How-to: manage your Facebook privacy settings with three simple lists
By Nilay Patel 
posted July 13th 2010 11:00AM
posted July 13th 2010 11:00AM
Luckily, it's not so hard to do -- you just have to make effective use of a Facebook feature called Lists. By grouping all your friends into lists you can make sure you're sharing the right information with the right people -- pictures from last night's epic party with your actual friends, sanitized vacation photos with co-workers, almost nothing with strangers. But just making a bunch of random lists won't work -- you need a plan, and we've got one for you that involves making just three lists to solve all your Facebook privacy worries. How? Read on for step-by-step instructions.
That'll take you to a large list of your friends, and at the top you'll see "Create New List," like so:
Hit Create New List, and the list editor will pop up. Don't worry about selecting friends in this window, just type in a list name and hit Create List.
Our system involves just three main lists:
- People I trust: These are your main dudes and ladies, your closest friends. You're only going to put 10-15 people on this one, max. My friend Will's version of this list is named Inner Circle; mine is named True Blue. It's the VIP list, so treat it accordingly -- people have to earn their spots.
- People I don't know well: Virtually everyone else you know goes on this list. It's the one for friends from class, or the people you only see at parties, or friends of friends. Remember, you really don't know that many people well -- anyone you wouldn't trust to keep those pictures of you on spring break in Mexico under wraps while you run for Congress goes on this list.
- Limited Profile: This is everyone you probably have to be friends with but that you don't really want seeing your profile. Your boss, your little cousin, your mother. You're going to lock this list down tight.
So now that you have your lists in hand, you have to go set them up. Go back up to the Accounts menu in the upper right and hit "Privacy Settings." That'll take you to the Privacy screen, where you want to hit "Customize Settings" at the bottom.
Once you're in the customize screen, you'll see a big list of all the content types that are on Facebook: photos, contact info, wall posts, links, videos, you name it. You're going to link all of this stuff to your lists and get some control back in your life. It's pretty simple -- first, click on the menu next to each category and hit Customize:
When the Custom Privacy box pops up, select "Specific People" and start typing in your list name, and it'll autofill, like so:
For added safety, I always put Limited Profile in the "Hide this from" field, but I'm probably just paranoid. Here's how I have all of my settings laid out, per category:
- Posts by me: People I Trust, People I don't know well
- Family: Friends Only
- Relationships: Friends Only
- Interested In and Looking For: Friends Only
- Bio and Favorite Quotations: Friends Only
- Website: Everyone (I work for Engadget, after all)
- Religious and political views: Friends Only
- Birthday: Friends of Friends (so people can find me)
- Edit Album privacy: Make sure you go through this when you're done -- it's a big one.
- Photos and videos I'm tagged in: People I Trust, hide from Limited Profile
- Can comment on posts: Friends Only
- Friends can post on my wall: Enable
- Can see Wall posts by friends: People I Trust, People I don't know well
- Mobile phone: People I Trust, hide from Limited Profile and People I don't know well
- Other phone: Only Me
- Address: Only Me
- IM screen name: People I Trust
- Email address: People I Trust
That's easy enough -- the real key is to limit photos and videos you're tagged in to the People I Trust list -- but we're not done yet. Go back up and hit "Edit album privacy" under Birthday to make sure only the right people are seeing the snapshots of your past. This one's totally on you -- you have to decide which of your albums you're going to share with what list -- but every photo album you've made should be assigned to a list, not just freely available to everyone or friends of friends. Trust us on this one -- it's easy enough to add someone to a list or to an album if they need access for some reason.
Okay, so now you've assigned all your content to lists. Now it's time to organize your friends. This is the fun part -- hit Edit Friends under the account menu again, click "Friends" under Lists on the left side, and you'll get a long list of all your friends. All you've got to do is drill through, delete all the people you don't know or don't remember by hitting the X on the far right side, and assign everyone else to a list by clicking on the drop down and picking the appropriate category: People I Trust, People I don't know very well, or Limited Profile. You'll be surprised at how easy it is to filter your social network into these categories -- they mirror your actual relationships with people, after all. Just remember: everyone should be on a list! This system doesn't work at all if you don't put everyone on a list -- after this big initial sorting, just add people to lists as you add friends -- it's super easy to do.
So that's my system -- this explanation might seem lengthy, but it really comes down to three steps:
So that's my system -- this explanation might seem lengthy, but it really comes down to three steps:
- Make three lists: People I Trust, People I don't know well, and Limited Profile
- Tweak your privacy settings to use the lists
- Sort your friends into the lists
That's easy enough -- and remember, you can always move people between lists, just like friends move between roles in your actual life. Yes, it's a little uncomfortable to think about relationships like this, but it'll be even worse if your boss finds that FurryCon '07 album one day -- and once you've got things set up the first time, it only takes a little maintenance to keep up. Facebook doesn't have to be terrifying, people -- get out there and make some lists.
