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The Complete Guide to Facebook Privacy Settings

by Suzanne Kantra on February 27, 2024

Updated on 2/27/2024. Removed privacy options for features no longer available, added new screenshots, and updated instructions on setting currently available privacy options.

Privacy issues and privacy controls on Facebook are ever-changing and confusing. I've read through hundreds of comments and emails from readers just like you who are frustrated and unsure about how to keep their information safe.

For example, when you post a picture of your kids at a family gathering, how can you control who has permission to share it? What private information are those Facebook game apps collecting, and who are these "third parties" they sell it to? How do you make sure that your live video stream is seen only by the people you choose?

Every action you take on Facebook has privacy and sharing implications you should understand before uploading that next selfie. Unfortunately, checking all of your Facebook settings takes a lot of time, and even then, the best choices for protecting your privacy aren't always obvious.

I just went through a complete review of every Facebook privacy setting currently available to determine what options we have for managing our privacy and what the best settings are for most people (and I'll continue to update this article as Facebook inevitably makes more changes). If you have a specific privacy concern, you can address it directly through your Facebook settings. Though for a broad check of all of your privacy settings, I recommend starting with Facebook's Privacy Checkup, which you can do through your computer browser or the Facebook app (go to Menu > Settings > Privacy Checkup).

Computer monitor with screenshot of Facebook Privacy Checkup main page with tiles for Who can see what you share, How to keep your account secure, How people can find you on Facebook, Your data settings on Facebook, Your ad preferences

Either way, I'll walk you through each setting below so you can confidently decide the right changes for you. For each section, I share my recommendations for each topic and what to consider when making your choices. I also have direct links to "hidden" Facebook settings that aren't part of the standard Privacy Checkup but have important privacy implications.


Table of Contents 

Who can see your profile information

Managing who can see your basic profile information

Managing who can see your connections

Control your audience for your Posts and Stories

Managing how you are tagged in posts

Managing who can comment on your public information

Managing old posts

Managing stories and reels

How to block people from seeing your content and interacting with you

How people can find you on Facebook

Your data settings on Facebook

Your ad preferences on Facebook

How to keep your account secure


Who can see your profile information

Here you can see the privacy settings – who can view your information – for your phone number, email addresses, birthday, hometown, relationship status, and other personal details about your life. 

See how other people view your Facebook profile page

Before you start adjusting your privacy settings, take a look at what your Facebook profile looks like to other people. You can go to your profile page and click on menu button (the triple dots under the "Edit Profile" button) and select "View As."

Screenshot of Facebook profile page. You see the person's profile picture pointed out. You also see three dots pointed out with a drop-down menu with View as (pointed out).

The phone numbers associated with your Facebook account

Strong recommendation: Only Me

Under phone number, you'll see the phone number(s) associated with your account and who can view it. Your number is very important because it can be used to reset your Facebook password. By revealing your phone number, you are making it more vulnerable to SIM swapping, where a hacker contacts your carrier (in-store or on the phone) and convinces them to get a new SIM card with your number or port your phone number to another phone. Once the hacker has control of your number, they can receive codes to break into accounts protected by two-factor authentication

To delete or add a phone number, go to your profile page > About > Contact and basic info.

Read more: Find out if you are a victim of SIM swapping

The email addresses associated with your Facebook account

My recommendation: Only Me

Under emails, it will show all email addresses associated with your account and who can view them. Email addresses are important because you can use any of them to log into your account with your Facebook password. Be careful to remove any old email addresses or ones where you're not using secure passwords, because if that email address is hacked, it could compromise your Facebook account, as well.

I recommend limiting your email to "Only Me." The people you know should have your email address and if you accidentally accept an invitation from a friend's spoofed Facebook account, that hacker will have access to your email address. 

To add or delete and email address, go to your profile page > About > Contact and basic info.

Your birthday

My recommendation: Friends

For your birthday, you can choose to share your whole birthday or just the month and day. That way, your Friends can wish you a happy birthday on Facebook on your special day without necessarily knowing your exact age. Birthdays are sometimes used as a security verification for various services, so you want to keep it protected.

To change this info, go to your profile page > About > Contact and basic info.

Your hometown and current city

My recommendation: Only Me

For your hometown and current city, you may want to limit it to "Only Me" so you hackers can't use that personal information for social engineering. Your friends know where you live and can ask you where you grew up if they don't know. 

To change this info, go to your profile page > About > Places lived.

Your relationship status

My recommendation: Personal choice

If you have set a relationship with another Facebook user, it will be shared unless you set it otherwise.

To change this info, go to your profile page > About > Family and relationships.

Your work history and where you went to school

My recommendation: Personal choice

You can choose to share your work history and where you went to high school, college, and graduate school. This setting may help old friends find you or for networking purposes. 

To change this info, go to your profile page > About > Work and education.

