Category Archives: Create a List

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Create a List, Facebook, Restricted Friend List

Facebook – Restricted Friend List

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Everyone has some people on Facebook who aren’t really friends. Maybe they are relatives or co-workers but, because of circumstances, you may have to have them on Facebook. Even though they are on your friend list, you probably don’t want to share everything that you post with them. Facebook has a setting for this situation. Here’s how it works.

1. Head to your timeline by clicking your profile image up on the top right of any Facebook page.

2. Click on the box that says Friends. Here’s the box:

Photo of Friend Box
Click the box.

 

3. Once your list comes up, choose any friend that you want to put on the restricted list. Hover over their name and a bigger box pops up. Like this:

Photo of Friend's Info
Don’t click for a while, just hover.

 

4. Again, hover over the word Friends. This box will appear:

Photo of Popdown on Facebook
Different settings are available from this one menu.

 

5. This person isn’t on any list right now but let’s click ‘Add to another list…’ to see what happens. Here’s the next menu:

Photo of Facebook Lists
Down at the bottom, look for Restricted.

 

6. Click on the word ‘Restricted’ and that person is now on the restricted list. Details on what that means in a minute.  For now, head back to any Facebook page and click on the little down  arrow just to the right of Home. Click on Privacy Settings. Like this:

Photo of Privacy Settings on Facebook
Let’s check our privacy settings.

 

7. What we’re doing now is checking to see who is on the restricted list. If you add a few friends to this list, it’s a good idea to check who is on it, right? Here is the page that shows up next. Click on ‘Manage blocking’ down at the bottom right.

Photo of Facebook Privacy Page
Down at the bottom, look for Manage blocking and click there.

 

8. When the blocking page appears, at the top you’ll see a section for your restricted list. There is a short description of what happens when you put a friend on this list. As far as Facebook is concerned, they are not friends since they cannot see anything that you post that is set to ‘Friends only’. However, people on this list will see anything that you post that is public. Additionally, Facebook does not notify your friends that they are on this list. Here is the photo of this menu:

Photo of Facebook Restricted Settings
Read about what the restricted list means.

 

9. Once you are here, you might as well add more friends to this list. Here’s how we do that. Click on Edit List. This box appears:

Photo of Friend on Facebook Restricted List
All of the friends who are on the list are shown here.

 

10. The people who are on the list are shown here. To remove them, click the X that appears when you hover over the person’s photo. If you want to add more people to the list, click on the words ‘On this list’ and the following choices show up:

Photo of Facebook Restricted List
Click on the word Friends.

 

11. Now you will see a page full of all of your friends. Simply click on any friend who you want to add to your Restricted list. You’ll see a check mark to signify that they are now restricted from seeing most of what you post on Facebook.

Photo of Facebook Restricted List 11
Click any profile photo here to add that person to your restricted list.

 

This is a long post, to be sure, but we feel it’s important to do everything in a step-by-step manner. If you still have questions, comment below. We’ll help you out.

 

Thanks for reading! Check out (and like) our Facebook page here: Computers Made Simple

 

 

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Create a List, Facebook, Facebook Secrets, Facebook Tricks, Layered Privacy

Layered Privacy on Facebook – Part 2

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In our last post we divided our Facebook friends into different lists (groups). Here’s the link, in case you missed it: Layered Privacy on Facebook – Part 1  This time we’ll show you how to separate your posts and some of your activity, in order to keep the posts from being seen by everyone on your friend list.

Remember that anything you comment on that isn’t yours is wide open. You can’t hide anything that isn’t your own, including comments that you make on another person’s photo,note,share, or post. No can do!

OK, now that we have that straightened out, here’s how to control who sees what you post:

1. Go to your normal Facebook page, not your Timeline. Click on the word Facebook up on the top left.

2. We’re going to add a photo as a test. Click on Add Photo/Video to bring up this menu:

Photo of Facebook menu
Note that the current default setting is ‘Friends’. Keep that in mind for later.

 

3. Click on the little down arrow just to the right of the word Friends. Your menu may differ, depending on your default privacy setting. (It may say Public which is a big no-no. Nothing you post should be shared with the Public unless you are a celebrity or a celebrity wannabe.) Whatever it says, click on the down arrow to bring up a menu that looks like this:

Photo of Facebook Menu
Look for ‘See all lists’ at the bottom.

