So you've just received a Facebook friend request from someone at work, but you don't feel comfortable knowing that if you accept this friend request, your co-worker could start browsing through those embarrassing pictures your college roommate has conveniently posted of you. Is it possible to maintain your Facebook friends and your Facebook privacy as well?

Well, yes. Sort of. One must first accept that nothing is truly private on the Internet. As long as computer hackers continue to hack and as long as companies are willing to pay to see the social networking profiles of potential employees, complete privacy on the Internet is impossible (something to consider the next time you post pictures of yourself on Facebook or any other social networking site). However, maintaining at least some level of privacy on Facebook is possible if one learns how to use the available privacy settings.

Many Facebook users find themselves too baffled and confused by Facebook's frequent home page revisions to even be aware that they can alter their privacy settings. At the top of one's home page or profile page is a link for "settings" that opens the door, so to speak, to Facebook's privacy settings.

If you hover your mouse over the word "settings," a drop-down menu should appear. One of the options in this menu is "privacy settings." Once you've clicked "privacy settings," you will see options for "Profile," "Search," "News Feed and Wall," and "Applications." Each option allows you to control what content your Facebook friends see relevant to you.

For example, under "Profile," you can control who sees every aspect of your profile, from your personal information to your status updates. You can even control who sees photos in which you have been tagged by other people. Just go to "edit custom settings" under the available options, and you can decide which Facebook friends (or which Facebook users, if you choose to open your information up to everyone with a Facebook account) can see what information. You can even type in the name of individual friends to exclude from certain information (if, for example, you think only one or two friends might find a certain photo offensive or would take exception to your status updates).

Under "Search" you can, obviously, control how people who aren't yet your friends have the ability to search for you, and under "Applications" you can control what information from your Facebook profile certain applications (such as the ever-popular "Mafia Wars") can see and use. And the "News Feed and Wall" privacy settings can be especially useful, particularly if you don't want to share comments on one friend's wall with the rest of your Facebook friend list, or if you would prefer that Facebook not notify your friends every time you change your relationship status.

Surrendering to Facebook doesn't mean having to completely surrender your privacy. Spend some time exploring the Privacy Settings, and take control of your Facebook profile, news feed, and applications.