Your friends list on your profile page

Strong recommendation: Friends or Only Me

I highly recommend setting this to Friends only or even "Only Me." Keeping your Friends list public puts your friends at risk for account cloning scams. The scam only works when the person behind it can contact your friends pretending to be you to request money or send phishing messages, such as the classic "Is this you?" video scam.

To change this setting, go to the Facebook Settings page for How People Find and Contact You.

Read more: What is Facebook Account Cloning & What Can You do about It?

The people and Pages you follow

My recommendation: Personal choice

Facebook lumps people and Pages you follow together. Consider whether there are any sensitive Pages you follow that you wouldn't want the world or your Friends to know about.

To change this setting, go to your profile page > Friends > menu (the triple dots next to "Find Friends") > Edit privacy.

Choose your audience for Posts and Stories

In this section, you can select who can read your future posts and stories, as well as read your prior posts on Facebook.

Choose your default audience

My recommendation: Friends or Custom

"Default audience" is where you set who will see your regular posts, including text posts, photos, and videos. My advice is to keep it to Friends unless you are trying to promote yourself to everyone or you have a specific need for a Custom setting (e.g., to exclude a toxic friend or relative).

You can choose who can see your future posts by going directly to the Facebook Settings page for Posts.

You can always override your default setting for a specific post at the time you create it by clicking on the downward caret next to the audience and selecting a new one.

Read more: How to Create and Use Facebook Custom Friends Lists

When you are tagged in a post created by someone else, choose who can see the post (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Strong recommendation: Only Me

If you are tagged in a post by someone on Facebook, your Facebook friends may see the post in their feeds even if they aren't friends with the original poster. This is a huge privacy and scam risk because someone can tag you in a photo that you do not want to be associated with, whether it's an embarrassing photo from last night's drink fest or a pure spam post (which I have seen tons of in my feed). So I strongly recommend setting this to "Only Me".

You can choose who can see posts you're tagged in by going directly to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the "Tagging" section.

Choose who can post on your profile (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Friends

My advice is to keep it to Friends, unless you enjoy random comments from strangers.

If you want to check or change this setting, go to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the "Viewing and sharing" section.

Choose who can see what others post on your profile page (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

You may not want everyone to see what other people are posting on your profile page. If you want to check or change this setting, go to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the "Viewing and sharing" section.

Choose to hide comments with specific words on your profile page (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

If you're concerned about crude language appearing on your profile page, you can add up to 1,000 keywords that will cause a post to be hidden. The post will still remain visible to the people who posted and their Facebook Friends.

If you want to check or change this setting, go to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the "Viewing and sharing" section. Though you're probably better off just limiting who can post to your profile to Friends (unless your friends are the problem!)

Choose to review posts you're tagged in before they appear on your profile (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Turn this on

If you are tagged in a post, the post defaults to automatically showing up on your Timeline. I recommend you choose the setting to review the posts before they appear to avoid embarrassing or spam posts appearing in your timeline. Go to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the Reviewing section.

Choose to review tags people add to your posts before they appear on Facebook (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Turn this on

Posting an old photo from a school or work outing? Once you share it, your Facebook Friends may want to tag more people in the photo. By default, your Facebook Friends can add tags. However, you can choose to review these tags before they appear on your post. Go to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the Reviewing section.

Choose who can comment on your public posts (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

When you create a public post, everyone on Facebook can see it. However, you can limit who gets to comment on your public posts. You can choose this setting based on your posting objectives.

If you want to check or change this setting, the Facebook Settings page for Followers and public content

Choose who can comment on your public profile pictures and other public profile information (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Friends

When you post a new profile picture or change other Public profile information, the default setting is that only Friends (and Frends of anyone tagged) can like or comment. I recommend leaving this setting as is. 

To change this setting, go to the Facebook Settings page for Followers and public content.

Find and remove old posts from your Timeline that you were tagged in (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Ever been tagged in an embarrassing photo from two decades ago uploaded by that old college classmate? You can remove these tagged items by going to your profile page (you can access it by clicking on your profile photo in the side menu bar) and click on Manage Posts.

Screenshot of Facebook profile page. On the right side, you see from the top: Edit cover Photo, Edit Profile, Life Event and then Manage Posts, which is pointed out.

In the box that pops up, click on "Filters." In the Post Filters box, you can select "only show posts I'm tagged in." You can choose to hide the posts or remove the posts. First, go through and select the posts where you want to remove yourself (untag yourself), click "Next," and select "Remove Tags." Then go through and select the posts that you want to be able to view but don't want others to see in your Timeline, click Next, and then select "Hide Posts."

Choose who can view old posts

My recommendation: Turn on Limit Past Posts

When you limit your past posts here, it will apply to ALL of your posts, including Public posts those share with "Friends of Friends," to only Friends. Unless you're a celebrity or running a page that is used to generate interest in a business that you run, you will likely want to keep your activity restricted to those you have Friended. Keep in mind that anyone who is tagged in your posts and their Facebook friends may still be able to view these posts.

