Facebook was one of the first social media networks that brought the world closer. While being on social media networks is important to connect and socialize, it can also be quite burdensome. Today, when perhaps social media usage has reached its peak, plenty of people are looking for ways for keeping their lives private and not feel overly connected at all times. Plus, since Facebook has billions of users worldwide, which also includes thousands of fake profiles, it is also imperative to keep classified personal information limited to trusted contacts.
Since we are social beings, it is not possible to completely cut off from the world, but it is possible to limit your activity and presence on social media, including on Facebook. There are many ways in which you can hide your Facebook profile from your friends as well as your Facebook followers and that, without deleting your account permanently on Facebook. Some of these ways are listed below.
Lock Your Profile
Locking Profile on Facebook is one of the latest features offered by Facebook through which you can restrict people who are not your Facebook friends from seeing anything on your profile, including your full-size Profile Picture, Cover Photo, Timeline, and other Profile information.
This feature is especially useful to prevent stalkers and unwanted people from downloading or zooming into your profile or cover photos.
To lock your profile on Facebook and hide it from the view of the public, simply go to your profile, click on the ‘More’ tab under your name. From the drop-down list that appears, click on the ‘Lock Your Profile’ option and confirm to hide people who are not your Facebook friends to prevent seeing your posts, photos, and personal information.
Limit Who Can Find You Through Search on Facebook
This is one of the most useful features offered by Facebook to hide your Facebook profile and make its visibility limited. Using this, you can control who can find your profile when they search for your name on Facebook or in fact, through any public search engine.
To do so, simply navigate to your Facebook account and go to Settings. Now click on the ‘Privacy’ tab in the list of settings that appear on your screen. Go to the subsection that says ‘How People Can Find and Contact You’ and click on the Edit button against the right side of this subsection.
Now, from the drop-down menu that appears, select ‘Friends of Friends’ or ‘Friends’ to limit the audience who can search for your Facebook profile to your Facebook friends and their connections. This feature enables you to hide your profile from being visible in public searches on Facebook or from other search engines like Google.
Deactivate When Signed Out
To hide your Facebook Profile, one of the best ways is to temporarily deactivate your profile when not in use. Not only does this prevent people from finding you on Facebook, but also saves you from the compulsive need to check Facebook every few minutes. Deactivating your profile temporarily deletes your account from Facebook.
However, when you sign back in, you can retrieve your account as it is, with all data and information intact. When you deactivate your account, people will not be able to find, or see your profile on Facebook even if your posts are public.
To deactivate your Facebook account, go to Settings and click on the subsection titled ‘Your Facebook Information’. Scroll down and click on the View button next to the ‘Deactivation and Deletion’ option. Now, out of the two options that appear, click on the ‘Deactivate Account’ option to temporarily remove your account from Facebook.
Change the Privacy Settings of Your Posts
With Facebook, you can control who sees which of your posts. So basically, if you want to keep posting on Facebook but do not want certain persons from viewing it, you can do that. Simply right-click on your post and select the Edit Post option.
From the dialog box that appears, click on the ‘Friends’ option that appears under your name. Now Facebook will display a list of options such as ‘Friends of Friends’, ‘Custom’, ‘Close Friends’, etc.
If you want only specific users to see that post, click on the ‘Custom’ option and simply add the names of the people with whom you want to share that post. Here, you can also add the names of people with whom you do NOT want to share that post. In this way, you are in fact, hiding your profile from being viewed by the people that you do not want among your Facebook Friends.
Block Certain People From Viewing Your Profile
The best way to cut out annoying folks, prevent to gain Facebook likes from unwanted profiles, and tackling anonymous Facebook followers is to block them. Blocking someone on Facebook simply erases your Facebook profile from their account and they will never be able to find you on the social network.
To block a particular profile on Facebook, go to Settings and click on the subsection called Blocking. From here, scroll down navigate to the Block Users section, and simply type the name of the person whom you want to block in the search box. Now click on the Block button and be sure to never see them on Facebook again.
So, if you want to completely block annoying friends or connections and prevent them from finding you on Facebook or viewing what you post on your Timeline, try out the above ways to hide your Facebook profile completely from them.
By doing so, you can not only control who sees what on your profile and whether they can see it or not, but also restrict unwanted persons from stalking your profile and misusing your information. In sum, just hide your profile if you want to cut off from the world for a while and instead, keep your peace and well-being intact.
