Your Facebook profile is probably full of information that you do not want to share with your colleagues (photos of your night on the town, random silly comments…).

The only problem is that your boss just discovered the joys of social networking and now s/he wants to be your friend!

Should you refuse the request and risk being frowned upon? Or, should you accept and risk revealing your personal life?

Here is a quick guide to configuring your privacy settings on Facebook so that you can enjoy the best of both worlds.

First, only you can decide if connecting with professional contacts on Facebook is right for you. It should never be considered a requirement. However, there are options for limiting access to certain types of information.

If you do accept friend requests from your boss or colleagues, you can configure your Facebook privacy settings and limit access to certain elements on your profile.

Facebook is a bit complex when it comes to privacy settings, but DoYouBuzz explains how to filter access to your more sensitive information in this simple, easy-to-follow guide.

1. Create two lists of friends: « Personal » and « Professional »

First create two lists of friends: one for personal contacts (real friends…) and a second dedicated to work friends (your boss, colleagues, etc.).

Log in to your Facebook account and go to your home page. Click on « Friends » in the left column.

Add a personal list and select the contacts that should go in this list. Repeat for your professional contacts.

Once you create these lists, you can modify them by clicking on the name of the list in the left column.

At the top of the middle column, click “Edit List”.

From now on, you will be able to put new friends in one of the two lists at the moment you accept their friend request.

2. Configure your privacy settings on Facebook

Go to the Choose your privacy settings page (Account > Privacy Settings). Here you can choose which category of people will have access to each type of your information. You will see a table that displays your current privacy settings. If you have never personalized Facebook settings, you have four basic choices “Everybody”, “Friends of Friends”, “Friends Only” and “Recommended”. These four settings do not allow you to manage lists. To manage lists, click “Customize settings”.

For the following types of information, we recommend that you limit access to your personal list:

• Posts by me
• Religious and political views
• Places I check in to
• Photos and videos I’m tagged in
• Can see Wall posts by friends (especially if you have friends with unique senses of humor )

For example, to make sure that only your personal contacts (real friends) have access to your status updates, select “Specific People…” and type the name of your list (in this example, Personal).

3. Configure access to applications

Now that you have limited the basic Facebook functions, you can expand your customized privacy settings to applications. For each application that you use, decide if it contributes to a positive professional image or not.

To modify the privacy settings of applications you use, go to Account > Privacy Settings > Applications and Websites (at the bottom left side of the page).

Next to “Game and application activity”, select “Customize” from the drop down menu. Then, select “Specific People…” and type the name of your list.

Remember to click “Save Setting”.

4. Protect your photos

Early you saw how to protect the photos in which you are tagged. But you also need to protect your own photos. To check or modify your photo privacy settings, go to Account > Privacy Settings and click “Customize settings”. Under “Things I share”, click “Edit album privacy”. Next to each album, select the category of people that can view your photos. To choose a list, select “Customize”, then “Specific People…” and type the name of your list.

This way you can keep your vacation photos separate from the photos of your most recent conference or work party.

That covers the basics! You can now use Facebook for professional and personal networking without risking your reputation or sharing too much information with colleagues.