You can choose who can view old posts by going directly the Facebook Settings page for Posts and clicking on "Limit Past Posts" in the "Your Activity" section.

Choosing an audience for a single old post (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you want to change the audience for specific posts, you'll have to go into each post individually to change it. You can change the sharing settings of any individual Facebook update by clicking on the triple dots, then selecting "Edit audience."

Choose who can view your Stories

My recommendation: Personal choice

For "Stories," which are visible for 24 hours, you can limit your audience to your Facebook Friends or create a custom list of people with whom you want to share your stories. You can only set your default story audience within the Privacy Checkup.

For individual stories, click on the cog next to "Your Story" when you create a story, and you'll find the option to change your story audience for that story.

Choose whether you will allow others to share your Stories if you mention them (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

If you tag someone in a Story, that person can share it to their Story, along with your full name and a link to your post.

You can disable this feature by going to Facebook Setting page for Stories.

Choose whether you will allow others to share your public Stories to their own Story (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation Personal choice

If your Story is public, you can allow others to share your Story to their own Story, along with your full name and a link to your original Story. Go to the Facebook Settings page for Stories to make your choice.

Choose whether you will allow others to share your public Reels to their own Story (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation Personal choice

If your Story is public, you can allow others to share your Story to their own Story, along with your full name and a link to your original Story. Go to the Facebook Settings page for Reels to make your choice.

Choose whether other people will see the total number of reactions to posts you share (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

If you don't want other people to see the number of reactions to your posts, you can turn off showing post reactions.

Go to the Facebook Settings page for Reaction preferences and toggle off "On your posts."

How to block people from seeing your content and interacting with you

Block a person from interacting with you on Facebook

Blocking a person means that you are invisible to that person on Facebook. So if a mutual Friend tags you in a post, that person won't see the post. If you comment on a mutual Friend's post, that person won't see the comment. There are a few exceptions. If you both use a Facebook app or game or if you've both joined a group, the blocked person could see you. And, the person you block won't disappear entirely from your view. If a mutual Friend posts a photo and tags the blocked person, you may still see it on your Friend's timeline.

To block someone, go directly to the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the Edit button next to "Block users." If you just want to prevent a person from seeing posts that you share with Friends, you can add them to your Restricted list (also on the Blocking page). Click on the "Edit" button next to "Restricted list" to add them. 

Block just messages and video calls (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you just want to stop a person from sending you messages or attempting to connect via a video call in Messenger, you can go to the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the "Edit" button next to "Block messages" to add their name.

Block just app invites (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you just want to stop a person from sending invitations to try an app (occurs when one of your friends is trying to get free stuff in a game), you can go to the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the "Edit" button next to "Block app invites." 

Block just event invites (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you just want to stop a person from sending event invitations, you can go to the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the "Edit" button next to "Block event invites."

Block apps (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you want an app to stop contacting you and prevent the app from obtaining non-public information about you through Facebook, you can go the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the "Edit" button next to "Block apps" to add the name of the app. 

Block Pages (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you want a Page to stop interacting with your posts or be able to like or reply to your comments, you can go to the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the "Edit" button next to "Block Pages" to add the name of the Page. You will be unable to post to the Page's Timeline or message the Page. And, if you currently like the Page, blocking the Page will automatically unlike and unfollow the Page.

How people can find you on Facebook.

This section walks you through the ways that you can limit how people can find you through search engines (like Google), or with your phone number, email or name on through Facebook.

Choose who can send you a Friend request

My recommendation: Personal choice

You have two options for limiting who can send you a Friend request: Everyone or Friends of friends. Unless you're being inundated with requests or don't want to be found, I recommend leaving the setting on Everyone so legitimate people who want to connect can.

You can access this directly by going to the Facebook Settings page for How people find and contact you.

Choose whether people can use your phone number or email to find you

My recommendation: Personal choice

People can look you up on Facebook with your phone number or email address, even if you have them hidden on your profile. This method makes it easy for people you know to find you, especially if you have a common name on Facebook, like Jane Smith. Have the settings option set to "Everyone" or "Friends of Friends" if you want people to find you using your email address or phone number. Or, you can also choose to fully hide your email addresses or phone numbers by selecting "Only me" as the audience. The settings you choose apply to all of your phone numbers or all of your email addresses.

You can access this directly by going to the Facebook Settings page for How people find and contact you.

Choose whether your Facebook profile appears on search engines

My recommendation: Personal choice

You can find your public Facebook profile page on search engines like Google. If you don't want your Facebook profile coming up in search, you can toggle this setting off in the privacy checkup or you can access it directly by going to You can access this directly by going to the Facebook Settings page for How people find and contact you.

Choose how message requests are delivered (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

When your Facebook Friends message you, you'll see them appear in the Messenger Chats window. However, other people may try to contact you via Messenger as well: "people with your phone number," "Friends of friends," and "others on Facebook." If you don't want strangers contacting you, send messages requests to "Don't receive requests." If you want to see the request before approving them to chat with you, select "Message requests."

