Change Your Facebook Settings Or Else Updated

Jul 13th, 2009 Written By Cheryl Smith

UPDATE 7/19/09 5:43 p.m.

Since my original post, thanks to the many comments here and elsewhere, I’ve learned that the issue is not with Facebook. The culprit is a third-party app developer – likely the quiz app. Nonetheless, changing the settings as described below, is still a good idea for most people.

Today is Sunday. Since Thursday, I’ve been unable to update this blog or respond to comments here (though I have responded via email). I have used my posterous account to have an additional voice. For example,

Thanks for stopping by. While you’re here, take a look around. You can learn more about me here.

*****

Or else your husband may just see a Facebook ad with your picture in it advertising hot singles in your area. I’m not joking. Not too long ago, my husband Peter had this ad appear on his Facebook page. Good thing we both have a sense of humor!

hot-singles If you don’t want to show up in your friends’ FaceBook ads, go to:

Settings
Privacy
News Feed and Wall
Click on “Facebook Ads”
In the “Appearance in Facebook Ads” box, click “no one” (unless, of course, you actually want to tell your spouse to check out hot singles)

I changed that setting right away. :-)

What about you? Have you received any funny Facebook ads?

Cheryl Smith

That's funny, James! This post was written in July 2009. I initially thought changing the setting would be the fix. What I learned in the weeks following this post, and thanks in part to great comments, is that the problem was not with the settings. Instead, a third party ad network was in violation of Facebook's Terms of Service (TOS). Facebook has made many significant changes to their privacy settings and the TOS, I believe, in part, to my experience, similar experiences of others, and the outcry of Facebook users as a result of these experiences.

James

You guys are retarded. There is no such setting.

chris

i've just been notified by a classmate that she saw my facebook picture on a local singles ad on some webpage. i dunno -- it's sort of a complement.

Abby

how do i get my picture albums to show up on my profile?

jekMupieque

yeh right.. great post, Thank You

Robert Rios

Why would I think is OK to use my face to advertise for even a candy bar brand?It would be like me spending $50.00 on a pair of jeans with the Tommy Hilfigure(I know is not the right spelling).I would not get a dime back from them for my advertising their product.I rather buy a pair of jeans with a no name brand and only spend less than twenty,or even fifteen bucks.Oh,I forgot,kids all over the world are already being used by these companies in this way.Pretty smart on their part.I can not say the same thing about the general public though

Entity Zed

The entity is puzzled by this. Facebook users intentionally post a "profile picture", knowing, and accepting, that their Facebook friends will see it. But this user is offended when the profile picture is sent to her friends (and only her friends) attached to an advertisement. What is the nature of this offense? Did she not like the particular product being advertised to her friends including her profile picture?

Note that a profile picture is included in ads as a result of some social action by a Facebook user...did this user visit the Hot Singles web site, such that the app chose her picture for use in a testimonial to her friends?

Humans are fascinating. Eventually the entity will understand.

Juan Batista

Absolutely wonderful. Looking forward to reading more. Please keep up the good work

Curt in the Car

Third Party Facebook Applications you or your friends authorize by default have access to your pictures and a whole bunch of other information on your profile. Luckily this is a setting that you can control.

If you click on Settings->Privacy->Applications and then click on the Settings Tab, you can disable/enable a bunch of items that applications can access.

Scott

Best one so far was a picture of our church's pastor next to an ad asking my wife if she were hot enough to be in his sorority! :-)

Mimi Tanner

It strikes me that Facebook is copping out. They are responsible for all the "apps" they permit to be part of Facebook. Many other places on the web are also giving out too much information on user activities - such as Yahoo on the right side of the page, showing what articles users are looking at. Privacy should always be the default.

Sandi

I don't have that "opt out" button??? Just a Facebook explanation. Did they remove the button?

KB in Wisconsin

My daughter had one of those ad on her facebook page that said "hot singles in your area are looking of you!" The photo on the ad was her brother, my sons picture.

Kelly

I've never had anything like that happen to me. I've gotten ads sometimes that say "moms return to school." I'm not a mom and I don't want to return to school right now.

Mike

I'm using Firefox with the Adblock Plus addon and had the same issue where nothing showed up to turn off this setting. Just disable Addblock plus and refresh and you can then see this to disable it. Then after you save it, turn adblock plus back on.

Lorne Pike

It's always good to have control over where your pictures can show up, even if for something a lot less innocent than hot singles. Thanks for the heads-up.

