How to Hide My Identity When on Facebook
By John Granby
Facebook enables users to customize the privacy settings on nearly every aspect of the account. You are able to change settings to prevent your account from being visible to external search engines, and you can hide access to nearly all of your information -- even to people connected as friends. While much of your account information can be hidden, there are a few features that cannot be completely hidden: your profile picture, cover photo and name.
Step 1
Log in to your Facebook account and click the icon in the upper right corner that looks like a gear to display a drop-down menu for your account settings. This icon is shown on both your Timeline page and your news feed page. Then click "Privacy Settings" in the drop-down menu to will display the "Privacy Settings and Tools" page.
Step 2
Disable Facebook search engine access to your Timeline information. Click the "Edit" button next to "Who can look you up using the email address or phone number you provided?" This setting is in the "Who can look me up?" section of the "Privacy Settings and Tools" page. Select "Friends" in the drop-down menu and click "Close." This allows only your friends to see your Timeline posts.
Step 3
Click the "Do you want other search engines to link to your timeline?" which is in the "Who can look me up?" section of the "Privacy Settings and Tools" page. Click the check box next to "Let other search engines link to your timeline" so that this option is not selected and there is no check mark in the box. Leaving this box unchecked will keep your profile private from external search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Click "Close" when you are complete.
Step 4
Click the "Facebook" logo in the upper left corner and then click "Edit Profile" under your name, which is in the upper left corner.
Step 5
Edit the access to your "Work and Education" information. Click the drop-down menu next to each of your entries in this section. Select the level of visibility you want for each entry. Select "Friends" if you only want your confirmed friends to see this information. Select "Only Me" if you do not want anyone, not even friends, to see this information. Click "Done Editing" when you are finished with your changes.
Step 6
Edit access to each entry in each of the sections "About You," "Favorite Quotations," "Living," "Basic Information" and "Contact Information." The access is controlled using the drop-down menu level settings, which enables you select the level of access such as "Friends" or "Only Me." Click "Save" in each of these sections when you are complete with your changes in each section.
References
Tips
- Each time you post a status post or photo, use the audience selector to select the specific audience.
Warnings
- The information in this article applies to the settings available to Facebook accounts as of May 2013.
Writer Bio
John Granby began his writing career in 2000 as a founding member of a tech industry website targeted at WAP developers. He has provided in-depth coverage of the wireless industry, served as a speaker at several conferences and authored a book on Bluetooth. Granby earned a Bachelor of Science in computer engineering from Purdue University.