 

4. Click on the words ‘See all lists’ to bring up the following menu which will show all of the lists that you made last time. Here it is:

Photo of Facebook Menu
All of your lists will be shown on this menu. You might need to scroll up or down to see them all.

 

5. For this exercise, we’re going to share it with our Family, no one else. Click on Family (or some other group) to put a check mark beside it. If you don’t have a list or group named Family, choose another one. If you see where this is going, skip out of class and do something else. The last section is important though, so maybe you want to stick around.

Photo of Facebook Menu
We’ve chosen Family here but you’re on your own. Choose any group you want or choose multiple groups.

 

6. Once you choose which lists you want to share your photo with, you can upload the pic. Only those lists that you’ve chosen will be able to see or comment on the photo. No one else will see the photo or the comments on it.

You’re done. However, if you sort out your Facebook posts using this method, there is one more thing to remember. Read this:

Tip: Whatever your setting was for your last post, that setting is now your default setting. If you chose Family as the list you will share your photo/note/video with, your next photo/note/video or share will be visible to only that list. Read that again if you’re not clear on it. You have to change the setting for everything you post from now on. Safer, perhaps, but kind of a pain, too. 

This is important. Let’s say you post a questionable pic and share it with the wrong group. Oooops! After all of this ranting about layered privacy, we still think it’s best to have separate Facebook accounts. This isn’t crucial unless you are kind of ‘out there’, right? If you just post pics of kittens and fishing trips and weddings, stick with this method. If you have a wild night life and a staid home life, think having two or more Facebook accounts.

As always, questions and comments are welcome. Our Facebook posts are the most popular on this site. If you want us to write about something that’s bugging you, let us know in a comment.

Thanks for reading!

 

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Create a List, Facebook, Facebook Tricks, Layered Privacy

Layered Privacy on Facebook – Part 1

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We’ve talked before about creating a separate Facebook profile, just in case you need an extra layer of privacy. Now, we’re going to show you another way to protect your privacy while using only one account. It’s a bit complicated and it only works for things that you post but we think it might help some of you. Stay tuned for subsequent posts on this. We can’t do it all in one post.

Here’s how to isolate parts of your profile:

 The theory works like this: out of say 100 friends, 15 of them are family, 30 are close friends and the rest are simply acquaintances that you’ve picked up over time. Your family photos are probably private. Maybe you don’t want to share all of your birthday photos with your other 85 friends. By the same token, that party at Mickey’s last week isn’t something that you want to share with your family. Get it? You want to share some things with some friends, but not others.

The first step is to sort your friends out into groups. You want to make lists to keep them all separate. Here’s how to sort your friends into lists:

1. Make sure you are logged-in to your account, right? Then, click on your profile photo up on the top right to bring up the timeline. Then, click on the little box that says Friends. You might have to click on the right side of the boxes if your Friends box is tucked underneath your Likes and Photos, etc. Ultimately, you want to see this page (or one like it):

Photo of Facebook Friend Page
A full page of your Facebook friends.

 

2. Now we get into some hovering. Hovering is when you rest your cursor (mouse) over something but you don’t click on it. You hover, OK? If you click, it makes things much more difficult so just hover. Practice. We’ll wait. (insert coffee break here…)  Got it? Good. Start at the top left and hover over that person’s name. This is what you want to see:

Photo of Facebook Friend menu
Your first hover shows this. Wait, there’s more!

 

3. Hover over the word friends. You’ll see this next :

Photo of Facebook Friends menu
Here are all the settings for that particular friend. Right now, you’re looking for the words ‘Show all lists’

 

4. If you have hundreds of friends, this could take a while. Do 10 or 20 a day, something like that. Anyway, this time you get to click. Click on ‘show all lists’ to bring out this menu:

Menu of Facebook Lists
We have some lists set up, even some Trial ones for this post. Your menu will be different.

