Facebook Tip–Hiding Posts from your Kids (Parents)

As more generations come on Facebook, complications ensue. My dad is on Facebook. So am I. So is my young daughter. My dad emailed me recently. He’s Facebook friends with my daughter. As is the way with kids, my daughter’s friends found him through her Friend’s list, and sent Friend requests to him. My dad doesn’t want to offend my daughter’s friends, but he also doesn’t want them privvy to all his postings, either.

I can relate, as I’ve friended my kids on Facebook, partially so I can more easily monitor them on it. But I also talk about them with my own FB friends, and I don’t always want them to view those “conversations.”

What to do? There are two ways to handle the situation that will allow my Dad to accept the girls’ requests, but not let them see his posts, etc.

• Set global privacy settings to block them–Facebook’s privacy settings let you control who can see the items you post, including notes, photos, and videos. They also let you set who can post on your wall and who can see posts made by your friends.
• Use Share settings to protect specific posts–You can also specify who can see specific posts, at the time that you make the post. This may be easier if you use Facebook’s List feature, to create Lists containing specific people. Then, when you post something, you can specify which Lists see the posting, rather than entering a bunch of names.

Let’s look at some common scenarios.

You don’t want certain people to ever see your posts. Use the Posts by Me Privacy settings to block those people from ever seeing your posts, or ever seeing the posts your friends make. Create a List of the people you want to block, if there are lot of them or you anticipate adding more over time. That way you can easily block everyone on the List.

You want to block certain people from seeing certain posts. Create a List containing the people that you sometimes want to block. When you post something you don’t want them to see, use the List to block them for that specific post.

You’re concerned about what your friends might post in response to your posts. Some of them are likely to post inappropriate content. Use the Posts by Friends privacy settings to block specific people from seeing posts made by your friends. Create a List of the people you want to block, if there are lot of them or you anticipate adding more over time.

You don’t want some people to be able to comment on your posts. For example, you don’t really want your younger kids posting on your wall. (Or, you don’t want Mom or Dad to be able to post on your wall.) Use the Comments on Posts privacy settings to block specific people from commenting on your posts. Create a List of the people you want to block, if there are lot of them or you anticipate adding more over time.

How to Create a List

Creating a List in Facebook is easy.

1. Click Home to see your feed.
2. In the menu bar, on the right-side, click Account, and then select Edit Friends. 
3. In the left-hand menu, under Lists, click Friends, at the top of the list.
4. You’ll see a list of all your friends and, at the top, a Create New List button.
5. Click Create New List.
6. In the Enter a Name box, type a name for your list.  I use BFF for my closest family and friends who can see anything. I use Professional for people who should only see my professional posts.
7. Now, just select friends as usual by clicking on their avatars or typing their names in the Search box. When you’ve selected all of the people to add to the list, click Create List.

If you now click Friends in the menu bar, on the left side of the page you’ll see the list you added displayed under the Lists heading. Just click on it to see all the people in the list and modify it.

How to Block People via Privacy Settings

You can use Facebook’s privacy settings to create default restrictions.

1. In the menu bar, point to Account and then click Privacy Settings.
2. You’ll see a list of Privacy Settings. Click Profile Settings.
3.  You’ll see a list of profile information that you can control. Click the lock icon next to the setting you want to change, such as Posts by Me.
4. You can choose Everyone, Only Friends, or Friends of Friends. Or, you can choose Customize. You use Customize to block individuals or Lists of people. (Conversely, you can use Customize to only allow access to certain people or certain Lists.)
5. Click Customize. You see a dialog box like this:
   
6. Under Hide this from, type the names of the people you want to block, or the name of the Lists containing people you want to block.
7. Click Save Setting.

How to Limit Viewing of Individual Posts

You can also use the Customize option when sharing to specify who can and can’t see a specific post.

1. Type your post. Then, click the little lock icon right next to the Share button:
2. Click Customize.
   • To allow only certain people to see the post, under Make this visible to, type their names or the name of the List they are in.
   • To block certain people from seeing the post, under Hide this from, type their names or the name of the Lists they are in.
3. Click the Share button.

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