Websites are constantly changing the way that they function and interact with the user. Although updates to most sites go largely unnoticed, Facebook updates often hold a controversial spot in the public eye.

Facebook has been slowly easing the world into its most recent update, Facebook Timeline.

Following up on a previous Techie Buzz post, Facebook Finalizes Timeline, Rolling Out to all Facebook Users Now, we’re going to show you 5 ways to secure your new Facebook Timeline. As always, with a Facebook update there’s an uproar from the community about privacy settings. If you haven’t made the switch quite yet, you will be automatically switched soon, or you can enable Facebook Timeline yourself.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Old Status Updates: One new feature of Facebook Timeline is that it makes all of your Facebook content readily available. With Facebook’s update, it’s much easier for anyone to access your old information. To regulate the visibility of your old information, go to Privacy Settings, select Past Post Visibility and change the settings for all of your posts in one fell swoop.

2. Photo Albums: While many users believe their photos are hidden, they often neglect their mobile uploads, wall photos and profile pictures. As your profile is updated to Facebook Timeline, give your photo albums a quick look to make sure that they are all appropriate. If not, turn off their visibility.

3. Apps: With more and more apps clamoring to sink their teeth into Facebook and your status updates, you need to monitor your app visibility. The new policy called “frictionless sharing” requires an app to ask only once before it accesses your info and posts through your account whenever it wants. Go to “Apps and Websites” on the privacy settings page to monitor who can see your app activity or to hide an app altogether. Keep an eye on the apps that you’ve granted access, and be sure that no unruly apps are taking those liberties a bit too far.

4. Profile Search: For most people, their account settings allow people to search for their profile by name and contact info. To change this, go to “How You Connect” in your privacy settings. Along with this option make sure that only your friends can post on your Timeline and see the posts of others.

5. Location Tags: Remember that tagging a location not only tells your followers where you are, but also, and perhaps more importantly, where you are not. With the new Facebook update, make sure to turn on Tag Review in your privacy settings. This means that anytime one of your friends tags you, you have to review it before it’s posted to your timeline. Be mindful as well of checking the location icon on the lower left corner of your update box before you post updates to your timeline.

==== About the Author =====

This is a guest post from Daniel Levine, a writer at Grovo.com, where users can learn about everything from Facebook Timeline to how to use Pinterest.