Having an account on Facebook doesn’t always mean being social; you can keep your account private if you don’t want to be part of the big mass. Not wanting to be on Facebook is no longer a choice when all your close connections are present and there are so many groups and important updates you don’t want to miss from crucial pages. Every day people share 4 billion things over Facebook and securing your data has become a major concern when it’s about your private stuff and people who can misuse it.
Fortunately, Facebook now offers several privacy settings to help users filter who can see their posts, friend lists, and personal details. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to make your Facebook account private, ensuring that your profile and contents are shared with only those you want them to see.
At the end of this article, adjusting your privacy settings will become easy, and I encourage you to make the changes therein. This will further protect your information and maintain control over your digital presence. Whether you’re new to Facebook or have been using the platform for years, it’s never too late to make your account more secure.
Why Should You Make Your Facebook Account Private?
Before delving into how to make a Facebook account private, let’s first understand why you should secure your Facebook account, below are the reasons why you should consider making your Facebook account private:
- Protect personal information: Facebook stores so many of your details, including your birthdate, qualifications, location, family members, and media. Without the right privacy, your personal information can be stolen by anyone to use it against you and it makes you vulnerable to identity theft or targeted scams
- Control who can see what you share: When it comes to sharing any core memories, it is not necessary to make everyone happy or their acknowledgment is not a matter of concern. You can control who gets to see what you see through privacy settings on Facebook and make it accessible to only a select number of people.
- Prevent unwanted attention: A public account easily attracts unnecessary attention from strangers through friend requests, likes, DMs, shares, and likes that can be disturbing. This unwanted attention can lead to harassment, or even cyberstalking. To prevent these unwanted and disturbing actions over your Facebook account you can switch to a private account.
- Protect your professional image: If you use Facebook for professional purposes or want to connect with a colleague or industry expert, maintain your professional image through privacy.
How To Create Your Facebook Account?
You can easily create your personal Facebook account for online presence and social interaction where most of your close connections are already present. Follow these easy guides to be part of the over 3 billion users:
- Download the Facebook app from the app store on your mobile and install it.
- Tap on ‘Create New Account’.
- Now fill out all the personal information which includes your first name, last name, mobile number or email, gender, password, and date of birth.
- Now click on ‘Sign up’ to enter the app.
- Now verify your email or phone number by opening the verification link sent by Facebook
- Now set up your profile and you are ready to use your new Facebook account.
How Do You Make Your Facebook Account Private?
Now that you know the importance of making your Facebook account private, it is time to learn how to make your account private on Facebook. Follow this step-by-step guide to secure your profile photo, posts, friend requests, etc on your Facebook account from any scam or cyberstalking
Change your Facebook settings to private and take control over the privacy of your account with these steps:
- Open your Facebook account on the Facebook app.
- In the top right corner, click on the three horizontal lines to navigate the menu option.
- Now click on the ‘Settings & Privacy’ option and then go to the ‘Settings’.
- On the ‘Settings’ options click on the ‘Privacy’.
- To manage who gets to see your future posts, click on ‘your activity’ and then on ‘who can see your future posts’.
- To make it private completely, click on ‘Only me’ and if you want your friends or people who you follow to see your posts click on the ‘Friends only’ option for a selective private account.
Change your profile information to make your Facebook account private
By limiting who gets to see your personal information you can make your account more private on Facebook. Try this:
- On the Facebook app, click on your name at the top of the page to go to your profile.
- Scroll below to the ‘about’ section and click on the ‘edit’ option in front of each category (birthday, relationship status, education, contact information, etc)
- For all the personal information you want to make private, select the audience ‘Only me’ or ‘Friends’
- To change the control over the friend list view, go to the ‘Friends’ section on your profile and for the three dots on the top right click ‘edit privacy. Now click on ‘Who can see your friend list’ and click on ‘Only me’.
Take control over who sends you friend requests. Make your Facebook account more private by choosing who sends you the friend request through these steps:
- On your Facebook account, go to the ‘Settings & privacy’ option.
- On the ‘Settings’ option, click on the ‘Privacy’.
- Scroll down to the ‘how people find and contact you’ in front of it press ‘edit’ and choose ‘friends of friends’ for more privacy and security.
Hide your Facebook account from search results and save your profile from the online presence of strangers. Did you know that Facebook shows your account profile in search engine results? If you want to safeguard your FB account then remove your profile from search engine indexing.
- Open your account navigate to your profile press ‘Settings & Privacy’ and then to the ‘Settings’ option.
- Scroll down to the option ‘Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile’
- Press the ‘edit’ option and untick the box that allows search engines to index your profile.
Review tagging and timeline settings to keep your Facebook account private. Choose who can tag to because tagged photos or videos you can appear on your timeline for others to see.
- Go to the ‘settings’ options from ‘Settings & privacy’.
- On the left-hand menu, click on ‘Timeline and Tagging’.
- Now change the settings of ‘Who can post on your timeline’ and ‘Who can see posts you’re tagged in on your timeline’ to ‘Only me’ or ‘Friends’ to make it private.
- Turn on the ‘review tags’ options to choose before they appear on your timeline. This way, you can approve or reject posts that others tag you in.
Turn on two-factor authentication for added security to complete your privacy concern. it’s an essential feature to safeguard your account from hacking attempts.
- Open your Facebook account and click on your profile.
- Now go to the ‘Settings & Privacy’ option and press ‘Security & Login’.
- Scroll down to the ‘Two-Factor Authentication’ and press ‘edit’.
This set up an extra layer of security, requiring a second form of verification when logging into your account. And thus your Facebook account can stay secure and private.
Conclusion
Hope this blog helped you learn how to make your Facebook account private. By following the comprehensive guide outlined above, you can protect your personal information, prevent unwanted interactions, and ensure complete privacy from unwanted attention and scams. Remember, Facebook frequently updates its features and settings, so it’s better to review your privacy periodically. By taking these measures, you can enjoy using Facebook with complete privacy and keep personal details safe from prying eyes.
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