“Public” is the new privacy default on Facebook’s public search results settings.

If you use Facebook, then you might want to check your privacy settings. The website will ask you to do so the next time you log in anyway, but here’s the reason why: your profile will be searchable by Google and other external search engines.

Don’t be too alarmed by this news. Certain aspects of your profile have been searchable from the outside for some time unless you’ve had your privacy settings turned to the highest option. But now search results will show more unless you change your settings in Facebook.

In your Facebook account settings, under privacy settings, click on “search.” There, you’ll see a box ticked, indicating that the public portions of your profile will be searchable by Google, Bing, Yahoo and other such search engines. If you’d prefer your profile to not be that public, untick the box.

Furthermore, when you’re updating your status, posting a link or sharing a photo, you’ll see a new padlock icon. Click it, and you’ll have the option of making that specific update visible to the world, just friends or somewhere in between.

Your other privacy settings will still work the same. Whatever isn’t searchable by everyone on Facebook won’t be indexed by search engines either. Think of the search engine as someone you don’t know perusing Facebook. Log out of Facebook and look up your profile. This is what the search engine will index unless you opt out with the tick box.

Teachers, like anyone else, can derive enjoyment from using social networks, but may want to optimise their profiles to keep students, colleagues and supervisors from seeing everything.

These factsheets from our InfoCentre may be useful:

• Facebook - Privacy settings
• 'Cyberbullying: Supporting School Staff' - guidance from the DCSF
• Twittering for teachers – consider using privacy settings
• MySpace privacy settings