With all of the Facebook privacy changes that have come around in recent months, you'd think that people would be more aware of whether or not their Facebook profiles are set to be publicly visible by default. Facebook profiles that are publicly visible can be viewed by anyone - even people who aren't on Facebook. Many users who followed Facebook's "recommendations" for privacy settings may have inadvertantly set their Facebook profiles to be publicly visible - a huge mistake.

There are plenty of good reasons why you shouldn't set your Facebook profile to be public. Here are four great reasons to keep your Facebook profile private:

1. Robberies

One of the biggest pieces of information that a professional thief needs to know about you is what your schedule is like. They need to know when you're going to be at home, when you're going to be away, and how long you're going to be gone for.

The problem with a publicly visible Facebook profile is that would-be thieves can use the service to "mine" potential targets - they can browse around, looking for publicly visible Facebook profiles, and then watch and wait for an opportunity to strike. If you post something on your wall like "Going to Tahiti for the weekend," you might not think anything of it, but thieves certainly will.

Don't make it easier for thieves to find out when you're going to be home and when you're going to be away - set your Facebook profile to private now, long before you take that weekend trip to Tahiti.

2. Identity Thieves

When identity thieves sit down to steal your identity, they need certain pieces of information about you in order to effectively convince others that they're actually you. A well-filled-in Facebook profile, set to public visibility, is the perfect place to start farming personal information about a person.

Depending on how much information you've filled in, identity thieves can quickly discover your contact information, your family members, your workplace, your hometown, your high school - all pieces of information that they can use to gain access to your identity.

Don't make it even easier for identity thieves to become you - set your Facebook profile to "friends only" and you'll be significantly safer.

3. Divorce

According to an AP article this week, evidence gleaned from Facebook profiles has increased dramatically over the past few years in divorce proceedings; indeed, sixty percent of lawyers surveyed said that Facebook mistakes were a source of online evidence. Comparatively, Twitter was cited by only five percent of lawyers.

From a husband whose anger management issues were revealed by his Facebook "about me" section that read "If you have the balls to get in my face, I'll kick your ass into submission," to the mom who denies smoking pot but whose Faceboook photos tell a different story, there's all kinds of ways that your Facebook profile can get you into trouble in a divorce.

If you're divorcing, don't just set your Facebook profile to private - either restrict access to your ex or just unfriend him/her completely.

4. Job Applications

More and more, employers are using Facebook profiles to help decide whether or not they should hire potential candidates. When companies hire people, in most countries there are a set of things that they're not allowed to ask about - things like sexual orientation, religion, marital status, pregnancy, etc.

The problem with a Facebook profile is that it often sets all of those things right out in the open, so the employer doesn't even have to ask about them to find out. Although employers are supposed to ignore or "un-know" information like that, in reality it's difficult to pretend that you didn't notice that a potential candidate was three months pregnant.

If you're applying for a job, make sure and do yourself a favor by setting your Facebook profile to private to make sure that your would-be-employer doesn't learn something about you that they'd find difficult to un-learn.

There are plenty of other good reason to set your profile to private, each depending on the individual and the circumstances. What are your experiences with public/private Facebook profiles?