You can set your preferences by going to the Facebook Settings page for How people find and contact you.

Your data settings on Facebook

Facebook makes it easy to log into other websites and apps with your Facebook account. If these conveniences are too invasive for you, here's where to turn them off.

Using Facebook to log into apps and websites

My recommendation: Remove connections

Instead of creating a new username and password for an app or website, you may have used your Facebook account. If you no longer use the app or website, it's a good idea to remove the connection. However, some apps and websites may hold valuable information about your account. Note that when you remove the connection to your Facebook account, you will lose access to your third-party account.

Remove login with Facebook for specific apps and websites

My recommendation: Personal choice

In the Facebook Privacy Checkup, you'll see a list of all websites and apps that you've connected to your Facebook account. To remove connection, click the 'Remove" button next to the app or site. In the pop-up window, you'll be given the option to "delete all of the posts, photos, and videos that the site or app has posted on your Timeline" and/or "Allow Facebook to notify [app name] the login was removed." This second option may enable you to recover data in the account you created with your Facebook login.

Screenshot of removing app from Facebook. Shows removing Grubhub

Turn off login with Facebook for apps, websites, and games (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

You can turn off the ability to use Facebook to log into apps, websites, and games.

Go to the Facebook Setting page for Apps and Websites and click on the "Turn off" button next to "Apps, websites and games." 

Turn off game and app notifications (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

You can turn off annoying notifications for game requests from friends, game status updates, and app notifications.

Go to the Facebook Setting page for Apps and Websites and click on the "Turn off" button next to "Game and app notifications."

Your ad preferences on Facebook

Meta will show you ads on Facebook – that's how they make their money. It's just a question of whether those ads will be targeted to your demographics and interests or non-targeted (and, perhaps, less relevant to you). 

Choose the profile information to share with marketers

My recommendation: Personal choice

Here, you can choose whether to share your marital status, employer, job title, and level of education with advertisers. This doesn't remove the information from your Facebook profile; it just impacts the ads you see.

You can also go directly to Meta Settings page for Ad Preferences and clicking on "Manage info" and then "Profile information." There you can toggle off any data you don't want to share.

Choose which interests to share with marketers (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

In addition to basic profile information, Facebook uses other information you've shared with it to serve you ads. You can remove interest categories, by going to Meta Settings page for Ad Preferences and clicking on "Manage info" and then "Profile information." In the "Categories associated with you" section, click on "View and manage." If you have other demographic or behavioral categories in your Ad Preferences, you can click on the "Remove" button next to any categories you don't want used to target ads to you.

See fewer ads about specific topics (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

While you can't choose to see fewer ads overall, you can choose to see fewer ads in specific categories. Go to the Meta Settings page for Ad topics. There you can choose to "See less" of any topic listed. 

Turn off personalized ads based on information advertisers share about you (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

You can choose to prevent Facebook from using data from its partners to show personalized ads. Go Meta Settings page for Ad topics and in the "information other advertisers share about you" section you can select "Activity information from ad partners" to make your selection.

Choose which advertisers can use their own audience list to target you with ads (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

Some companies have lists of people that they want to reach with their ads. Facebook allows companies to target ads based on these lists, or even exclude you from seeing ads (for example, the DNC may want to exclude their ads from people on the RNC list). You can choose not to be shown ads using a list, as well as not be excluded from seeing ads. Go to the Meta Settings page for Audience-based advertising. There, you will see a list of all of the companies that have you on their audience list. Click on a company, and you can find out why you were included in the advertiser's audience. Click on the arrow next to the reason, and you can choose whether the company's list can be used to either include or exclude you from seeing ads.

Choose whether you are shown ads off Facebook based on your interests (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

Facebook serves a lot of advertising on websites and through apps off of Facebook. You can turn off personalized ads for those sites and apps, by going to the Meta Settings page for Ad preferences and selecting the "Manage info" tab. Click on "Ads shown outside of Meta." There, you can choose "Allowed" or "Not Allowed."

Hide ads from specific brands (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

If you're tired of being inundated with a specific company's ads, you can choose to hide them. Go to the Meta Settings page for Ad preferences and select the "Customize ads" tab. The click on "See all" next to "Advertisers you saw ads from." There you will find a list of the advertisers you have seen most recently, and you can click on the "Hide Ads" button next to any offenders.

Choose whether your social interactions with a company show up in ads

My recommendation: Only Me

Have you ever liked or followed a company, made a comment, shared a company's Page, checked into an event held by a company, made a recommendation, or joined a Facebook event held by a company? Facebook can broadcast your action as an advertisement to all your friends.

If you don't like this type of inadvertent endorsement, you can limit who can see these social interactions alongside ads to "Only me."

You can also go directly to the Meta Settings page for Ad preferences and click on "Social interactions." In the popup, you can select "Only me" or "Friends."

