Facebook "Graphic App" Privacy Setting Hoax

If you are a Facebook user, chances are that you have recently seen some sort of variation of this post:

Thanks to the new “Graphic app”, any person on FB anywhere in the world can see our photos, our “likes” and our “comments”. During the next two weeks, I am going to keep this message posted and I ask you to do the following and comment “DONE”. Those of my friends who do not maintain my information in private will be eliminated from my list of friends, because I want the information I share with you, my friends, to remain among my friends and not be available to the whole world. I want to be able to publish photos of my friends and family without strangers being able to see them, which is what happens now when you choose “like” or “comment”. Unfortunately we cannot change this configuration because FB has made it like this.
1. So, please, place your cursor over my photo that appears in this box (without clicking) and a window will open.
2. Now move the cursor to the word “Friends”, again without clicking and then on “Settings”.
3. Un-check “Life Events” and “Comments and Like” "Photos". This way my activity with my family and friends will no longer be made public.
4. Now, copy and paste this text on your own wall (do not “share” it!). Once I see it published on your page, I will un-check the same

While there certainly are valid reasons to be concerned with privacy of your information on Facebook, the directions in that post have nothing to do with increasing privacy from being viewed by outside sources. In fact, if your friends were to follow the directions, anything they uncheck would no longer show in their feed. The following categories that are able to be un-checked: Life Events, Status Updates, Photos, Games, Comments and Likes, Music and Videos, and Other Activities.

Life Events
If you un-check this category, anything that Facebook determines is a important event in that friend's life will not be displayed in your news feed.

Status Updates
If you un-check this category, you will not be able to see any status update from that friend.

Photos
If you un-check this category, your news feed will no longer display photos from that friend.

Games
If you un-check this category, your news feed will no longer display games that your friend has played.
*This is actually a good category to un-check if you don't play games and you want to avoid seeing posts in your feed about games.

Comments and Likes
If you un-check this category, your news feed will no longer display comments or likes that your friend has made on other friends' activity. This isn't necessarily something that you need to be able to see, but for mutual friends, it can be helpful to show a conversation that you may want to join or a photo that may interest you too.

Music and Videos
If you un-check this category, your news feed will no longer display music and videos that your friend is listening to or watching.

Other Activities
If you un-check this category, your news feed will no longer display your friend's activity that Facebook considers miscellaneous, such as adding new friends, changing profile information, or being added to a group.

The solution for keeping your information as private as possible while still having a Facebook account is to keep your privacy setting set to "Friends" or create a custom list. Anything you post that has a "Public" setting can be seen by anyone who visits your profile page. Any time you comment on or like a public posting that a friend makes can be seen by anyone who visits that friend's profile page. If you don't want people to see what you're doing on Facebook, double-check to see if that posting is limited to "Friends" or "Public." By using "Friends" instead of "Public," you can keep your information as private as possible.