University Computer Help Desk

Understanding Facebook privacy settings and Friends Lists

Using Friends Lists, you can control which friends see your photo albums, photos tagged of you, and more.

Facebook is about connecting with people, sharing information, and having fun. As your list of Facebook friends grows, you may notice that you're not as close to some as you are to others. You might have a professional relationship with one friend and a relaxed friendship with another.

The suggestions in this article will help you maintain a comfortable level of privacy. You can continue using Facebook like you want to use it, and by creating Friends Lists, you can decide who sees what.

Create Friends Lists

Friends Lists allow you to grant people varying levels of access to your Facebook. You should create Friends Lists in whatever way makes the most sense to you. For purposes of this discussion, we will create three lists: Close Friends, Professional Contacts, and Acquaintances.

  • Close Friends – This list includes friends with whom you're comfortable sharing intimate details, such as relationship changes, medical issues, and other private aspects of your life. These people might be real life friends, family members, or coworkers. Anyone who you don’t mind sharing your entire Facebook life with counts as a Close Friend for our purposes here.
     
  • Professional Contacts – Not merely coworkers, your Professional Contacts list should include anyone with whom you need to maintain a professional relationship. This could be your coworkers, your boss, your employees, your teachers, or your students. It could include your parents or your grandmother. If you might be uncomfortable sharing all your photos and status updates with someone, he or she could be a candidate for the Professional Contacts list.
     
  • Acquaintances – This list is comprised of people who you've agreed to be friends with on Facebook, but who you don't know particularly well and with whom you aren't keen on sharing much information. They might be people from work, class, or any other social setting. If they're not close friends and they're not professional contacts either (not all work relationships are strictly professional), then they go on the Acquaintances list.

To create a Friends List, do the following:

  1. Hover your mouse over Friends at the top of the page.
  2. Click All Friends from the menu.
  3. Click Create New List.
  4. Enter a name for the Friends List.
    • Example: Acquaintances
  5. Select each person to add to the new Friends List.
  6. When you are done, click Create List.

Even though Facebook allows you to put each friend on more than one list, you may find it easier to choose just one list that best describes a person. For example, if you work with someone who is also a close friend, it might make more sense to put that person on your Close Friends list and leave him or her off of your Professional Contacts list. That way you won't inadvertently restrict that person's access to your profile.

Adjust Your Privacy Settings

After you get done creating a few Friends Lists, go into your Facebook privacy settings and customize things. Use the suggestions below or make your own choices about what to restrict and to whom.

Contact Information

Your phone number, email address, postal address, and other contact items are visible to all your friends by default.

Recommendation: Through the use of Friends Lists, we recommend limiting some of that information.

To limit your Contact Information, do the following:

  1. Hover your mouse over Settings at the top of the page.
  2. Click Privacy Settings from the menu.
  3. Click Profile.
  4. Click Contact Information at the top.
  5. We recommend changing most items under Contact Information so they are available only to your close friends.
    • Next to one of your contact information items, select Customize…. Then select Some People and type Close Friends.
  6. You may want your cell phone and email address to be available to your Professional Contacts.
    • For those items, add both Close Friends and Professional Contacts.
  7. When you are done, click Okay.
  8. Click Save Changes.

Photos Tagged of You

Your friends can tag you in photos they've posted, and since you don't know what those photos might contain, you should limit access. For example, a picture of you having fun at a party might not be appropriate for your boss to see, or you might not want people looking at embarrassing high school photos of you posted by an old friend.

Recommendation: Through the use of Friends Lists, we recommend limiting photos tagged of you to either your close friends or to you alone.

To limit your friends' access to photos of tagged of you, do the following:

  1. Hover your mouse over Settings at the top of the page.
  2. Click Privacy Settings from the menu.
  3. Click Profile.
  4. Next to Photos Tagged of You, select Customize....
  5. Select Some Friends. Then type Close Friends in the box.
    • Or select Only Me. This will prevent any of your Facebook friends from seeing photos tagged of you.
  6. Click Okay.
  7. Click Save Changes.

