Can You Accept Friends on Facebook Without Others Seeing?
By Avery Martin
Facebook's granular privacy system helps you prevent others from seeing when you accept a friend request. Activity notifications appear on your Timeline, but you can disable these notifications. However, any friends you have in common with others appear in the friends list of other mutual friends. While others won't see a notification on your Timeline if you disable your friending activity, people may still know if you are friends with a person they are mutual friends with.
Step 1
Click the Friend Notification icon in the top navigation bar and select the friend request you want to accept.
Step 2
Click the "Confirm" button.
Step 3
Click on your name in the menu bar to access your Timeline.
Step 4
Hover over the Friend Request notification in the Activity box on your timeline. Click the "X" box.
Step 5
Select "Hide This Recent Activity Story from Timeline" to hide only this individual friend request or select "Hide Similar Activity from Timeline" to hide all future friend requests as well.
Step 6
Click the "Friends" box on your Timeline.
Step 7
Click the "Edit" button and select "Only Me" from the "Who Can See Your Friends List?" dialog box.
References
Warnings
- Even though you can set your friends list to be viewable only by yourself, if people have you as a mutual friend, they will see you in the Mutual Friends section.
Writer Bio
Avery Martin holds a Bachelor of Music in opera performance and a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian studies. As a professional writer, she has written for Education.com, Samsung and IBM. Martin contributed English translations for a collection of Japanese poems by Misuzu Kaneko. She has worked as an educator in Japan, and she runs a private voice studio out of her home. She writes about education, music and travel.