P.S. Oh, while we're at it, make sure you hit up Engadget's official Facebook page -- you can also find me and Josh Topolsky if you like.
P.S. Oh, while we're at it, make sure you hit up Engadget's official Facebook page -- you can also find me and Josh Topolsky if you like.
I've been doing this since lists were created. It's really effective, mostly I stick with sharing everything and only putting people in the Limited Profile list when I don't want them to see something. Also works well for chat availability.
"People you have to be friends with, such as your boss"
But in Nilay's case, he's such chums with his superiors they make the special list. Aww.
Since Facebook can be compromised and relationships changed, the simplest advice is *don't add anything personal or important on Facebook*.
This may have been mentioned already but I basically have 2 lists, and set up 2 profiles. There are downsides of course, like the initial set up time, and now having to manage a second area, but it does keep it 100% separated from your main profile. I basically have one for friends, and one for work. Also not sure how Facebook feels about this, but eff them for not giving people better tools (I would love different profile pictures for different groups, like a 'professional' default and a 'friend' default) oh well
How about this:
1) Don't have people on your facebook that you don't want seeing your stuff
2) Don't do sketchy stuff and then post pics of it.
No need to have lists if you follow these two simple steps.
@mbushnell
So where's the fun?
Very helpful. I had a more convoluted system before reading this and you reminded me of the classic K.I.S.S. method. Thanks!
I have 1 group: People I'd by a drink for. ...and those people don't deserve to know more about me than they'd get from a casual conversation.
So this is pretty much the exact post I wrote May 17th. I use two lists, but basically the same post.
http://www.socialmediaphilanthropy.com/2010/05/17/how-i-manage-my-facebook-privacy-settings-using-lists/
This is a great article, and I might start using it when I get out into the full on workforce (as opposed to just being a graduate student), but for now it seems to be okay for me to just think about what I post. It's not different than thinking about what you say before you say it. If you wouldn't say it to people, don't put it on Facebook.
Plus, it helps that there normally aren't super bombed pictures of me floating around ;)
@Rocket Raccoon I agree with what you're saying -- if you wouldn't say it to someone, don't post it. But I find I run into problems sometimes because, for example, I have friends who are stay at home moms, and some friends who are working moms. There are times when I want to post things like "Stay at home moms have it easy. No prep the night before, you don't have to buy & clean work clothes, and you have all the time in the world to keep the house clean and make meals for yourself." But I know I can't because some of my friends would agree, and some would be pissed. I guess I COULD split out my lists into the "stay at home moms" list and the "working moms" list. But that seems a bit much.
Anyways, my guess is you will have to censor yourself at some point, too. Unless there is absolutely nothing you would say to one friend that you wouldn't say to another. When you start working, you don't get to choose your co-workers so much.
@sdrunner101 ^^^^ this.
This has already appeared on WikiHow. But what a wonderful discovery you made all by yourself, Nilay!
lol at the second comment on his status
Just realizing that an ex-girlfriend must have me on some reject list hiding pictures of her and her new bf from me and vise versa. Thanks Engadget for helping me realize this. How long has this list option been around?
@nilay, great post man. It should be in he top stories box. I've been operating a simillar facebook config for a while and have been wanting to get my friends and family set up the same way, so now all I need do is send them a link to your excellent article. Thanks again Nilay!
This isn't nearly as easy with 400+ friends, and is made less useful when there's still loop holes that will allow others to see your stuff.
@kenny goo I did it with 600 some friends -- and I actually trimmed down from 800ish first. Took an hour, but was totally worth it.
@Nilay Patel
Just double checked, it's actually only 320, lol. But for me, I'm a soon-to-be college kid, and everyone on my friends list are people who are my age who I know from school or am just friends with. I don't have any family up, so whatever I post is fine for any of my friends to see. Nearly all my stuff is private past that.
Took a little bit, but I locked down my profile. There are a lot of security settings not mentioned in this article however, facebook is crazy.
great article. there is a short movie that really outlines facebook privacy, it's funny and a great movie overall glad someone finally made it http://www.vimeo.com/13342152
Awesome. I might get on Facebook after all.
I've always had the lists set up and this is a good article. My question is do the facebook apps for android or the iphone allow you to use the lists? I recently used my friends iphone and the little lock under the status update wasn't there.
I won't even use the app if I get a smart phone if it won't allow me to. I'm all set with certain people creeping my updates.