Facebook, despite the rise of newer platforms, remains a social media giant, connecting billions globally. It’s a fantastic tool for staying in touch, but it also holds a wealth of your personal information. Without careful management of your privacy settings, much of this data can be publicly accessible. While you can’t control Facebook’s internal data handling practices with advertisers, you can take significant steps to limit what other Facebook users see about you.
This guide will walk you through the essential steps to make your Facebook profile private, ensuring you control who sees your posts, your profile information, and how easily you can be found on the platform.
Understanding Facebook Privacy Levels
Before diving into the settings, it’s crucial to understand Facebook’s privacy levels. Facebook offers four primary settings that govern the visibility of your account and content:
- Public: Anyone, even those without a Facebook account, can view content marked as “Public.”
- Friends: Only individuals on your Facebook friends list can see content set to “Friends.” You can further customize this to exclude specific friends from seeing particular posts.
- Friends of Friends: People who share a mutual friend with you can view content set to “Friends of Friends.” This expands visibility beyond your immediate friend circle.
- Only Me: This setting ensures complete privacy. Only you can see content marked “Only Me.” This is the setting you’ll primarily utilize to maximize your Facebook privacy.
For the most private Facebook experience, the goal is to default to “Only Me” whenever possible and strategically adjust other settings.
While some privacy adjustments can be made on the Facebook mobile app, the desktop version (Facebook’s desktop site) provides access to the full suite of privacy tools. It’s recommended to use the desktop site for a comprehensive privacy overhaul.
Accessing Facebook’s Privacy Settings Menu
To begin securing your Facebook profile, you’ll need to navigate to the Privacy Settings menu. Here’s how:
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Go to the Facebook website and log into your account. If you need assistance with logging in, refer to guides on how to log into your Facebook account.
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Locate your profile picture in the top-right corner of the page and click on it. From the dropdown menu, select Settings & privacy.
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In the Settings & privacy submenu, click Settings.
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On the left-hand sidebar of the Settings page, click Privacy.
This action will open the Privacy Settings and Tools page, your central hub for customizing your Facebook privacy.
Making Your Facebook Posts Private
The Your Activity section within the Privacy Settings is where you control who can see your past and future posts, as well as manage tags and your following lists.
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Future Posts Privacy: Click Who can see your future posts? and edit the setting to control the default audience for all new posts. Choosing Only Me here is the most privacy-focused option. Remember to click “Close” after selecting your preferred audience to save the changes.
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Following Lists Visibility: Click Who can see the people, Pages and lists you follow? to manage who can see the Pages and public figures you follow. Setting this to Only Me prevents others from seeing your interests and potential connections.
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Review Past Posts and Tags: Review all your posts and things you’re tagged in will take you to your Activity Log, where you can retroactively adjust the audience of older posts and manage tags. This is useful for cleaning up older public posts.
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Limit Past Public Posts: Limit the audience for posts you’ve shared with friends of friends or Public? is a powerful tool. Clicking “Limit Past Posts” will change the audience of all your past public posts and “Friends of Friends” posts to “Friends.” This is a quick way to make your historical posts more private, though it’s irreversible.
Hiding Your Profile from Search and Contact
The How People Find and Contact You section offers critical tools to control your profile’s discoverability and manage friend requests and messaging.
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Friend Request Control: Click Who can send you friend requests? to limit who can send you friend requests. While you can’t completely disable friend requests, changing the setting from “Everyone” to “Friends of Friends” significantly reduces unsolicited requests.
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Friends List Visibility: The Who can see your friends list? option allows you to hide your friends list. Setting this to Only Me prevents others from seeing your network of connections, enhancing your privacy and your friends’ privacy.
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Email and Phone Number Lookup: The options Who can look you up using the email address you provided? and Who can look you up using the phone number you provided? are vital for preventing unwanted contact. By setting these to Friends or Only Me, you ensure that even if someone has your contact information, they cannot easily find your Facebook profile through these means.
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Search Engine Linking: Clicking Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile? and selecting “No” is crucial for hiding your profile from Google, Bing, and other search engines. This prevents people from finding your Facebook profile by simply searching your name online. Be aware that it may take some time for search engines to de-index your profile.
Controlling Who Can Message You
The How You Get Message Requests section lets you filter message requests, limiting unwanted messages and controlling where messages from different groups are delivered.
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Potential Connections: Under Potential Connections, you can manage messages from people who have your phone number or mutual friends. You can choose between Chats (regular inbox), Message requests (separate folder), or Don’t receive requests. For maximum privacy and to minimize unsolicited messages, Message requests or Don’t receive requests are recommended.
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Other People: Under Other people, you control messages from those you are not connected to and Instagram users. Here, the options are limited to Message requests or Don’t receive requests. You cannot choose to receive these messages directly in your inbox, offering an extra layer of protection against unwanted communication. Choosing Don’t receive requests is the most private option.
Making Specific Facebook Posts Private
While the above settings manage your overall account privacy, you can also customize the privacy of individual posts. This allows for flexibility, letting you share some posts publicly while keeping others private.
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When creating a new Facebook post, look for the audience dropdown menu located below your name, typically displaying “Friends” or “Public”.
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Click on this dropdown menu and select your desired audience for that specific post. You can choose options like Public, Friends, Only Me, or even create custom lists. For maximum privacy on a specific post, select Only Me.
Once posted, only the audience you selected will be able to view that particular post, regardless of your default privacy settings.
Setting Up Privacy Checkup Reminders
Privacy settings aren’t static. Your privacy needs may evolve, and Facebook’s settings may change over time. Facebook’s Privacy Checkup tool helps you stay on top of your privacy by allowing you to set periodic reminders to review your settings.
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Navigate to the Facebook website and log in.
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Click your profile picture in the top-right corner and select Settings & Privacy, then Privacy Checkup from the submenu.
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On the Privacy Checkup screen, click the three horizontal dots (More options) and choose Set up reminders.
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In the pop-up window, select your preferred reminder frequency (e.g., Monthly, Quarterly) and click Save.
By setting up these reminders, Facebook will periodically prompt you to review your privacy settings, ensuring your profile remains as private as you intend it to be.
Making your Facebook profile private is a proactive step towards controlling your online presence. By regularly reviewing and adjusting these settings, you can enjoy the benefits of social connection on Facebook while maintaining a strong level of privacy.
