FB help: I just googled my name and clicked "images"

[artvandalay]

and my current facebook profile picture came up. It only did this when I typed in my full name (first name, maiden name, last name) exactly how I am registered on FB. When I clicked on it, it took me to a page for some fb site that I "liked" and had commented. It's a really tiny picture, about the size of my profile picture.

There isn't anyway to remove this, right? Is there a way to prevent this from happening again? I actually removed the comment that I had made on that page.

Also I thought I had my profile picture hidden from anyone who wasn't a friend...but I suppose I"m wrong? I looked through my settings and I don't see a setting that hides your profile picture.

Any ideas? This makes me not want to comment on any 'fan' sites anymore :(

[SnuggleBuggles]

I don't like or am a fan of any group other than ones created for my immediate social circle. I don't "like" the Gap or whatever so I can get deals. Maybe that's why mine doesn't show up? I googled my FB name and 0 results were returned. I imagine you can get things tightened back up by unliking somethings and double checking settings (they change them so often!).

Beth

[artvandalay]

OK I did some more investigating. There are two links that I commented on that google is showing my picture for. They are actually "Networked Blogs" not a store sites. When I clicked on it, a box showed up saying something about my secure connection would be disabled temporarily while I visit the Networked Blog site. I"m guessing this is why?

I stopped following the two Networked Blog sites, which is sad, because one of them is by a good friend of mine, but apparently the site is not secure.

There is no way to get rid of my picture on google even though I deleted my comments/stopped following Networked Blogs, right?

Ugh. Stuff like this is what bugs me about FB.

[mominma]

I do not have an answer for you, but just did the same under in Google under my name and my profile picture came up as well as well as some FB friends. I am going to look up the privacy settings again. I will report back if I find a solution,

[Snow mom]

Well, I don't know if this makes you feel better or worse, but you can no longer completely hide your current profile picture from total strangers on facebook. If they can find you on facebook, when they click and it says "this person only shares some information" the smaller version of your profile picture that appears in the upper left will be one of those things. They won't be able to click on it to see the full size image, but they will be able to see more than the tiny thumbnail. The only way to prevent this is to basically block all ways people find you on facebook.

As far as google goes they cache sites so nothing is ever truly deleted. I don't know how long the cached information shows up, although I can tell you the second hit I get for someone I know (this is a page, not a photo) is something that was deleted a few years back. Sorry to not have any more helpful advice.

[artvandalay]

Well, I don't know if this makes you feel better or worse, but you can no longer completely hide your current profile picture from total strangers on facebook. If they can find you on facebook, when they click and it says "this person only shares some information" the smaller version of your profile picture that appears in the upper left will be one of those things. They won't be able to click on it to see the full size image, but they will be able to see more than the tiny thumbnail. The only way to prevent this is to basically block all ways people find you on facebook.

As far as google goes they cache sites so nothing is ever truly deleted. I don't know how long the cached information shows up, although I can tell you the second hit I get for someone I know (this is a page, not a photo) is something that was deleted a few years back. Sorry to not have any more helpful advice.

Hmm.. they changed that. Bummer. I used to have my profile picture hidden unless you were a friend. I figured there is no way to delete it permanently from Google. I'm just kind of creeped out that my picture is "out there", ya know? I"m going to be more careful what I use for my fb profile. I've used my kids before (only if it was their birthday or a really cute picture or something ) and now I'm going to stop using them. I do not want my children showing up on google.

[wolverine2]

ok, I just did this too and now it's freaking me out a bit b/c my picture was there too. But even worse, in the regular google search, some of my comments on FB were there! They were comments to a site I had "liked," not a friend's page. Are comments on "liked" pages public knowledge? I guess I can delete the comments, but I suppose they'll stay on google.

[arivecchi]

Is your profile set to private? Mine is and it does not show up in a google search.

[momm]

Facebook help:

If you don't want to be searchable on google, do the following steps:
- Click on "account" - top right hand -> click on "Privacy settings"
- Click on "ediit your settings" under "Apps and websites" (lower left hand corner)
- Disable "public search" option.

