Can I Like Something Privately on Facebook?

By Shala Munroe

Facebook puts everything out there unless you make it private.
i Stephen Lam/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Facebook is designed as a sharing site, which means pretty much anything you put out there is automatically seen by your friends if not anyone in the public who happens to check out your page. You can manage some of these settings through the Privacy section, including what pages you've liked.

Liking Comments and Photos

When you like other people's comments and photos in Facebook, you're at the mercy of their privacy settings. You can change who sees your comments to groups such as "Close Friends," "Friends," or "Public." When you like a comment belonging to someone else, anyone in the group he's chosen can see your like, even if you aren't that person's friend. There's no way to like someone else's comments or photos privately.

Options

If you liked a friend's comment but don't want your like to be public, click "Unlike" under the comment. This deletes your name under the list of people who liked the comment and leaves no record of the fact you once liked it. To keep your pleasant thought private, send a private message to your friend instead of clicking "Like."

Pages

When you click on "Like" for pages you want to return to or that you identify with -- or if you just want to get that $2 off coupon -- you don't necessarily want everyone to know you've liked that page. Pages you like show up under your timeline, meaning by default, everyone who can see your timeline can see your liked pages. This can get sticky, for example, when you like a business competitor's page or the page of a sports team your significant other dislikes. Facebook has provided a way to keep that information private, where only you know you've liked the page.

How to Like Pages Privately

You can't hide individual pages in Facebook, but you can hide groups of pages. Facebook decides what pages go into which group, so think carefully where your private pages might land when changing your settings. Clicking on your name after you log in to Facebook brings up your Timeline. There are four boxes of information you can readily edit under your cover photo, and one of these should be "Likes." If not, click the drop-down arrow to gain access to the "Likes" page. Click on it to go to your "Likes" section. When you click on "Edit," you'll see drop-down boxes appear beside each section of your "Likes," including Music, Books and Other Pages. Clicking on those drop-down arrows gives you access to the privacy settings -- choose "Only Me" to make the pages private. You must manually change the setting on each section to make them all private.

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