Facebook's Open Graph Personalization

On April 21, 2010 Facebook introduced social plug-ins based on the Facebook Open Graph platform. This means a few things:

• If you click one of their "like" buttons anywhere on the Web, that'll automatically get published on your wall.
  
• When your friends "like" something, they will see if you "liked" it too.
  
• When you visit certain websites, a personalized version will automatically be presented to you, rather than what is presented to the general public.
  
  All of these changes are intended to make your Internet experience more social, but if you're concerned about your privacy, here's how to stop these changes from affecting you.
  
  Overall Steps
  
• Log out of Facebook by using the "Logout" button whenever you're done using it. This will prevent Facebook from affecting the way you see the rest of the Internet. Simply closing your browser window to log out will leave your Facebook session active in the background. A more effective, but more radical method would be to permanently quit Facebook altogether.
  
  Your Likes
  

1. Hide your "likes". Select "Account", then "Privacy Settings" then to "Profile Information".
   In the dropdown menu, choose "Customize". From "These People" dropdown menu, choose "Only Me".
   For an extra measure of privacy, edit your profile and erase all of your likes and interests, so they can't be "connected" to other pages on Facebook. If you want, move that kind of information to the "About Me" section.
   
   Instant Personalization
   
2. On Facebook, select "Account", then go to your "Privacy Settings" then to "Applications and Websites" . Uncheck the "Instant Personalization" box at the bottom. (This may be under: Account/Account Settings/Privacy/Application and Websites)
   
3. Confirm your decision. The note will say "Allowing instant personalization will give you a richer experience as you browse the web. If you opt-out, you will have to manually activate these experiences. Please keep in mind that if you opt out, your friends may still share public Facebook information about you to personalize their experience on these partner sites unless you block the application." To prevent your friends from sharing information about you, continue to the next steps.
   
4. Go back to "Applications and Websites" under "Privacy Settings". Edit your settings for the "What your friends can share about you." Uncheck every box and save.
   
5. Block individual applications. You will have to visit each application and block it individually. Currently, there are three, but as more are added you will need to manually block those, too. Visit the following app pages, click on "Block Application" and confirm.

Tips

• While you're at it, check to see which applications you have authorized. Remove any that you don't use, and edit the settings for any that you do use.
  
• If you are really concerned about your privacy on Facebook, you can simply stop using it altogether.