How to keep your account secure

In this section, you can change your password, turn on two-factor authentication, and get alerts when there is an unrecognized login to your account. If you already have two-factor authentication turned on and alerts are set for unrecognized logins, you'll receive the message that "You're all set. No security actions are recommended at this time."

Use a strong password

Strong recommendation

Do you have a strong password for your Facebook account – one that is unique to Facebook and at least 16 characters, including upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters? If the answer is no, you should strongly consider changing your password.

To ensure you remember your new strong password and to make it easier to use strong passwords going forward, I highly recommend using a password manager. We are fans (and users) of Dashlane and 1Password.

To change your password, you can go directly to the Facebook Settings page for Password and security.

Read more: Check how long it would take to crack your existing password

Turn on two-factor authentication

Strong recommendation

A strong password is essential, but that's not enough if it's compromised in a data breach or you are tricked into giving it away in a Facebook credentials phishing attack. That's where two-factor authentication comes in. When two-factor authentication is turned on, anyone trying to log into your account from a new device or browser would need to provide a one-time-use code delivered via an app, text message, or email. I highly recommend turning on two-factor authentication.

You can also go directly to the Facebook Settings page for Password and security and select "Two-Factor Authentication" to set it up.

You should also check the list of devices and browsers that don't require a code when you log in to ensure there aren't any of your old devices on the list. To check this, go to the Facebook Settings page for Password and security and select "Two-Factor Authentication." Once you've logged in, you'll see a box, with a section entitles "Authorized Logins." Click the "Recognized devices" button to view the list of devices that don't require a login code.

Read more: How to Protect Your Accounts with Two-Factor Authentication

Receive alerts when there is an unrecognized login to your Facebook account

Strong recommendation

You can choose to receive Login alerts that will be sent every time you log into your account from a device or browser that you don't usually use.  You can choose to have alerts sent via Facebook, email, or both. Note that a new web browser looks like a new computer to Facebook.

You can go directly to the Facebook Settings page for Password and security and select "Login alerts" to turn them on and select your delivery method.

Check where you're logged in (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Strong recommendation

In addition to receiving alerts when there is an unrecognized login, you can check to see which devices have logged into your Facebook account. You can see where you're logged into Facebook – the device and physical location – by going to the Facebook Settings page for Password and security and select "Where you're logged in." If you see a suspicious login, you can click on it and then select "Log Out." Worst case scenario is that you'll have to log in again on a device you own, so err on the side of logging out.

Final thoughts

That covers the extensive privacy setting options on Facebook. If you want to dig even further into how Facebook is using your personal data and activities, read Facebook's latest privacy policy

Still confused by a specific issue or question with your account? Ask below in the comments, and we'll do our best to help you out.

[Image credit: screenshots of the Facebook site via Techlicious, computer mockup via Canva]

For the past 20+ years, Techlicious founder Suzanne Kantra has been exploring and writing about the world’s most exciting and important science and technology issues. Prior to Techlicious, Suzanne was the Technology Editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the Senior Technology Editor for Popular Science. Suzanne has been featured on CNN, CBS, NBC and dozens of other TV and radio networks.


Topics

Facebook, Computers and Software, Computer Safety & Support, Tips & How-Tos, Privacy, Tech 101, Social Networking


Discussion loading

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From Alex Boe on August 29, 2015 :: 10:10 am


why are my Bday wishes that I am tagged in only show on my timeline & not on news feed? I have checked all my settings & all are ok. thanks

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From KC on August 30, 2015 :: 11:22 pm


If a friend comments on my status, but then I decide to restrict their view in my privacy options and change it by adding them to the “Dont share with” list on that very status - then what happens when I reply to their previous comment? Will they get a notification??

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From Boris Velikson on September 01, 2015 :: 7:46 am


I would like to ask the same question Annette asked on 8/26 and to which no answer seems to have been given: how to stop seeing all the postings a friend liked or commented? I have no interest in these.

And I would like to ask another question. Earlier there existed, I was told, an option not to see a friend’s postings. This option does not seem to exist anymore. I have friends I would not like to unfriend (so that they can comment on my postings) but whose volume of production is such that I’d like to stop automatically seeing their statuses. If you removed that option, please put it back. If you hid it, tell me please how to find it.

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From Char on September 03, 2015 :: 8:25 am


Boris:  In the top right corner of your friend’s post, you will see a “V”.  Click on that and you will see “Hide Post”, “Unfollow BLAH” and the almost irrelevant “Hide all from X”.  You can either hide the post, which would tell facebook that you want to see less from this person, or Unfollow which means you won’t see any posts from this person.  In both situations they will still see what you post, unlike unfriending.  They won’t know that you’ve hidden the post or that you’ve unfollowed them.

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From Annette on September 07, 2015 :: 9:50 am


...Char for your tip, I will try the ‘Less posts’ option and hope it works!