Jayarava

Your original comments have become an independent meme and is now sweeping through Facebook as "Facebook has agreed to let 3rd parties use your photos in advertising without your permission". Sigh.

Cheryl Smith

Lauren,

Thanks for stopping by. It other users have experienced a similar issue. Some suggested it might be a firefox issue and to try safari or Internet Explorer. Others suggested that if you disable your adblock setting, that will work. Try those out and let me know if they don't work. We'll call in some folks who are more technically savvy than me! Thanks again for stopping by.

Lauren

I can't get mine to work! I get all the way to FB ads and there is no choice for NO ONE or sny drop down menu or anything.... same for my husband's account.... PLEASE HELP!!!

Lucia

Thanks! I finally get to read this... it was unavailable a few days ago... haha.

Debo Hobo

Thank you this is very important and valuable information. I have made the changes on my FB account. I always wondered where those pic came from.

Kathy Sena

Cheryl, this is excellent advice. I posted a link on my FB page so friends can read it. Will also tweet the link. Thx so much!

nerkles

I block *ALL* facebook apps unless they are from a company I have at least heard of, and one which has some modicum of respect for privacy.

Chicken Underwear

If you have any issues about privacy you should just not use Facebook

Woeful

This is disturbing... I knew that they could use images for promotional purposes but "Hot Singles?"

Just me

BTW, and FWIW, I use Firefox and found it fine. Thank you so much for this post!

Thomas

Hey, at least they called you a "hot" single. Take it as a compliment.

Juan Batista

OMG! I love your style. This is a thank you gift for being a friend http://youtubevideo101.blogspot.com

Tyler Hurst

Lucky you both had a sense of humor about it? Only an idiot wouldn't understand those types of ads.

Bruno

Hahahahha thanks I didnt know about that :) funny though

Tiffany Martin

Thanks so much I had no idea!

Mike

I had to come back to the original article and thank you for your post and sense of humor. I learned of this FB third-party trick the hard way. My picture was posted in an ad for my sister, who then posted a comment in her status on FB, and everyone got to share a great laugh - after a collective: Ewwwww. Cheers!

Alton

Thanks for the advice. But now I go to 'Facebook Ads' tab and find no options under it.

Sydney

I saw a Facebook ad that read "Pinecones. In glass. The want is real." They were advertising just that -- pinecones in glass jars. Very odd.

Jason

I suspect that facebook, one of the quizzes, or applications has some clause buried deep in it's terms of use where you agree to allow them to use your image. If they do not have such a clause, they've committed the tort of appropriation--use of one’s name or picture for commercial advantage without permission.

Fascist Nation

Thankfully he knew how to do a screen capture, so we could laugh. Technology at its finest in the old Marketing Dept.

Anna

That is really funny! Yes it is a good thing ... if it had been an untrusting relationship that could have been a disaster.

Trisha

I strongly suspect that FB monkeys around with one's privacy settings each time they "update" the FB application - I went over mine with a fine toothed comb when I first signed up (being a very private person) and twice since then, but each time I check the privacy settings, they've added NEW settings and most of them seem to have reverted to the default "let everyone see everything" setting - if they are going to do that, they should be required to notify members "hey we've updated the privacy settings to give you more control, but guess what? we set them all back to no privacy whatsoever so you need to go review them again".....as long as I know about it I can deal with it.....as it is now I'm going to set a reminder to check them weekly.....starting to dislike FB!

Annie

Wow! Thanks for sharing! I've fixed mine :-)

Name

Thanks, I deeply distrust FB on privacy. They even require the one thing they can't easily get - your cell phone # - to "verify" your account for comment leaving. Far too much power is being given a secretive private company.

Paula Rizzuto

Interesting question as to whether it is Facebook or an app that did it. My pet hate is those adds which specifically pick up half a dozen friends' userpics to try and goad you into doing an IQ test. I wonder if the change of setting will stop that?

David Marshall

Joining the herd of grateful readers seems futile. However, I didn't want to just read the article without thanking you. This is exactly why corporations (code-word for "middle-aged white guys in suits") are not to be trusted. Boy, that's a lot of syllables for just saying "thanks".

Jennifer (Conversion Diary)

What a funny/crazy story! Thanks for sharing.

Marcie

Well, I guess I'd rather my husband see my face in a "Hot Singles" ad than have one of his other female friends' pictures show up there :)

Rachel

Karen, 2 degrees and no kids, here and I get the same ad.

