What Happens to My Comments & Wall Posts When I Deactivate My Facebook Account?

When you deactivate your Facebook account, the company removes your Facebook timeline immediately. This means that people will not be able to find you using Facebook's search tools. However, your data will not disappear from Facebook’s database. That database still remembers your photos, friends and everything else about your timeline. Deactivation is a good method to choose when you plan to leave Facebook temporarily and return later. When you return, you can restore your original timeline and continue where you left off.

You also have the option to take a more permanent action and delete your Facebook account. When you do that, Facebook removes everything associated with your account from its database. Information in the database includes private information, such as your email address and Instant Messenger screen name. Because Facebook cannot reactivate a deleted account, you should delete your account only if you don't plan to use it again. Delete your account by logging in and clicking the "Delete My Account" button on Facebook's Delete Account Web page (see Resources).

If you decide to delete your account instead of disabling it, you may want to download your Facebook information first. Do that by clicking the gear icon on the Facebook page and selecting "Account." You can then click "General" and "Download a Copy of Your Facebook Data." When you click "Start My Archive," the site downloads the information contained on your Account Settings page. Learn what information the download includes by visiting Facebook's Accessing Your Facebook Info page and reviewing the entries in the table on that page.

Instead of disabling or deleting your account, you have the option to make it a little more private by preventing people from viewing links to your timeline in regular search engine results. Adjust your public search settings by clicking the gear icon on a Facebook page and selecting "Privacy Settings." This enables you to remove the check mark from the "Do you want other search engines..." check box. If you post comments on Facebook pages and community forums, that information may still appear in regular search engine results.