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From Gabriela on September 01, 2015 :: 4:04 pm


I have private profile set for “friends” only. I have recently created a business page but I do not see privacy option specifically for business page. Does it mean that business page will have the same setting as my personal profile “friends” only or does it mean that personal profile is whatever I set it to be and independently to it business page is always public?I just don’t want people who see my business page had any insight to my private profile. Please help!

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From Char on September 03, 2015 :: 6:29 am


It never fails- I check Facebook messages when I’m out and about, and my friends see that I’m online using my mobile phone and they send me about 20- messages in less than 2 minutes, expecting me to respond immediately.  I’ve turned off chat, so I don’t know how they’re seeing that I’m on Facebook.  Aside from deleting these overly self-centered friends (tongue in cheek), how do I stop them from seeing that I’m using my mobile?  I’ve turned off chat so I don’t know why it’s showing up at all.

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From Anti on September 05, 2015 :: 11:35 am


I noticed that people I don’t have friends can send me a request for video call. How can I remove the icon of the camera that exists on the right part of the cover photo to avoid that. Just in case you need to know, I have not the facebook video call plugin.

Plus, was always sending messages possible for everyone? I think that in the past you could chose those who could send you.

Thank you.

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From S on September 06, 2015 :: 9:44 am


Someone is keeping bothering me by sending messages even when I block that person..he makes a new profile and send me in the “others” folder again and again >.<
So how can I stop receiving messages from unknown/unfriend and prevent that others folder!!!

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From Shari on September 07, 2015 :: 8:49 pm


Hello,

Any way to be private to my friends friends list?  I’m active on a pal’s wall but do not want her friends to see posts, tags, etc.

Thanks

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From Wendi on September 09, 2015 :: 8:08 am


Hello- When I now post a photo as my status update, tag someone and add a description, I have many strange things happening.  1.  On my page the photo and description appear as my update, but when I go to the friends page that I tagged, the photo is there, but no description. 2.  When one see’s my photo/description as a part of their feed, they can like or comment without clicking on the photo (which is typical).  However, when you then click on the actual photo, they can like or comment there, but it acts as a completely separate like or comment.  3.  So, these separate comments are now the comments that appear under the photo on my tagged friends pages, but not under my page.  They are only under the photo when you click on it.

I’m not sure if you are following me, but I can always show it to you via my FB page as well.  This is driving me crazy and has to be one of my settings.  I just cannot figure it out.

Help please!

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From Lisa on September 09, 2015 :: 9:55 am


This piece is very helpful. I’m trying to figure out how to keep my job from being posted next to my name when I comment on my local newspaper or, say, The Huffington Post. I could ostensibly set up a fake account for HP, but my local paper is tied to my subscription. Thank you!

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From Shikha on September 09, 2015 :: 11:17 pm


I have created a page through my personal fb account n i want to display that page to some of the fb groups of which i m a member on my personal account.How can i restrict those group people to view my personal account pics n posts but they should be able to view pics posted on my page.

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From Nana Trujillo on September 14, 2015 :: 10:54 am


I am not able to add two friends on facebook eventhough we have 15 friends in common with one and 5 eith the other. In both the add friend button does not show up, only the one to send a message. About a month ago the add a friend button was available on both of them but last week was not available anymore. I noticed last week my facebook was updated. It is only happening with this two friends I want to add, but not to others. Why this could happened?

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From H Rea on September 23, 2015 :: 6:08 am


How do I stop Face Book sending me requests from friends requesting confirm or delete? I don’t want to delete the names as it seems unfriendly. I just don’t want Face Book to send me 3 e mails daily (cluttering up my in box) titled ‘have more friends on Facebook than you think’! Thanks

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From Jayesh Jaiswal JJ on September 28, 2015 :: 5:31 am


Useful suggestions but I liked or comment anyone post, anyone will not able to see that without me? Plz help me

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From Linda Gourley on October 06, 2015 :: 12:58 pm


Love the info you provided. So much better than what Facebook provides. But I have a question that requires your opinion. Should you refrain from listing family relationships? What’s the downside of that, realistically?

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From Dalene Berger on October 10, 2015 :: 4:28 pm


how come someone that is not my friend cannot see my profile or postings?  I have not blocked them or had them on a restricted list

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From Kia Eccentric McCool on October 14, 2015 :: 7:46 pm


Hello. How can I stop people who are not friends from commenting on my public posts? I know it can be done because I’ve viewed content on peoples’ pages but couln’t comment unless I was their friend.  I just cant figure out how they do it and it sucks. Please help?

Thank you so much for your time.

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From Joe on October 16, 2015 :: 10:47 am


If I set the privacy settings on my profile of who can see my posts, but I post something to a public fanpage like a comment, that will still appear on that fanpage correct?

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From Josh Kirschner on October 16, 2015 :: 10:54 am


Privacy on Fan Pages is controlled by the page owner, not by your personal settings. Generally speaking, anything you post on a fan page will be public.