Google help:
how google works is that it has web crawlers which are constantly crawling the Internet for new pages. Once you disable yourself, the cache will be there for not more than a few days.
So, if you do the above steps, in a few days, your cached photo will disappear, when the crawlers do not find you there anymore.

HOWEVER, there are websites out there like waybackmachine which allow people to specifically find pages from a specific date in the past. But that does not work for googled images

Hope that helps! Good luck!

[artvandalay]

Is your profile set to private? Mine is and it does not show up in a google search.

Yes, I have everything set up so that 'only friends' can view my posts/pictures.

[wolverine2]

Is your profile set to private? Mine is and it does not show up in a google search.

Me too... my profile does not show up in a google search. However, my profile picture is there on google in images as well as the two comments I ever made to a "liked" page. I suspect if I hadn't made that comment, everything would still be private.

My public search is already disabled.

[Uno-Mom]

Here are a couple things I *believe* are true - I could be wrong ...

1. Your profile pic is public.

2. When you comment on a "liked" page (business or whatever) the privacy settings for that PAGE is what matters. I always assume that a band or business has their privacy set to public because obviously, they want as many viewers as possible. They want to show up on google searches.

3. YOUR privacy settings only apply to your personal page.

So, if you comment on a business page, band page or whatever - it's like you made the comment on a radio talk show...or here. :) ('Cept your real name is there on FB.) Personally, I'm ok with my comments being public on those "liked" pages because they're not real personal topics - kwim?

I am careful. I do "like" a couple band pages and I NEVER comment that I'm going to make one of their gigs or not. The only things I ever write publically are to ask a consignment store page if they have some item ... or ask a couponing question. That sort of thing.

[arivecchi]

Me too... my profile does not show up in a google search. However, my profile picture is there on google in images as well as the two comments I ever made to a "liked" page. I suspect if I hadn't made that comment, everything would still be private.

My public search is already disabled.Ok, this is me too and my techie brother checked the settings just now to be sure.

I think the answer is what the PP said. If you comment on a FB page you liked, those comments will be searchable.

[Uno-Mom]

I think the answer is what the PP said. If you comment on a FB page you liked, those comments will be searchable.

It makes sense. It's the virtual equivelant of taking your post-it note and sticking it on someone else's bulletin board for all to see.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Here are a couple things I *believe* are true - I could be wrong ...

1. Your profile pic is public.

2. When you comment on a "liked" page (business or whatever) the privacy settings for that PAGE is what matters. I always assume that a band or business has their privacy set to public because obviously, they want as many viewers as possible. They want to show up on google searches.

3. YOUR privacy settings only apply to your personal page.

So, if you comment on a business page, band page or whatever - it's like you made the comment on a radio talk show...or here. :) ('Cept your real name is there on FB.) Personally, I'm ok with my comments being public on those "liked" pages because they're not real personal topics - kwim?

I am careful. I do "like" a couple band pages and I NEVER comment that I'm going to make one of their gigs or not. The only things I ever write publically are to ask a consignment store page if they have some item ... or ask a couponing question. That sort of thing.

Exactly how I figure it works too. Hence why I don't post or like them, just read. I try to stay visible only to people I know and am comfortable with. A friend recently added me to a group and I deleted that group b/c I knew if I was on there then my info would show up on their news' feed, making me more visible on FB.


Beth

[Melaine]

Hmm.. they changed that. Bummer. I used to have my profile picture hidden unless you were a friend. I figured there is no way to delete it permanently from Google. I'm just kind of creeped out that my picture is "out there", ya know? I"m going to be more careful what I use for my fb profile. I've used my kids before (only if it was their birthday or a really cute picture or something ) and now I'm going to stop using them. I do not want my children showing up on google.

Crap. My profile pic comes up AND a facebook pic of the girls. NOT COOL.

[Uno-Mom]

Crap. My profile pic comes up AND a facebook pic of the girls. NOT COOL.

