I have personally been waiting for Facebook to add back the the ability view my profile as someone who is not connected to me – so being able to view what my profile looks like as its public version.

It seems they’ve just enabled this again to users on mobile devices as you can see from my screenshot.

I find this useful so you can see what your profile looks to others. I think everyone should do an audit of their profile periodically to ensure that their private information stays, well, private.

Did you know that if you don’t specify that you only want your profile photo and cover photo changes to be displayed to your friends, the default is public? This is why I always check the settings of each post. If it has a globe next to it, it means it’s public.

If you want to make privacy changes to a particular post, you have to scroll through to find it on your timeline, which can be time consuming, but it’s worth it. I find this is easier and faster to do from my desktop versus my mobile phone.

While I am a true believer in the positive power of social media, as the lines between our personal and personal lives become blurrier by the day in the digital world in which we live, you should take the appropriate steps to protect your brand after all the work that you’re putting into strengthening it. This is why I Google myself regularly and check my personal social media profiles to ensure that the information that is displayed to the public is what I want it to be.

I am very selective about from whom I accept friend requests on Facebook and Instagram, and I periodically go though my connections list and remove people with whom I am no longer in touch or with whom I may no longer want to be connected (for example the friends and family of my ex). I suggest you do the same.

If you remove/delete a connection from any social media platform, those individuals do not get a notification letting them know that you have done so. Just like in real life, I prefer to have a small circle of people surrounding me, and I am selective about what I share about myself. Everything you post is part of your personal brand.

Remember, you have total control over your personal social media profiles, and you can change their privacy settings at any time (and change them back).

For more on this topic, see my article, “Why You Must Google Yourself Regularly and Protect Your Online Personal Brand.”