Concerned about your privacy on Facebook?
You're not alone.
I recently found a Chrome extension that will show you just how much you have to fear.
It's frightening (and kind of creepy)!
A tool called Picturebook can unearth most any photo you've posted or been tagged in on Facebook -- and it works well.
Picturebook is powerful!
And it'll have you rethinking what you post on Facebook (I know I was).
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WARNING: Your Embarrassing Hidden Facebook Photos CAN Be Found
Picturebook lets you mine for hidden Facebook photos on most any profile.
Visit the profile, click the Picturebook icon in your browser tray -- and voila! It's a trip down memory lane -- one that might be awkward & uncomfortable for some.
Depending on whose profile you search, you'll probably see many forgotten photos from the past.
I know you're getting curious... but don't go to Picturebook quite yet!
Please read on.
You'll see this Picturebook icon after you add the extension to your browser:
I searched Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's profile & was shown these results:
Mark was simply tagged in many of these photos -- and apparently didn't want some of them to appear on his Timeline.
It's strange the images weren't presented in chronological order.
Privacy Settings Stay the Same
People have assumed that Picturebook automatically alters your privacy settings to show the photos & tags from the past.
Not true!
Picturebook is basically a shortcut for Facebook's Graph Search. The extension looks for "photos of" a particular person.
You'll probably see photos that were allowed on someone's Timeline & some that were hidden.
Pro Tip
If you're tagged in a photo you don't want people to see, instead of just hiding the photo from your Timeline -- delete the tag altogether.
I must approve any photo I'm tagged in on Facebook for it to appear on my Timeline. You can tweak this in your Facebook settings & the approval box looks like this:
If all I do is click "Hide" -- people might still find the photo when they search.
That's why you click "Remove Tag" in the dropdown to get rid of the tag entirely!
Conclusion
Picturebook is actually pretty fun!
I enjoyed using the extension to search my Facebook profile. I found some photos of my kids I'd forgotten about.
But using Picturebook on someone else's profile would probably make me feel like a stalker.
Anyway, you should be aware of it -- because someone could easily Picturebook you!
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