I'd open up that particular picture and check the privacy settings. My pic settings are very private but every once in a while one has a different setting for some reason. Especially if was a mobile upload or one with tagging.

[ncat]

My facebook profile picture is the first thing that comes up on a google image search. My linkedIn profile picture does not come up. I don't have very serious privacy settings on FB, but I don't have any on LinkedIn.

(edited to add) - tried again, the LinkedIn photo is there as well, but my (same) name is indexed differently so it didn't show up in the search

[citymama]

Facebook help:

If you don't want to be searchable on google, do the following steps:
- Click on "account" - top right hand -> click on "Privacy settings"
- Click on "ediit your settings" under "Apps and websites" (lower left hand corner)
- Disable "public search" option.

Google help:
how google works is that it has web crawlers which are constantly crawling the Internet for new pages. Once you disable yourself, the cache will be there for not more than a few days.
So, if you do the above steps, in a few days, your cached photo will disappear, when the crawlers do not find you there anymore.

HOWEVER, there are websites out there like waybackmachine which allow
people to specifically find pages from a specific date in the past. But that does not work for googled images

Hope that helps! Good luck!
:yeahthat:
I've disabled the public search option on my FB page and my pics don't come up on a search. Some very bizarre images appear that have nothing to do with me!

[MontrealMum]

I've disabled the public search option on my FB page and my pics don't come up on a search. Some very bizarre images appear that have nothing to do with me!

:yeahthat: The only images that come up are the few that I've knowingly put out there, some women with the same name as me (who knew?) and a plethora of movie/TV-related things as I share both a last and first name (both uncommon) with some actors who have worked together frequently. Yippee for me. My FB avi does not come up at all.

FB does some pretty sneaky things with respect to albums. For those of you that have super high private settings, and are supposedly unsearchable, I'd advise you to check out your FB albums...because they're separate from the rest of your privacy settings. I might be barking up the wrong tree, but to be safe, it's best to check. Each and every album you have on FB has to have its privacy settings set...every time you create a new one. It's a huge PITA! Another thing to check...groups and pages can now tag photos. This is new in the past few weeks. So, if you uploaded something to the Hanna site, or Gymbo, or what have you (I know they ask people to for contests)...they might have tagged it with your username. You should check to be sure if you're in the habit of uploading pics to pages.

[arivecchi]

Thing is this issue has nothing to do with your individual privacy settings. It depends on the settings of the page you are commenting on. For example, if you comment on the new york times page, those comments might pop up because that page does not have high privacy settings.

[Melaine]

Facebook help:

If you don't want to be searchable on google, do the following steps:
- Click on "account" - top right hand -> click on "Privacy settings"
- Click on "ediit your settings" under "Apps and websites" (lower left hand corner)
- Disable "public search" option.

Google help:
how google works is that it has web crawlers which are constantly crawling the Internet for new pages. Once you disable yourself, the cache will be there for not more than a few days.
So, if you do the above steps, in a few days, your cached photo will disappear, when the crawlers do not find you there anymore.

HOWEVER, there are websites out there like waybackmachine which allow people to specifically find pages from a specific date in the past. But that does not work for googled images

Hope that helps! Good luck!

Thank you! I made those changes.

[s7714]

Not sure, but I no longer have a picture of me on FB after I image googled my name and found a bio on some network that had my picture and name but a bunch of other info. that had nothing to do with me. I emailed the site admin. and they removed the profile, but it was still unnerving.

I do have my FB settings to only show images to friends only (NOT friends of friends), but I know there have been a couple of occasions where the security settings have changed and it went a couple days before I realized it.

[wimama]

I did a google image search and regular google search on my name. My facebook profile pic comes up and professional pics from our business website. A regular google search only comes up with professional business links.

[fivi2]

I just searched my name - no images. But - I have a very uncommon last name (very), and I just found an obituary for someone with my first name, a short version of my middle name, and my last name - same spelling. Freaky.