We recommend using the same settings for Videos Tagged of You.

Your Photo Albums

You can limit access to some or all of your photo albums using Friends Lists. Some albums might be alright for all of your friends. Other albums might contain photos that are personal, goofy, or otherwise inappropriate to share with certain people.

Recommendation: Decide who to share a photo album with based on the types of pictures in the album and the types of friends you have. In other words, use your best judgment.

To limit your friends' access to your photo albums, do the following:

  1. Hover your mouse over Settings at the top of the page.
  2. Click Privacy Settings from the menu.
  3. Click Profile.
  4. Under Photos Tagged of You, click Edit Photo Albums Privacy Settings.
  5. Choose an album that you don't want to share with professional friends.
  6. Click the drop-down menu and select Customize....
  7. Make the necessary changes.
    • Example: Select Some Friends and type Close Friends in the box. (This means the photo album can only be seen by your close friends.)
    • Example: Under Except These Friends and type Professional Contacts in the box. (This means the photo album can be seen by all your friends except those on your Professional Contacts list.)
  8. When you are done, click Okay.
  9. Click Save Settings.

Personal Information

Personal Information includes Interests, Activities, Favorites (music, movies, etc.), and your About Me section. Unlike other sections, you cannot choose to give access to Some Friends, but you can limit access by adding exceptions. If your Personal Information section is written in a professional manner, you may not want to restrict it at all.

Recommendation: If you think your professional friends wouldn't appreciate seeing your Personal Information, consider restricting access from your Professional Contacts list.

To prevent your Professional Contacts from seeing your Personal Information, do the following:

  1. Hover your mouse over Settings at the top of the page.
  2. Click Privacy Settings from the menu.
  3. Click Profile.
  4. Next to Personal Info, select Customize....
  5. Under Except These People, type Professional Contacts.
  6. Click Okay.
  7. Click Save Changes.

Status and Links

Using Friends Lists, you can control who sees your status updates. This includes links you post to websites, pictures, videos, etc.

Recommendation: Depending on the status comments you make and links you share, consider restricting accessing from your Professional Contacts list.

To prevent your Professional Contacts from seeing your Status and Links, do the following:

  1. Hover your mouse over Settings at the top of the page.
  2. Click Privacy Settings from the menu.
  3. Click Profile.
  4. Next to Status and Links, select Customize....
  5. Under Except These People, type Professional Contacts.
  6. Click Okay.
  7. Click Save Changes.

More Privacy Recommendations

There are a couple other things you can do to increase your privacy and security on Facebook which can't be accomplished through the use of Friends Lists.

Don’t Show Your Full Birthday

Your full birthday is displayed to your friends by default. You can't restrict it using Friends Lists, but you can prevent your birth year from being shown. Since your date of birth is needed for things like password resets and account creation, we recommend that you avoid sharing your full birthday online (just like you wouldn't post your Social Security number online for your friends to see).

To limit your birthday, do the following:

  1. Click Profile at the top of the page.
  2. Click the Info tab.
  3. Click Edit Information.
  4. Click the drop-down menu next to Birthday: and select Show only month & day in my profile.
    • Or select Don’t show my birthday in my profile.
  5. Click Save Changes.

Highlights Section

The Highlights section appears on the right side of your Facebook home page. Certain things you do, like posting comments and photos, can show up in your friends’ Highlight sections. You may want to prevent Facebook from announcing your activities to your friends via the Highlights section. For example, a change in your Relationship Status may not be something you want to broadcast to all of your friends.

To limit your Highlights Section, do the following:

  1. Hover your mouse over Settings at the top of the page.
  2. Click Privacy Settings from the menu.
  3. Click News Feed and Wall.
  4. Remove the check mark next to Change relationship status.
  5. Remove the check mark next to any other items you would rather not have show up in your friends' Highlights sections.
  6. Click Save Changes.

 

Article Information

  • Article ID: 1556
  • Last Review: Oct 18, 2009
  • Type: Instructions

Print this articleEmail this articleShare this article on Facebook

Article Feedback