I’ve never worried about that, but it could be an issue for some people. In that case, making your profile non-searchable may eliminate that problem, not sure. You can set your privacy options quite strictly but I don’t know if overrides the recommendation engine.
I’m not positive, but that seems to be the only place where your email can be used by Facebook.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/14 "2011-05-18T19:20:34Z")
To generalize a bit, the first rule of Facebook should be “Never post anything you wouldn’t want the world to see.”
Facebook has a **tremendously poor** track record when it comes to user privacy. Between exploits, new “features”, and third-party apps, it is foolish to trust Facebook with anything sensitive.
And if you ever want to get employed again, make sure potential employers can’t access embarrassing photos/posts/etc.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/15 "2011-05-19T02:34:18Z")
I didn’t want my profile to be searchable, and I find the privacy settings difficult to navigate, plus they are known to “reset” when they make “improvements.” When I signed up, I created an email address in gmail just for facebook, with my alias name for both. I’m the only one with my alias name, it’s apparently not a real-life name, and when I Google it, it’s really creepy what pops up. The majority of what’s on Google results? Facebook posts to pages other than mine and product reviews from retailers.
Creepy, and so happy it’s not my real name.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-newbie-questions/582208/16 "2011-05-19T06:53:21Z")
If you click on account, privacy settings and connecting on facebook, it’s right there at the top: Search for you on Facebook. Mine is set to everyone but you can change it to friends, friends and friends of friends or friends and networks.