Staying in control of your digital footprint
Choose who sees what I post
What you will be able to do In 6 minutes, you'll know how to choose who sees each of your posts, before you send them.
Before every post, a small setting decides who will see it. It sits right next to the "Post" button, and it's easy to walk past without noticing. The word "public" has a very broad meaning here: the whole world, including people who have no account on the network at all, and often search engines too. A chosen list of people, on the other hand, keeps the photo within the circle you wanted. Two different settings exist, and they're easily mixed up: the one for ONE post, chosen at the moment you post, and the one for the account, which sets a default reach for the next posts. We'll open both together, on a network we designed for this exercise. Nothing here is real: no post goes out, no account exists.
Simulated screen
I practice
This screen was drawn by us. Nothing is sent, nothing is installed, and no real brand is shown.
The situationYou have a lovely photo of the grandchildren, and your finger just above the "Post" button.
The interactive exercise needs JavaScript. The written step by step, just below, says exactly the same thing.
The written step by step
The same steps, in words, to read or print. This sheet works even without the exercise.
Finding the setting before posting
Your turn Don't post yet. Tap the setting that decides who will see this post.
The word "Public", written next to the button, is this post's reach setting. We tap it to open it.
What "public" really means
Your turn Tap the reach that makes the post visible to the whole world, even to someone with no account.
"Public" means visible to anyone on the internet, including someone who has no account on this network at all.
Choosing the matching reach
Your turn This photo is for the family, and for the family alone. Tap the reach that matches exactly.
The "Family" list shows the photo to the nine people you put on it, and to no one else. That's the reach that matches.
What the photo reveals without you
Your turn Tap what, in this photo, tells a stranger where you live.
The street sign and the house number, sharp in the background, give an address to anyone looking at the photo. That's the detail to check before posting.
The setting for one post, the setting for the account
Your turn Tap the setting that decides the reach offered by default for your next posts.
"Default reach for your next posts" sets what will be offered by default next time. Posts already online don't move.
What stays visible no matter the setting
Your turn Tap what stays visible to everyone, whatever your setting.
The display name and profile photo stay visible to everyone: they identify the account, and no setting hides them.
The sheet to keep
- The reach setting is found before posting, next to the button. Check it every time: it takes two seconds.
- "Public" means the whole internet, including people with no account, and often search engines.
- A chosen list of people is the most precise reach, and it doesn't take any more taps than the others.
- The account setting offers a default reach for future posts. It changes nothing on posts already online.
- For old posts, a separate tool lets you limit their reach all at once.
- The display name and profile photo stay visible to everyone, whatever the setting.
- A photo can reveal a place and a moment without anyone meaning it to: a street sign, a shop front, a school shirt. The file itself records the date, the time, and sometimes the location coordinates.
The reflexes in this skill
I stop before I click
Urgency is the sign of a trap. A message that counts down the hours is trying to stop you from thinking. Putting your phone down for two minutes costs nothing, and it is almost always enough.
I go through the official door
The address typed in by hand, the app installed from the official store, the phone number printed on the back of your card. Never the link someone hands you, even when it looks right.
Two questions to check
Nothing is graded, and nothing is saved anywhere except in your own browser.
On a social network, what does a post set to "Public" exactly mean?
See the answer
Visible to anyone on the internet, including someone with no account
"Public" sets no limit at all: the post can be seen without an account and without being signed in, and a search engine can often find it. To stay within a circle, you need to choose your contacts, or a list of people.
You change the reach your account offers by default. What happens to your posts already online?
See the answer
They keep the reach chosen the day they went out
The account setting only concerns future posts. Every post already online keeps its own reach: it's changed one by one, or with the tool that limits the reach of all old posts at once.
I've done it
Check this box once you can do this skill on your own.
Your progress stays in your own browser.