+++ title = “Is Your Facebook Profile Exposed to Strangers? Learn How to Limit Your Visibility Now!” date = “2021-08-19” author = “Anonymous” tags = [“facebook”, “social media”, “privacy”] +++
In today’s world, social media has become a vital part of our lives. We use it to connect with family and friends, share messages, pictures, and opinions. One of the most popular social media platforms is Facebook, which has around 2.8 billion active users worldwide. Unfortunately, many Facebook users are unaware of their profiles being exposed to strangers, putting their privacy and security at risk. In this article, we look at some ways to limit your Facebook profile’s visibility.
First, check your Facebook privacy settings. Click on the down arrow located at the top right corner of your Facebook page, and you will have access to your settings. Select the “Privacy Settings and Tools” option where you can control who can see your posts, friends list, and other profile details. You can slide the bar next to each item to limit who has access to that information. Set these options to “Friends” or “Only me” to prevent strangers from accessing your profile.
Second, keep your friend list private. Having a public friend list allows strangers to see who you are friends with, and they can send them friend requests. To keep your friend list private, go to your profile, click on “Friends” below your cover photo, then click on the pencil icon at the top right corner, and select “Edit Privacy.” Choose “Only me” to prevent strangers from viewing your friend list.
Third, limit the audience for your posts. Unless you want the entire world to see what you post on Facebook, use the audience selector tool to select who can see your posts. You can choose your audience to be your friends, a particular group, or only you. Also, be cautious of what you post online, and avoid sharing sensitive information such as personal or financial details.
Fourth, be wary of third-party apps. When you use Facebook to log in to third-party apps, they can access your Facebook data. This puts your privacy and security at risk. To limit the apps that have access to your Facebook data, go to your settings, select “Apps and Websites,” and select the apps that you want to block from accessing your Facebook data.
In conclusion, as Facebook users, we must take steps to limit our profile’s visibility to strangers. We recommend spending a few minutes going through your Facebook privacy settings and making adjustments to limit your profile’s exposure to strangers. Remember to share only what you feel comfortable sharing, avoid third-party apps, and keep your security settings up to date. By taking these measures, you’ll be safeguarding your personal information and keeping your Facebook profile safe from prying eyes.
In the past Facebook users had the power to limit their profiles visibility in searches with the option “Who can look up your Timeline by name?”. Of course your Facebook profile was still visible to friends of friends and people who clicked on your name. This option was only useful to not come up in search results from people you didn’t know.
Back in 2012 Facebook removed the “Who can look up your Timeline by name?” option for those who weren’t using it and from new accounts. Fast forward to October 2013, the company is taking this one step further and is announcing that is removing the option globally. So, no more hiding out from searches.
In a new article the social network giant states that users who opted out from appearing in search results will start seeing a notification alerting about the change. The reason is just to allow Facebook Graph Search to grow and be better, apparently the company doesn’t like empty searches, even though Bing results can fill up the gap.
How to limit Facebook profile visibility
Now, how do you keep your Facebook profile from appearing in search results? Well, I won’t suggest you to stop using the service, because I’m sure that isn’t going to happen. The best way is to carefully select what to share with your friends and the world. Below there is a list of tips that can help you to keep your profile away from search results.
- By default you cannot hide your name, picture profile, and cover profile. As such my first tip is suggesting to change your name, by this I mean just make your first and last name shorter. Facebook allows you to use the first three letters of each name if you choose to. If you have popular name, you could opt to use, for example, your full first name and only the first three letters of your last name. (Keep in mind, Facebook only allows you change your name so many times.)
Also change your picture profile and cover photo to something is about you, but doesn’t really show who you are. This will help make it more difficult from someone else to identify you.
Limit your information. Click About from your profile and limit to “only you” settings like: living, basic information, etc., by restricting such data it will be harder for Facebook to list your profile using the new Facebook Graph Search.
This tip is really important. You’ve probably been posting updates that are visible to the public for years, depending on the content you have published will make easier for anyone to find you and know what you’re saying. Luckily the social giant has included an option to change who can see all your previous posts, saving you countless hours of going post by post and changing the visibility settings.
To use this option, simple go to the Privacy settings, under Who can see my stuff? section, click Limit the audience for posts I’ve shared with friends of friends or Public?, and click Limit Old Posts.
Basically what this option will do is to change any old post published in your Timeline from friends of friends and Public to Friends only. Remember that using this option is not reversible, you do it once and there is not turning back. Also those posts that you share in the past with Custom audience will not change with this option.
Although these tips won’t guarantee one hundred percent from that you will be removed from search results. They will definitely slow things down and help you to be more private.
If you have additional tips we are interested on knowing them. Leave your thoughts in comments below.
