Before You #DeleteFacebook, Do This

So, are you considering deleting Facebook? Before you do so impulsively, take a few extra steps. No, I'm not trying to convince you against it. I just want you to know that just deleting Facebook won't automatically secure your information. First, give this video a watch - I had the honor to give some tips live, on Fox 32 Chicago. Then, go through the 5 steps below: 

1. Download a copy of your Facebook data (you can do this even if you don't have a Facebook account but you had one once or you just know you've been mentioned in posts/photos etc), 

2. Check for info Facebook has on you that you don't want there

3. Go into Facebook and delete said info 

4. If you delete an app connection it won't delete what they have on you but you can reach out to them and ask that they delete your information from their systems

5. Then decide what to do next, and think twice before you share information online, and connect any apps. 

And before you point fingers, I will challenge you, all of you, to look at your own behaviors and how without thinking each one of us has disrespected others' rights to privacy. Yes, I've shared photos of friends, publicly, without permission. People tag me in posts and add my location. One time someone added my home location to a public post. I respectfully asked that it be deleted.

But one of the biggest issues I see, yet it's rarely discussed, has to do with photos of children. So if you're gonna go through some vigorous Facebook spring cleaning, start there. Stop sharing pictures of your kids indiscriminately. And if you do, set a deletion deadline. Delete 2 months later. Or a year later. Or 2 years later. I can understand the drive to share. But kids deserve the right to decide when they are old enough to decide.

Then, keep in mind that you've given other systems access to loads of information. Do you know how they use it? Do you know how LinkedIn uses your data? Or dating apps? Or Google itself? For example, Grindr just admitted that it shared HIV status of their users. 

Here are some other articles that will open your eyes to how Facebook may be the least of your worries:

• FTC under fire as credit bureaus sell consumers' data
• 70% of apps share data with a third party
• Discussion: Does Google give personal search data to a third party?
• These 5 popular apps (including Spotify, Pandora, Grubhub) reserve the right to send your anonymized data to a third party
• I asked Tinder for my data. It sent me 800 pages of my deepest, darkest secrets

And if you haven't had enough of my bluntness, here is another Fox 32 Chicago interview where I share more about privacy in the digital age.

What are your privacy tips for the digital age? I'd love to hear them. Please share with me in the comments below.