 

5. Now, you might have some lists already. Facebook arbitrarily makes some lists for you, based on geography or school or some arcane algorithm that only they understand. You want to start dividing your friends into different groups. Take some time and think about it. A list of family members is an obvious choice but some of your family might be more open-minded than others. Then again, they are in contact with your other family members so the next step is to figure out how discreet they are. You get the gist of what we’re trying to say here.

Click on the words, New List. Like this:

Photo of New List slot
Type in the name of your new list.

 

6. Type in the name of your new list, Men from Mars sounds good, and continue on through all of your friends. Sure, it’s a chore but you might find it easier than creating a separate profile. If you only have 50 or 60 friends, this won’t take long. Remember that some friends can be on more than one list. You’ll work it out, no problem.

 

Tip: Remember, when you add a new friend, make sure you put them on one of the lists you’ve created or start a new list. 

 

This is step one. As this week progresses, we’ll get deeper into the layers of privacy as we attempt to simplify your Facebook experience and protect your reputation.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Create a List, Facebook, Facebook Tricks

Custom Facebook Privacy Settings – Part 2

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In our last post, we explained how to create a list of friends on Facebook. In this post, we will use that list to create a custom privacy setting for certain posts that you make. This setting will guarantee that only the people on this list will be able to see what you post. Let’s get started!

1. From any page in Facebook, click on the little down arrow up on the right, beside the word ‘Home’. This is what you’ll see when you click on it:

Photo on how to create Custom Privacy Settings
Click on Privacy Settings.

 

2. This is the next menu that you’ll see:

Photo of Custom Privacy Settings 2
What you’re looking for here is the ‘Custom’ button.

 

3. Once you set up this custom setting, you’ll be able to choose who can see certain posts. You can name them all individually or simply choose a list that you’re already created. Here’s the next menu, the one you’ll see when you click ‘Custom’:

Photo of how to Custom Privacy Settings 3
Choose ‘Specific People or Lists’

 

4. Once you choose ‘Specific People or Lists’, this is the menu that pops out:

Photo of Custom Facebook Privacy 4
Choose to hide or make the post visible. Note the tagging reminder.

 

You can choose to make certain posts visible or you can choose to hide the posts from some people. We would suggest hiding the posts as opposed to restricting who can see it. It’s the same thing, pretty much, but when you hide something, it seems to be more secure, more private.

Warning: Before you go nuts with this, specially where family or significant others are concerned, think about what you’re posting. A mistake here could be disastrous. 

Tip: This setting is your default setting. Whenever you post something, you will have to check which setting you’re using, this custom one or one of your other settings. You can change your default setting at any time using this set of menus. Good luck!

Thanks for reading!

 

Create a List, Facebook, Facebook Ad Privacy Settings

Custom Facebook Privacy Settings – Part 1

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If you want to post something on Facebook but you don’t want all of your friends to see it, here’s what you have to do.

1. First, you need a list. Facebook allows you to create lists of your friends very easily. You can use these lists for privacy, which is what we’ll do here, or to sort out your newsfeed/friend updates. If you only want to see updates from a certain group of people, you have to make a list first.

2. Go to your own timeline, click on the box that says ‘Friends’ to bring up a list of all of your friends.

3. On your list of friends, this is a typical pop-out when you hover your cursor over a name.

Photo showing how to Create a List 1
Pick a friend who you want to add to a list.

4. See the word ‘Friends’ in the photo above? Hover over that until you see this menu:

Photo of how to Create a List 2
Hover on the word Friends to bring up this menu. Look for ‘Show all lists’

 

5. When you hover your cursor over ‘Show all lists’, the following menu will show up. This will allow you to create a new list for this friend. If you already have some lists, simply click on the list and that friend will be added to whatever list you choose.

Photo of how to Create a List 3
Down at the bottom, you’ll see ‘+ new list’. Click that.

 

6. When you click ‘+ New list’, you’ll see a small rectangle which will allow you to name the new list.

Photo of how to Create a List 4
Name your list and your friend is automatically on that list.

 

7. Now you have one list. Add friends to it by hovering your cursor over their name and clicking any list that you want them to be on. Makes sense, right?

 

OK, now you have one or more lists. Once you sort your friends into these lists, you can then move on to post things that only they will see. That’s in part two of this instructional. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!