Danelle writes: Love your tips about Facebook. Do you know of any way to not allow Facebook friends to view other friends profiles? I have a friend that snoops and I don’t want any comments made to any of my other friends that would cause harm. Any thoughts? Thanks…great job!
Hi Danelle, and thank you! So, here’s the deal: No, you can’t really prevent a Facebook friend from viewing the profiles of your other friends—although, hopefully, your friends have tweaked their privacy settings to keep non-friends from viewing their posts and profiles (a.k.a., “timelines”).
And if you have mutual Facebook friends, you’ll just have to watch what you say about one another on Facebook, just like you do in real life.
But here’s something else to consider: You can, if you like, keep one, some, or all of your friends from poking around your Facebook friend list.
Indeed, you actually have quite a bit of latitude when it comes to determining who can see your list of Facebook friends—and who can’t.
For example, you can hide your Facebook friend list from the entire world, if you wish, or make it viewable by anyone and everyone, save for one specific frenemy.
Select “Custom” from the privacy pull-down menu, then add the name of your nosy friend in the “Don’t share this with” section.
Here’s the trick…
- Go to your Facebook timeline and find the Friends module, then hover your mouse over the right-hand corner. See the little pencil icon that appears? Click it, then select “Edit Privacy.”
- You should now see an “Edit Privacy” pop-up window, with the “Friend List” privacy setting at the very top. Click the pull-down menu at the bottom of the Friend List heading, and pick an option—anything from Public (meaning anyone on Facebook can see your list of friends) to Only Me (which hides your friend list from everyone, except for you).
- Want to hide your friend list from a certain someone? One option is to add that person to your Acquaintances list, then select “Friends except Acquaintances” as your friend list privacy setting.
- Or, here’s another idea: Select “Custom” from the privacy pull-down menu, then add the name of your nosy friend in the “Don’t share this with” section. You could then (for example) make your friend list public for everyone except your one so-called friend by selecting “Public” from the “Share this with” menu.
Hope that helps, Danelle. Still have questions? Let me know!