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Google helps you control all your data in a new About Me page

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Google is nothing if not a massive repository for all our data. Our search results, our emails, contacts, backups, and more are mostly processed through the company’s services. Not everyone is embedded in Google’s services 100 percent, but most of us use at least one of its apps or online services, so having a place to put all of that information in perspective could be useful. That’s what the new Google About Me page is all about.

In a nutshell, it shows all of the information that is publicly available about you via various Google services. But better than that, it lets you control it. If you have a Google+ account, chances are your name, place of work, and picture will show up at the top, along with any other information you may have entered there.

Other information like your work history, contact details, and education are also likely to be listed, though they may feature one of several symbols by them. The green globe lets you know that anyone can find that information about you, whereas the linked red circles indicate that only those within your social circles can see it.

If you’d like to expand the amount of information that is available to select groups, you can do so by clicking the little plus symbol at the bottom, which gives you a few options for being more open with the world.

However, if you would rather circle your privacy wagons a little more, but aren’t sure where to start, there’s a “Privacy Checkup” tool that makes it that bit easier. It lists different aspects of your various profiles, which will be visible to the public and your circles of friends

While this new page may present a somewhat confusing change of pace for those used to fine tuning their settings with Google’s various tools, the hope is to simplify the process of changing privacy settings.

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Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
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