can random people view my stuff on facebook, pinterest and twitter?

October 2, 2014 5:54 PM

I am on facebook, pinterest and twitter, and I was wondering if random people can just look up my stuff that I have written or even my pictures. I'm not talking about people who are logged in and are following me or my friends. I just mean random strangers. Thanks.
posted by lynnie-the-pooh to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

For Facebook, go to your own profile page, then click the "..." next to "View activity log," which should be in the bottom right hand corner of your profile banner pic. Select the "View as" option. It defaults to what the public sees when they somehow land on your profile page.

Not sure about the other two.
posted by punchtothehead at 6:06 PM on October 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

On twitter, by default, anyone can see your tweets (even if they don't have a twitter account.) To change this, go to your own profile page, and then go to the gear in the upper right hand corner.

Go to the tab "Security and Privacy" on the left hand side.

Check the option that says protect my tweets next to "Tweet privacy." Now, for any future tweets, only followers can see your tweets.
posted by subversiveasset at 6:09 PM on October 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Generally, yes. Generally, I think by default Facebook is somewhat private, while Pinterest and Twitter are public by default. If you don't want random people viewing your stuff, these sites have easily accessible guides for managing your privacy.

Facebook's basic privacy settings.

Pinterest's instructions on changing privacy settings.

Twitter's "About public and protected Tweets."
posted by buriednexttoyou at 6:11 PM on October 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Everything you post to Facebook has a little grey icon at the top that's either a globe, a silhouette, a gear, or a lock. The globe means everyone can see it. The silhouette means only your friends can see it — or maybe friends of friends. Click or hover of the icon to find out the details. The gear means it's shown to a customized list of people. And the lock means only you can see it. You can change the privacy setting for each post (including a photo) at any time.

You can also click "activity log" (near the top of your timeline) to see a full chronological list of everything you've posted to Facebook, along with privacy settings. You can change the settings or delete things directly in that list.
posted by John Cohen at 6:20 PM on October 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

It's different for each social media site.

Facebook has the most granularity for specifying the privacy level of most elements on your profile and feed. You can make most things visible to: the general public, friends of friends, friends-only, a custom group of friends within your friends list, or "only you" (and the people running the website).

On Twitter, you can choose to make all of your tweets public, or all of your tweets friends-only. There is no in-between. Your profile and bio are public.

On Pinterest, you can choose to make "secret boards," which are private to you and whomever else you invite to pin to them. By default, though, your boards and pins are public, and you can't (cross-)pin from a secret board to a public board. Your profile is always public.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 6:25 PM on October 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Regarding Facebook: Yes, Facebook has a lot of privacy levels and options and controls. BUT, as I've discovered when sending links to photos posted on FB to a friend who doesn't have a FB account, this doesn't mean that your stuff is in any way private. It would be hard for a random stranger to stumble upon the exact link to your photos, but like in my case, it's possible that someone in your network forwards the links to someone else and this person forwards it again and etc etc and then a random someone on the other side of the world can see your wedding photos.
posted by gakiko at 5:59 AM on October 3, 2014