Cheryl, none of my friends have come up in dating ads but one of my guy friends - a 20 something with perfect skin, popped up in an ad for a wrinkle cream

Steve

That is too funny! But it's serious enough that I am taking your advice and changing my settings :)

Lisa B @ simply His

It is a good thing your hubby has a good sense of humor! Mine doesn't even want on FB :) Thanks for pointing this out though! I hadn't seen any "funny" ads, but it just doesn't seem right!

gjperera

Thanks for the info and the great discussion. I usually stay away from fb apps, its one way of avoiding stuff like this from happening. inowadays it seems that fb is how myspace was when I left it a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed the simplicity offered when it was initially launched. Oh well we'll just have to wait for a simpler tool...oh wait that's what twitter is for. Lets hope it doesn't become another fb or worse, myspace.

Adam Kayce

Thanks for letting us know about this - I had no idea.

And yeah, FB is great, but they're really messing up—often—when it comes to violating trust. Too bad; I hope they figure it out.

Kate

Thanks so much for sharing this! While I dont have any pictures of myself on Facebook that would be useful, and I dont think I would be considered 'hot", its important to protect privacy - FB is wickedly sneaky and underhanded!

Simon

All privacy issues aside, it must be pretty cool to be officially Hot.

Way to go!

Matthew

All the more reason not to do Quizzes (which are nothing more than glorified applications that you give access to all of the info you would rather keep private) on Facebook. As if phishing wasn't a good enough reason...

Xavez

That's funny, it seems this was off by default on my facebook page... Thanks for the heads-up though :)

GP

It was 'no one' by default in my profile. I guess they changed it after your post.

DMR BS850

Is astounding that the FB plugin architecture allows this kind of profile 'raiding'

Kunal

I've changed mine, I don't qualify as a hot single though :P

Kunal.janu

LVS

@haward yeend
you've got a point. but shouldn't FB have a clause where it forbids apps from using it in making 'accusations' ?

LVS

Woah!!
"I changed that setting right away." me too!!

howard yeend

actually this is likely from a dodgy application rather than this FB setting; whenever you install an application it can (and many do) access all your profile information, including photos. Some applications then use these details in adverts to other users. For instance I've had ads telling me my partner's mother has a crush on me, because she installed some dumb application.

Damien Mulley

Eh no, not at all correct. Your husband installed a Quiz app which accessed his photos (which he gave permission for)at install time, the Quiz app ran that ad then, not Facebook. The screenshot shows the ad is running inside the Quiz App. If you change your Facebook settings, that ad type will still occur if the Quiz App is installed because your husband is still granting permission to use his photos.

Niamh

Great, thanks for this, I never would have known about this and there is no way I want to appear in a facebook ad :D
Thanks so much,
Niamh.

NameJeremy

@Angela It isn't a Firefox problem, it's an AdBlock problem... if you want to see the option you have to turn AdBlock off

Laya

"Imagine your husband is on his Facebook profile one day, and he spots this ad for "hot singles in your area."

Now imagine that the face in the ad is your face.

PHAIL."

While we're on the subject of Facebook ads, anyone else getting annoyed with those little ads in the apps that look like inboxes telling you you have unread messages and that your friends think you're dumb?

Paul OFlaherty

What really gets me about this is not just them doing it but that they state: "These respect all privacy rules."

Since when is it respecting privacy rules to use my face (or your) face to pimp dating services to my friends. Not to mention, that they are doing this using peoples profiles who are marked as married or in relationships too.

Suburban Oblivion

Unbelievable. For a site that prides itself on users privacy, they have no problems lately exploiting it's user base for money.

Angela

Hmm, I saw nothing on the Facebook Ads page...in Firefox...had to log in on IE to even see that setting.

Brad Isaac

I personally see placing someone's picture into an ad without their knowldege in this way as an abuse of trust. I don't know about you, but I didn't sign up to Facebook to be part of their advertising system.

The fact the ads appear to be quoting the unsuspecting person with things they never said. This is an ethical violation in advertising as well as a legal risk. If not reversed by Facebook will contribute to it's destruction.

Phil Gerbyshak

Good for you Cheryl. Hope your hubby finds LOTS of hot singles just like you. :)

Wait, I mean, thanks for sharing this tip. It's great advice for all of us who use Facebook. I'm off to change my settings right now.

Cheryl Smith

I know - some of the ads are so annoying!

Karen

Depspite having three degrees and no children, I keep getting ads urging "Moms" to "go back to school and earn a degree."

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