0 A Guide to Making Your Facebook Friend’s List Private

Many of us love to watch our number of Facebook “friends” list grow and grow. Showing off a few dozen, hundred, or thousands of friendships does create a certain sense of popularity and satisfaction. However, that slight bit of popularity can lead to problems for both you and your various friends. Unless your Facebook friendship list is made private, it is possible for marketers to easily see your friend list when they type your name into the Facebook search box. Any unwanted guests can record their names and contact them based on the assumption that you and your friends share similar interests. This can create a wealth of unwanted contact through private messages and strange friend requests for both you and your friends. Whatever your reasons may be–socially acceptable or otherwise–it is a great rule to keep your friend list private–and to send those marketers packing that way they cannot use a facebook hack to compromise your profile.

Exposed Facebook Friends List on Profile

Modify Facebook Privacy Settings

Before panicking and deleting all your questionable friends to keep them private, take a breath: There are two easy and simple steps to making sure those advertisers or future significant others will never be able to personally browse through your dark past. First, you must log into your Facebook account. After logging in, click the “Settings” link to the right of your name in the upper toolbar. Then select the link entitled “manage” below the “Privacy” heading. Select the “Profile” link and scroll down to the “Friends” section of the following page. Select the option in the drop-down menu that says “customize” [See 1 Below]. This option box will allow you to change who can see your friends list from your official profile page. Be sure to uncheck the box that says “Everyone on Facebook” [2]. Then, choose the radio button that says “Only Friends” [3]. Then, from the drop-down menu below the Networks heading, select “None of My Networks” [4]. This last option will ensure that people who are also listed in your network (whether it is a location-based, work, or school network) cannot see your friend list. Basically, unless you add your boss as a friend, when he goes to your profile he won’t be able to see that his secretary, who is also in your network, is on your Facebook list.
[ad#long-1]

Edit your Facebook Search Settings

Additionally, from this same options box, you can make sure that your new fiancee won’t be able to scroll through all the profile pictures of your ex-girlfriends that you “forgot” to delete (or that your husband will never see all those bodybuilders you met at the gym…or that your mom will never know how many punk motorcycle kids are your Facebook friends). By typing in the name of the individual you’d like to shield your friend list from in the “Except These People” box [5], you can easily ensure that the particular person will never see your Facebook friend list and that those friendships you may or may not want to share just yet will be private.

Okay, now select “Okay” and be sure to save your changes before navigating away from this page.

Alright! Now there’s one final step to shielding your poor innocent friends from the eyes of the public and the information collectors. After you have saved your friend settings, click the “Settings” link at the top of your Facebook page again and choose “Privacy.” From this page, click “Search.” To keep your friend list out of your search result page, uncheck the “My friend list” from below the second heading, “Search Result Content.” This will prevent anyone who is not able to see your profile page from being able to copy down your friends’ names and any other available information.

Secured Facebook Profile Page

With that, we have completed the process of making friendship lists private. Now make sure you know that just because your friend list is private to the general public, anyone who is your friend and who is not specifically blocked will still be able to see your friend list. The only way to keep a friend from seeing your friend list is to add them to the “Except These People” box on the profile privacy page. Congratulate yourself for making your friend list private–now both you and the friends you have just hidden will be one step closer to keeping any pests and wandering eyes away. Be sure to refer them to this article so that you and their loved ones will not be available to the public eye when they get searched.