No need to panic yet….

What to do next:

 1. Locate the photo that you’re tagged in on Facebook and enlarge it.

You’ll see this option on the upper right hand side to ‘Remove’. The fact is: this will only remove the tag from your timeline, not the tag as a whole.

2. Hover over the image until the toolbar appears underneath it, and click ‘Options’.

Upon clicking, you’ll see there’s an option to ‘Remove Tag’. After clicking it, you’ll get a little menu that asks you what you want to do with this picture. Here’s where you can take revenge on your friend and claim harassment, or simply remove the tag. Hope this helps you take control of the tags you can’t bear to live with on Facebook, and tell me what you think about this system in the comments. Should it be less hidden/easier?

Until we meet again, evil photo.

Oh! And remember: if a photo is really bad, call up your friend – and get them to delete it. It could come back to haunt you.

I’m here to tell you right now – that a simple cut and paste job into your status will NOT automatically re-instate your rights, or any other objective you have in your head. This paragraph is not legally binding and frankly, the fact that Facebook has gone public is completely unrelated to the privacy of your content.

The fact is: social networks are not made for private storage. What this means for you? That regardless of privacy settings, personal preferences and the like: you should treat every photo, sentence and your shared content as though your grandmother/mother/employer/future employer CAN and WILL see everything.

In light of this, here’s a few things you can do to clean up any questionable stuff you may have lying around in your past:

1. Delete Questionable Photos: If you’re emotionally attached to them, save them somewhere. Regardless of the privacy settings- there are several ways these can be accessed (including by that person who just interviewed you for your dream job).

2. Censor Yourself: Obviously these networks are all made for you to express yourself, but keep in mind that it’s possible that everything you say online can be publicly retrieved. Keep your controversial conversations to ‘in-person’ – it could be the difference between scoring a potential job, client or even a relationship.

3. Download Your Facebook History: This is easy to do by going to your general settings menu (see picture). Sometimes we forget just exactly what we have listed online, and this is a resource to really go back and decipher what should be edited or deleted.

4. Everyone and Everything Is A Brand: Everything you say, everything you do, and everything you endorse is a reflection of yourself online. Put thought into the future when posting in the present – you never know what tomorrow brings.

Do you have additional tips or suggestions to avoid unnecessary disruption? Share them in the comments!