Jeri Usbay

Here are the most common Facebook questions I’ve been asked recently.  Perhaps you have the same questions (note if you are using Facebook on a mobile device, options  may  be in different locations).

1.  How can I delete my Facebook account?

You might think you can find an option to delete your account from your Account or Privacy Settings – nope!  You have to enlist the Facebook Help feature.  Click on the tool gear at the right end of the top blue menu bar, and select Help.  Then type “delete” in the search bar.  “How do I permanently delete my account”  should be one of the options that pops up.   Click on that and click again where it indicates account deletion. You have to read a bit to get there.  You may want to deactivate your account instead, which puts your account in hibernation instead of deleting it.  You can choose deactivation from this paragraph too.

2.  How can I stop certain people from showing up in my News Feed?

If you still want to remain Facebook friends, you have two options.  If you are looking at a post in your News Feed, place your cursor over the post until a check mark appears in the right margin.  Click on the check mark and choose “I don’t want to see this”.  You’ll then get a pop up with other options, and you can choose “hide all posts”.  You can also flag a post as spam.  Alternatively go to the friend’s Timeline and click on the Friends button (next to Message) at the bottom of their cover photo.  Here you can deselect to Show in News Feed or click on Settings to select what types of updates you wish to receive.  Your friend does not know that you are hiding their updates, so no worries. You can also Unfriend from the Friends button.

3.  Do people know when I Unfriend them?

No, there is no message or update that your friend receives which notifies them when you Unfriend them.  They may notice they are not getting updates from you.  If they go to your Timeline they will know for sure that “something has happened”  because instead of “Friends” appearing at the bottom of your cover photo, “Add Friend” will appear.

4.  Do people know if I’ve visited or searched for them?

There is no app or Facebook add-on that can tell you who has visited your Timeline or looked at your profile or searched for you.  This would be a violation of Facebook policy, and Facebook actually encourages you to report any such app making those claims (search “report an app” from the Facebook Help feature).

5.  Can someone who is not on Facebook see my Timeline?

Whether someone who is not signed into Facebook can see your Timeline is based upon two factors; your search engine visiblity, and your public data.   If your Timeline can be found via a search engine, any data that is public can be seen.  Your name, profile photo, and cover photo are deemed public by Facebook.   So if you have not hidden your Facebook Timeline from search engines, anyone can search for and see your Timeline, but only information that has a public share option.  The  best way to check this out is to just use Google or Bing or your favorite search engine and type in your name followed by “facebook” and see what comes up (e.g., Jeri Usbay facebook).

To hide from search engines,  go to Privacy Settings (from the tool gear at the far right of the top blue menu bar),  “Who can look me up,” then click Edit next to “Do you want other search engines to link to your Timeline?”    You want the box to be unchecked so that the setting shows as Off.

To see how your Timeline looks to someone searching for you on Facebook who is not your Facebook friend, click on Privacy shortcuts (top blue menu bar, right side), “Who can see my stuff?”, then click on View As from “What do other people see on my timeline?”  When you click you will see your Timeline as the public sees it.  If there is too much showing, click on your name from the top blue menu bar, then click on About and edit your share options within each category.  If you have too many pictures showing you will have to edit your share options for each album.

If you did not see your question here, perhaps I’ve answered it in a previous post.  Click here to check it out.

Do you have any other Facebook questions?  Please post and I will do my best to answer!