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From Yolanda Mendez on October 16, 2015 :: 1:57 pm


Hello Josh:

Wanted to ask for your help, I’ve been searching all over the internet for several days how to add (once more) a friend that I deleted 6 days ago. He was on my list of acquaintances and we got into a stupid discussion where I ended up deleting him from my list of friends, but it was s joke. I want to add him back and can’t find him anywhere not on search, mutual friends (we have more than 100) or anywhere, it seems as if he doesn’t exists. He tried to add me too and has the same problem. We haven’t blocked each other so don’t know what is going on. I even open others people pictures where he is tagged and messages we had, and his name is in black and I can’t enter his profile to add him back.
I’ve really tried everything, even a mutual friend suggested him as a contact and I didn’t receive her suggestion…weird.
Do you know if Facebook has a “time out” friendship period? For example a week or so and I’ll be able to see and add my friend soon.

Please help me.

Many thanks!

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From Mike J Baron on October 19, 2015 :: 4:34 pm


I have FRIENDS selected for my privacy setting.

Using a stranger’s computer (someone who is NOT my fb friend) I verified that ANYONE can see my fb posts!

So your instructions only repeat what facebook claims, and it is not true!

Facebook instructions are a lie! Anyone can see all your business. I recommend you delete your instructions and warn your readers that fb’s privacy instructions DO NOT WORK.

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From Josh Kirschner on October 19, 2015 :: 8:30 pm


What is the privacy setting for the individual posts you made? Is it Friends or Public? Are these posts you made in your timeline or are they comments on other peoples’ posts or on fan pages?

If you post a link to where you claim your private posts are public, I’ll take a look. Facebook’s privacy settings do work, so I think the issue is with your settings or posting location.

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From Tom on October 19, 2015 :: 6:06 pm


Is it possible to hide certain friends from some people? Example; the friends list says 103 friends but I can only see 76.

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From Kimm on October 20, 2015 :: 3:37 am


Sometimes I hit like on a political page to support the person who posted the comment but I really would prefer it isn’t publicized for my friends to see. How do I prevent this.

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From Josh Kirschner on October 20, 2015 :: 7:34 am


Privacy on other people’s pages/posts is controlled by that person. So if you’re taking actions on a public page or post, your actions will be public. Plan accordingly.

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From Linda on October 23, 2015 :: 11:43 am


Hi, 
  When I post something on FB my fiends will comment but in many cases there are comments from people I dint know. I have gone to my privacy settings but dint see anything that I can select to change this. I have ‘friends only’ setting. What can I do to have friend comments only. Thank you.

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From Glenn Kessler on October 23, 2015 :: 11:53 am


I have a family member that is friends with me and is following me.  He can see every comment I leave on other people’s FB posts even when he is not tagged or friends with that person.  If he can track every comment I make on facebook, then others can as well.  I only want my friends to see what I post on my own timeline and what I post on their timeline. I don’t want friends to see comments that I post on other peoples pages.  How can I adjust my settings to stop this?

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From Barry on October 25, 2015 :: 7:36 pm


Hi there,
How can I allow others (fiends of friends, everyone) to be able to like and/or comment on the public posts on my timeline? Right now people who are not my friends can only share my public posts and also I don’t allow people to follow me.

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From Glo on October 31, 2015 :: 6:33 am


Can I block one specific person from seeing posts I set to ‘public’?

Thanks!

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From Linda van den Berg on November 02, 2015 :: 3:06 am


I’ve seen the same question twice and still no response. I would also like to know what to do if friends write something on some one else’s wall (maybe only their friends)shows on my news feed. It is not only one specific person, so I can’t just hide posts of that person. I don’t want to see what friends write to each other. I’m only interested in things they write to ME.

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From Josh Kirschner on November 25, 2015 :: 11:23 pm


Facebook controls what appears in your News Feed and how it is prioritized. There is little you can do to change that other than blocking or prioritizing specific people.

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From Kate Sells-Greer on November 24, 2015 :: 11:36 pm


I entered into a contest and I made my post public (I Have to get as many likes as I can) Yet only my friends can like my post.

If we are not friends you only have the option to share it. Any suggestions? 

Thank you,
Kate

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From fay on November 29, 2015 :: 3:35 pm


Please could someone tell me why a friend can only see things I have tagged them in and not any other of my posts?

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From M Ramya on December 09, 2015 :: 9:23 am


The post is public. But I am not able to see the no. of shares of the post by Friends of friends

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From Linda on December 10, 2015 :: 7:29 pm


Hello! I have a quick question.

First of all thank you for the guide.

I would like to hide my friends as well. I dont want anyone except my friends to see who I’m friends with. Is that possible?

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From Simon on December 16, 2015 :: 6:12 am


Hello, I can’t find an answer to this: I know if I reply to a public post everybody can see it but can I prevent this activity from my timeline? I don’t always want all my friends get a ‘noticifaction’ that I replied to something like “Simon replied to this”.
Thanks.

