# "Hide" yourself on FB?



## nehimama (Jun 18, 2005)

Is there a way to "hide" yourself while cruising on Face Book? So others won't know you're online?
I know you can check the chat window, and see who else is currently online. How can you make yourself invisible to others?

Thanks!


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## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

If they are seeing you are online through the chat window you can - open FB, go down on the right bottom where the Chat window opens, click on the gear icon, choose advanced settings and there should be an option to 'close chat'
Select that and it gives you the option to close for some or all contacts. You can reverse that to reopen chat.


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## Bungiex88 (Jan 2, 2016)

Best thing to do is just delete it


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

You cant hide yourself from FB itself, but you can high from friends. If on the mobile app just remove messager. You can still use FB but no chat. For web basted access you can turn off chat. Go to the bottom of the chat bar, hit the gear and click turn off chat.
You should also review your security options, set to only me or friends only. I would also suggest looking at your friends list and removing people you dont trust to see your online. 

Another saving task if your part of any FB groups is to unfollow the group. This still keeps you as a member but doenst clutter your page with post. Then when you want to look at that group go to that group and review. You can use the shortcuts on the right to order your groups.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

I took the time to download what info Facebook has on me, and it's not very revealing. They know what city I live in, where I'm from, and where I went to school. That's about it. In the downloaded information page, none of the links on the left contained data.

But I only access Facebook from my laptop. I've never accessed my Facebook account from a smartphone. Evidently it's the sharing of information among smartphone apps that gives away a lot of sensitive information.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Bungiex88 said:


> Best thing to do is just delete it


You can delete your info but if you posted on other accounts or your posts were shared they will never be gone. And according to this, facebook still keeps some of you info on record for a very long time.
https://www.techlicious.com/how-to/how-to-delete-your-facebook-account-permanently/

Can you open a facebook account with a fake name? How much info do they demand before you can open an account? I would like to keep in touch with some family on there but don't want people from my past to find me.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

FB only has the info you give them. Also if you dont want to share something to the world then done share it on FB...


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## Bungiex88 (Jan 2, 2016)

Danaus29 said:


> You can delete your info but if you posted on other accounts or your posts were shared they will never be gone. And according to this, facebook still keeps some of you info on record for a very long time.
> https://www.techlicious.com/how-to/how-to-delete-your-facebook-account-permanently/
> 
> Can you open a facebook account with a fake name? How much info do they demand before you can open an account? I would like to keep in touch with some family on there but don't want people from my past to find me.


I’ve tried that before and after a long time they wanted proof of I.d on who I was I never produced it so they quit letting me log on. The only reason I had one was to link all my news sites I like so I could go to 1 place for all my news. They must of thought something was fishy because I had no friends and my name on Facebook was totempole Johnson


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Danaus29 said:


> Can you open a facebook account with a fake name? How much info do they demand before you can open an account? I would like to keep in touch with some family on there but don't want people from my past to find me.


I did.
Have a business that I wanted to market on social media. I don't use FB for personal and to me, it is unnerving what people post about themselves; what they do, where they go, when they are away from home....

I tried to set up a business page and I couldn't without a personal page first, so I just used my company name, which happens to be the middle names of two of our sons. The business page is our website name without the .com and was simply added to the "personal page". Anything posted falls into the range of advertising, humor, inspirational or nostalgia. No personal stuff, ie names, locations, financial, etc.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Gary in ohio said:


> FB only has the info you give them. Also if you dont want to share something to the world then done share it on FB...


Yep, what I was thinking. Even my email accounts don't have my real name. 

I know people who live on facebook. Every move is there for anyone to read. Not my style. I guess I'll just have to call or email people more often.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Facebook users are supposed to get a disclosure at the top of the Facebook app today to let them know if their info was given out.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/09/technology/business/mark-zuckerberg-capitol-hill/index.html

I don't know if people who access Facebook from computers will get a disclosure. I only access from my laptop and I haven't received anything from Facebook yet today. Could be that the privacy problem only impacts Facebook app users on their phones.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

I didn't get one. I dont post much and delete once a week. Im only on looking at gkids photos ect. I always said FB was a bad thing. People put too much info out. I dont folllow I have them as friends and once in a while ill go look see what new. Most times its junk or games. Games drive me nuts what a waste if time. Any they want me to join. Can't my internet cell phone is not good enough.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

Nevada said:


> Facebook users are supposed to get a disclosure at the top of the Facebook app today to let them know if their info was given out.
> 
> Could be that the privacy problem only impacts Facebook app users on their phones.


I use fb from the desktop and phone and I didnt get any notice either. My wife, son and his wife were also not impacted.
But then again, I put very little personal information into face book and my security is set me only or friends only. My friends list are real friends that I know and talk with outside of FB


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## Alice Kramden (Mar 26, 2008)

I joined FB with a fake name and persona, just to get a feel for how the thing worked. Used a different email client which I have just for FB. Worked okay until I figured things out, then I simply went and changed my account to my real name and started adding friends (real ones that I knew). 

Also, downloaded and use FBP, Fluff Busting Purity, to eliminate anything I didn't want to see. No ads, no right hand column full of "news", I can customize FB to show only what I want to see. I also use Ad-Block Plus and it blocked ads from the get-go. Do not use any apps or download games. 

Used wisely, FB is okay. I like being able to chat with folks I haven't seen in 40 years. Made some connections with people from out of the past, and it is really nice. As I told them, I have no kids or family stuff to post, so I put up interesting and funny pics, and tell stories. If I get tired of looking at someone's postings I just "x" on them and roll my eyes. 

The "Borg" or the "system" knows each and every one of us already. I found this out one night when I was trying to log in to gmail. I forgot and left my browser set on private browsing and couldn't get into my gmail account. It blocked access somehow. By the time I realized I couldn't get in until I unclicked private browsing, google had blocked ME, thinking it was a malicious attempt to get into my email. 

Then, the phone chirped....Google texted me a number to put in to prove it was me.....I have NEVER given Google my phone number! That just completely floored me. How do they have my phone number? Well, after getting everything settled and straightened out, I figured what the hay, if "they" have my #, "they" have everything else about me. Might as well join FB. 

And guess what? When I changed it over to my real name, all the people I'd searched FB for BEFORE joining showed up in my "People You May Know" ......"They" know every thing we do, there is no longer any doubt.


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