Facebook is launching its first pop-up cafés aimed at encouraging users to personalise their privacy settings.
The firm is opening pop-ups in London and Manchester, which will offer a free drink to visitors who choose to be guided through a privacy check-up on the site, with further branches to open in Brighton, Edinburgh and Cardiff over the next week.
It comes as Facebook published research which suggests more than a fifth (22%) of UK social media users do not know how to customise their privacy settings on any platform.
Only half of those asked knew how to customise privacy settings on Facebook specifically, the report suggested.
Facebook has come under intense scrutiny following a series of data privacy incidents, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal, for which the company has been heavily fined.
The social network has made a number of changes to its practices and has pledged to continue updating its range of apps, with founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announcing earlier this year that "the future is private" as he unveiled plans to make communications and other parts of Facebook's business more secure.
Last week, Facebook also announced the testing of a new tool which will enable users to clear data linked to their account that has been gathered through their activities on other websites, which is used to tailor advertising on the platform.
Facebook vice president for northern Europe Steve Hatch said: "Millions of Brits use social media to connect and share with friends and family, but many are concerned about who is able to see what they post online.
"We want people to have more control of their experience on Facebook and know about the many new tools and features we've introduced to help manage their privacy.
"Doing a privacy check-up is quick and easy – but if you're unsure how, then head down to one of our pop-up cafes. We can help you personalise your privacy settings – and all in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee."
The social network is opening pop-ups at The Attendant in Hackney and Takk in Manchester on August 28 and 29, followed by the Flour Pot Cafe in Brighton on September 1, Union Brew Lab in Edinburgh on September 2 and 3, and the Coffee Barker in Cardiff on September 4 and 5.
Privacy top tips
-
Remember the ‘three dots’: Want to find out more information about a post? Block an ad? Hide something from your feed? Across Facebook, the thing to remember is to click the three dots in the top right corner of every post, ad or picture
-
Keep your profile private: Do this quickly and easily using the ‘privacy check-up’ tool within settings. Here you can decide what information you share with other people.
-
Control the ads you see: Want to stop seeing ads about that perfect sofa you've already purchased? Go to ‘privacy shortcuts’ in ‘settings & privacy’ and select ‘ad preferences’. Here you can choose the information that Facebook uses to show you ads, making sure you’re only seeing stuff you want to.
-
Report scams: Spotted a scam ad? Click on the three dots in the top right corner of the ad and click ‘report ad’ so we can investigate.
-
Block people: Finding someone a nuisance? Block them. Head to ‘settings and privacy’ then ‘settings’. Select ‘blocking’ and enter the name of the person you want to block. Don’t worry: people will not be notified when you have blocked them.
-
…or block them more gently: If you no longer want to see content by a specific person, page or group, you can unfollow them by clicking on the three dots on the top right corner of one of their posts and selecting ‘unfollow’.
-
Take a break: Are a friend’s constant holiday snaps making you envious? If you just want to take a break from certain content, people, pages or groups, you can snooze them to stop seeing their posts for 30 days. Just click on the top right corner of the post and choose ‘snooze’.
-
Friends IRL: To keep your profile tailored to you, only accept friend requests from people you know.
-
Seen something you shouldn’t? Report it: If you see content that makes you feel unsafe or you think shouldn’t be on Facebook, you can flag it by using the 'report' link near the post, photo or comment. On a page for example, click the three dots in the page’s cover photo and select ‘find support or report page’.
-
Manage who sees your photos: If you want to make sure only your friends can see your pictures, go to ‘settings’ and then ‘timeline and tagging’. Choose ‘Who can see your posts you’re tagged in on your timeline?’ where you can decide who you want to share with.
-
Protecting your Facebook account: If you want to make your account even more secure, two-factor authentication adds another layer of protection alongside your password. To turn this on go to ‘settings’ then ‘security and login’ and scroll to ‘use two-factor authentication’.
-
Suspect links: If something looks too good to be true, or just plain dodgy, don’t click. Same goes if you get a suspicious email or message claiming to be from Facebook: don't click any links or attachments and don’t reply
Source: Read Full Article