How to Make Facebook Private

Facebook is the largest and most popular media platform in the world. And while it's convenient to keep up with friends, meet new people, and stay connected to communities, it also shares so much personal information including your birthday, jobs, contacts, and updates. If you don't want those data to be on public display, you can control what other Facebook users can see. You can change the Privacy settings on your Facebook to make your posts, friends list, and other profile information private. Here's a complete guide on how to make Facebook private. 

How to make Facebook private

Setting your default sharing option to Friends instead of Public is a quick way to keep your posts private in the future. When you do this, only your friends will be able to see what you post.

To access the Facebook Privacy Settings and Tools screen:

1. Go to Facebook.com and log into your account if you haven't already.

2. Click the arrow in the top right corner.

3. Select Settings & Privacy and then select Settings.

3. On the Settings page that opens, click Privacy.

4. This will open the Privacy Settings and Tools page. Now you have a lot of options to choose from.

Make your posts private:

Go to Your Activity: There, you can change who can see your posts, posts in which you've been tagged, and pages you follow.

Click Who can see your future posts? to change the settings so that from now on, everything you post will be public.

Click Who can see the people, Pages and lists you follow? if you want to change who can see what you're following.

Click Review all your posts and things you're tagged in or Limit the audience for posts you've shared with friends of friends or Public? will take you to a new page where you can change the privacy settings for things you've already uploaded.

In general, you can set your Facebook account and posts to one of four levels of privacy.

Public: Anyone with a link can see it, even if they don't have a Facebook account.

Friends: Only people on your list of friends can see it. Sometimes, you can also keep some friends from seeing a post.

Friends of friends: It can be seen by anyone you share a friend with.

Only me: It's completely private and only you can see it.

If you want your Facebook to be as private as possible, you should always choose "Only me."

Hide your profile on Facebook

If you don't want people to find your profile and posts, you can use the How People Find and Contact You tools.

1. First, follow the steps above to go to the Privacy page.

2. Click Who can send you friend requests if you want to limit the number of people that can send you a friend request. Just keep in mind that you can't turn off friend requests completely. The best you can do is only accept requests from people you already know.

In Who can look you up using the email address you provided? and Who can look you up using the phone number you provided?, you can limit the people who can find you on Facebook with your contact information.

In Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?, you can hide your profile from search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others. This is helpful if you don't want people to be able to find you on Google by searching your name. Just be aware that it can take a few days to take effect.

Stop people from messaging you on Facebook

You can limit who can message you by using the How You Get Message Requests section. You can also choose to get some messages but move them out of your inbox and into their own folder.

Under Potential Connections, you can choose where messages from people who have your phone number and/or mutual friends go. You can choose Chats, which goes to your regular inbox, Message requests, which goes to a separate folder, or Don't receive requests (deletes them).

Choose the same option for "Other people" and "Instagram users" under "Other people." Here, you can't choose to get their messages in your regular inbox; you have to choose either Message requests or Don't receive requests.

How to make certain Facebook posts private 

Your whole Facebook account is controlled by the controls we've talked about so far. But when you post something, you can choose how people can see it. This means that you can keep your profile private but make one public post, or the other way around.

1. When you want to post something on Facebook, click the small box under your name.

2. In the new menu that opens, choose whether you want the post to be public or private.

You can select among Public, Friends, Friends Except, Specific Friends, and Only me.

When you post something, only the people you chose can see it.

How to make Facebook friends list private

By default, Facebook makes your list of friends public, which means that anyone, whether they are your friend or not, can see it. You can change your Facebook settings or your profile page to change what you want.

1. Go to Facebook.com and log into your account if you haven't already.

2. Click the arrow in the top right corner.

3. Select Settings & Privacy and then select Settings.

3. On the Settings page that opens, click Privacy.

4. Click Edit next to Who can see your friends list on the Settings and Privacy screen.

5. Choose Friends or Only me if you want to keep your list of friends secret.

You can also change who can see your friends list by choosing Specific Friends or Friends Except. Specific Friends only includes the people you choose, and Friends Except removes the people you choose from your list.

You could also go to your profile page on Facebook. Go to the "Friends" tab below your profile picture.

Choose Edit Privacy from the menu with three dots in the upper right corner of the Friends screen.

Choose a group of people to talk to next to Friends List and Following.

Choose the X to save the changes and close the window.

RELATED: How to hide friends list on Facebook.

How to review your Facebook privacy settings

By default, your Facebook profile is public, which means that Google and other search engines can index it and anyone can see it.

Experts in privacy say that you should look at the settings for each part of your Facebook profile.

To get to your profile, click on your name at the top of any Facebook screen.

On your profile page, click Edit Details on the left side. The box to change your intro opens.

To keep information private, turn off the switch next to it. This includes the boxes next to where you went to school, where you live now, where you grew up, and any other personal information you put on Facebook.

How to Make Your Profile Invisible to Search Engines

You can stop search engines from indexing your profile. What should you do?

1. Go to Facebook.com then click the arrow in the upper right corner.

2. From the drop-down menu, choose Settings & Privacy.

3. Choose Settings.

4. Select Privacy.

5. Select Edit next to Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile.

6. Uncheck the box that allows search engines to see you on Facebook.

RELATED: How to lock Facebook profile.

How to change Facebook photo albums privacy settings

When you upload photos to Facebook, you can change how people can see them by album or by image.

To change the settings for who can see a photo album:

1. Click on Photos in your profile.

2. Choose Edit album from the More menu next to the album you want to change.

3. Use the audience selector to decide who can see the album and who can't.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I hide my likes on Facebook?

To hide Facebook likes, go to your profile and click on More and then Likes. Select the three dots menu and choose Edit the Privacy of Your Likes.

How do I hide my online status on Facebook?

To hide your online status on Facebook, go to Settings > Messenger > Show when you're active and turn it off. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Blocking to stop someone from seeing you at all.

How can I find out what other Facebook users see on my page?

Go to your profile, click the three dots under your cover photo, and then click View As. This will show you what your profile looks like to other people. To go back, click Exit View As.

How do I use Facebook to send a private message?

To send a private message on Facebook, go to a profile and click Message or click the New Message icon at the top of the page. If you're using a mobile, use the Messenger app on your phone.

How do I make comments private on Facebook?

If you want to control who can comment on your Facebook posts, go to Settings & privacy > Settings > Public Posts > Public Post Comments > Edit > Choose who can comment. If you don't want people to see your comments on other people's posts, move your mouse over the comment, click the three dots, and then choose Hide.