Services like Facebook and Twitter may have millions of users, but they don’t have the best track record when it comes to privacy.

Facebook announced some new user protection features recently, and it might be a good time to talk about social media safeguards.

On Facebook, most of the privacy features are optional — everything is public by default.

The most obvious protection users can give themselves is to change their privacy settings to the “friends only” option, so that only the people they’ve accepted can see their posts.

You can do this by selecting the account menu and choosing “privacy settings.”

Checking  the privacy page regularly is a convenient way to ensure your desired amount of privacy is in place, as features are constantly being added.

One announcement made by Facebook recently was the addition of in-line privacy controls similar to those offered by newcomer Google+.

Chris Cox, Facebook’s vice president of product, explained the change in philosophy.

“The profile is getting some new tools that give you clearer, more consistent controls over how photos and posts get added to it, and who can see everything that lives there,” he wrote in a post on Facebook’s corporate blog.

Users are now able to control who can and cannot see the things they post before they are posted.

In addition to limiting posts to their friends, users can also choose to add or exclude specific people by selecting the custom option.

What about those embarrassing pictures in the Big Bird costume that may not have been intended for the public, but a friend helpfully put it up and tagged for all the world to see?

Now tags can be approved before they become official.  It is important to note, once again, that this is an optional feature within the privacy settings.

Also noteworthy is the fact that all “private” messages on Facebook are archived.

Some Oakland University students aren’t necessarily happy with Facebook’s current privacy controls.

Freshman Stephanie Boergert, a business major, thinks the website could be doing more.

“I feel like you can creep on people so easily,” she said.

Sophomore Matthew Rich, a mechanical engineering major, feels social networks could better lock things down.

“The option should be there for absolute privacy, for the user to choose,” Rich said.

Due to the essence of Twitter, scandalous privacy slip-ups are not as large of a problem, but the options to guard profile are still present.

Like Facebook, everything on Twitter is public by default, but it also provides the option to protect tweets from unwanted viewers in the settings menu.

Doing this essentially turns Twitter into Facebook, letting only the people you approve see what you post.

It’s less robust than Facebook however, in that the only way users can make sure messages go to specific people is via direct message.

Social media services can be very effective tools for communication, as long as users know how to control the flow of information.