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From Lisa @ Fun Money Mom on December 27, 2015 :: 7:26 am


Great post!  I have the same question as Gabriela.  I have both a personal page and a fanpage for my blog.  I’d like my personal page to be set to “friends” and my fanpage to be set to “public”.  I don’t seem to be able to do this.  Do they both have to be set to the same privacy setting?

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From Josh Kirschner on December 29, 2015 :: 3:00 pm


Privacy settings for your personal page and fanpage are completely separate, so not clear why you’re having an issue. Just make sure that when you go to your fanpage, you are “using Facebook as [fanpage name]”, not your own name, when you go to the privacy settings. You control this using the little dropdown arrow all the way at the top right of Facebook.

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From Susan on December 28, 2015 :: 7:44 pm


I need to set up a business page but I do not have a personal page.  It looks like I have to set up a personal page and then add the business page - how do I do that without people seeing my personal page information - because I certainly have no intention of using the personal page and don’t want anyone to be able to access or see it.

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From Josh Kirschner on December 29, 2015 :: 3:13 pm


By default, Facebook business pages DO NOT show Page Admins. So no one, other than other page admins, will be able to see who controls the page.

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From jon on January 06, 2016 :: 5:17 pm


How do I make FB stop sending me the Nation in Distress stuff?

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From mike on January 13, 2016 :: 6:12 pm


I’ve had to “see less” of certain people (they know who they are), but I don’t understand how you ever review these settings, roll someone back to “see more”, etc ???

Also, when viewing a check-in there is an option to “I don’t like this” - well what does that mean ? does it tell FB, tell them, tell no one ? does it limit my exposure to check-ins ?

If FB would just show an explanation next to the selection, it would make it 1000 times less confusing.

I’d love to be able to not see check-ins more than 5 (10, 20, whatever) miles from where I am.  do not care where my friends in San Diego are going to lunch

Thanks

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From Kathy on January 18, 2016 :: 1:38 pm


I am recently divorced.  My husband was having an affair with a friend.  My daughter is now face book friends with the girlfriend.  She has been able to keep me from seeing that the girlfriend is on her facebook friend list.  I can have another friend look at my daughters facebook page and see her and others that are hidden.  I would like to do the same.  I don’t want my daughter to see some new friends.  I know I can make lists and only post to certain likes or exclude someone, but don’t know how she was able to hide the face that they are friends.  I don’t care that she is friends with her - we are past that, but I don’t want my daughter to see any of my new relationships.  I would also like to do this to keep business and personal separate.  Do you know how my daughter was able to hide the friends?

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From Tony on January 21, 2016 :: 8:21 pm


I have divided all my friends into two lists, so I can choose either audience when I post on my wall (sometimes I duplicate posts for both audiences). As far as I understand, when someone comments on one of my posts that have been shown to a particular list, only people from the same list can see that comment. However, I cannot find any way to also make posts from friends on my wall to be visible only to people from the same list of the friend who wrote the post. The point is that I just want to keep both lists of friends completely separate (obviously without creating two separate profiles). The “hiding friends from profile” option is a joke, since friends are revealed whenever they comment or post - at least I’d like to hide my friends to people on the “other” list (if everybody can see posts from everybody else that’d be impossible), and the “hide to acquaintainces” option is not valid either, since that would hide all posts to these people, but I only want to hide posts from the “other” list. Thanks!

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From Kristin Tang on January 26, 2016 :: 4:31 pm


My friends can’t suggest me as a friend to others, nor can they suggest friends to me. The “Suggest friends” option are lacking in the Friends menu on my profile. Choosing “Suggest friends” on other friends’ profiles, my name doesn’t appear in the list. Is there any way to fix this?

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From erika on January 28, 2016 :: 9:07 am


hi, i am a member of a closed group and since it became closed i can’t post anything anymore but i can like and comment on other people’s posts. are there some privacy settings i should change and which?
thanks

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From John on February 11, 2016 :: 12:53 pm


I have two friends (who are not FB friends with each other), each with Public profiles that they keep completely open, and all their posts are marked Public.

If one friend was to tag me in a post on THEIR timeline (not a picture, but an actual post where I’m tagged), will this appear on the Newsfeed of the second person? Can I prevent this? I’m a little shaky since both profiles are Public and I don’t know how that works. Thank you!

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From Josh Kirschner on February 11, 2016 :: 4:33 pm


You will get a notification when you’re tagged in a post and you can then review the post in your Activity Log, found in your Timeline, or directly through your friend’s profile. Once you find the post, use the little dropdown icon in the top right of the post and you’ll see an option to “Remove tag”.

You can’t directly control what others are shown in their newsfeed (that’s all based on Facebook’s internal algorithms). So it is possible that Facebook MAY show the post in the other friend’s feed if you’re tagged. If you allow tagged posts to be added to your timeline, they will definitely show up in your other friend’s newsfeed. I am not as sure of the answer if you don’t allow the tagged posts to show in your timeline (also controlled through your Facebook privacy settings).

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