A Facebook friend recently mentioned she was intentionally responding to new Facebook friend requests late at night as she didn’t want to clog up her friends’ feeds. Thing is, there’s a setting in your Facebook Privacy to control exactly what gets published on your Facebook Wall and your friends’ News Feeds.
I have my settings tweaked so that when I add a new friend this is not published on my Wall or friends’ News Feeds. One of the main reasons was, like my girlfriend, I didn’t want to clog up my friends’ feeds.
But, also, what I found was that some folks would watch my feed and see who I was becoming friends with, then reach out to them and infer we had a much deeper connection than was so. Such is the nature of Facebook friends — it could be someone brand new you’ve just added or someone you’ve known all your life.
In any case, there are a few settings you may not be aware of either when it comes to what content you choose to publish on your Wall and, by default, out into your friends’ News Feeds.
How to edit your News Feed and Wall settings:
On the top blue navigation bar, mouseover Settings > then click on Privacy Settings > then click on News Feed and Wall as shown in the screenshot below:
On the next screen, check or uncheck the settings as you wish. The screenshot below is exactly how I have my settings:
Add a friend
If you have the “Add a friend” setting checked on your News Feed and Wall privacy section, your Wall could look like this when you confirm friend requests en masse:
Plus, this activity may show up in all your friends’ News Feeds. There could be very strategic reasons to leave this setting checked as maybe you want people to see how many friends you’re adding, or who they are. But my preference is to have it private for reasons mentioned above.
I’ve been at the 5,000 Facebook friend limit since fall 2008 but I do monitor my News Feed very closely to ensure the people in my inner circle are a match for my style and vice versa. (By the way, if ever you remove a friend, no notifications go out at all. I know this is a concern for many folks!)
Show Wall posts or not?
If you also use Facebook for personal purposes and want to keep personal separate from business, you might want to give thought to this Wall setting. In other words, if you prefer to have the Wall posts you write only show up on that friend’s Wall and not be published out into the News Feed of all your friends, uncheck the top setting. (There is a much more granular way to control your Publisher settings which I’ll write about in a separate post).
I tend to be totally open and use Facebook for strategic professional networking 99% of the time. Every action creates visibility so I’m happy for all Wall posts to go into all friends’ feeds.
One thing to consider though is when you’re wishing your friends a happy birthday. Whether it’s you or an assistant that writes birthday greetings, you might want to be aware that every Wall post may go out into your friends’ News Feed assuming the “Show Wall posts” setting is checked. If you have a lot of friends and all you write is “Happy Birthday” on your friends’ Walls one after the other, frankly, I think it looks automated and impersonal. Instead, I suggest mixing up the birthday greetings and perhaps even spacing them out a bit.
Change relationship status
Again, it’s a personal choice. But, for me, I recently went through a personal transition as I wrote about here and I didn’t want to broadcast that news via Facebook. This setting may be irrelevant to most people – but it’s certainly one you should be aware of.
Here’s what your friends might see in their Highlights section on their Home Page, unless the setting is unchecked:
Let me know if you found this post useful and how you like to have your News Feed and Wall settings in the Comments section below. Have you taken advantage of the really granular publishing and privacy settings? What’s your biggest question(s) about these settings?
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Great job Mari. I find my clients are often totally unaware of their privacy settings and how much control they actually do have. Posts like this really help people understand that they can be on Facebook and benefit from it (especially as a biz owner) but do not have to have every single movement they make on the site broadcast.
Visit My Twitter PageMari – I just love your work, you are always providing information and ideas that are immediately actionable and result in our online efforts being just that little more effective today.
I particular appreciate your comment regarding notes like Birthday wishes on the news feed. If you are going to take the time to post a note to a friend, make it personal. As we know, it only take 5% more effort to effectively build community through social media and truly engage with people.
Great post!
James
Visit My Twitter Pagehttp://Twitter.com/AskJamesHolmes
This was very helpful and I had not previously explored the privacy settings. There have been times my “business” friends have “friended” my personal friends and created some tension, so I am glad to have the Add Friend info, for sure.
Thanks Mari!
EXPECT Success!
Jackie Ulmer
Visit My Twitter PagePeople should be pro-active with thier privacy settings on all thier socicail media sites.
Very nicely explained. Thanks I’ll bookmark this page.
Visit My Twitter PageI’ve been on Facebook for about 20 days and it has been both exciting and daunting. Your tips here are immensely helpful and have been duly instituted. I marvel at what appears to be your bottomless energy and am grateful for your generous efforts to share your knowledge. I too am in the “help others” business which, I believe we agree, is not an oxymoron! I’m following you and attempting to be a capable student. Many thanks.
All the best,
Visit My Twitter PageDawn
Thank you Mari for a good explantation of how this works. You have been a blessing to my twitter and facebook experience!
Blessings
Visit My Twitter PageMarVeena-The Ghost Queen
i am unable to find the option news feed n wall for the past two or three days…n i desperatley wantto change my setting..pls kindly help me out.how can i change my settings now?
i am unable to find the settings of news feed n wall in my privacy settings…plllllllllllllllllease help me!!!
I agree with saisree, I can’t find the settings for “News Feed and Wall” either. Has Facebook changed something?
@ saisree
Me too ! I don’t want others to see what I post on my friend’s wall. But I don’t see the option news feed and wall.
Help please !
All of a sudden it is posting all that crap to my wall again, and the Newsfeeds and Wall section is gone from the privacy list. Do you know where it is hiding now?
Hi Mari! Thanks for your awesome leadership out there…very cool.
I was wondering if you had an update on the new “News Feed and Wall settings.” I can’t seem to find it anywhere and my old settings changed.
Can you point me in the right direction on how to edit these settings? Thanks always Mari.
Much success,
Visit My Twitter PageLarry
I was looking over your info on privacy settings options, and I don’t have the “Newsfeed and Wall” option on my privacy list – any ideas on why?
Thanks!
Paul
I was searching on how to change who appears in my news feeds and came across this information which I thought would be helpful. Since jFacebook updated and made several changes a few months ago, these tabs no longer are the ones on the privacy settings. Please consider updating this information. The tips were great as to what to have private and why or why not though. Thank you.
how do i get all wall post on at the same time insted of hitting older post like 200 time? it to time comsuming that way tky!
same question, different person … where can we find the privacy settings for news feed and wall in the new version of Facebook? Also, is there a way to not post to your profile every time you comment on someone’s status? Thanks!!
Hi Mari,
Visit My Twitter PageI am reading this post 1.19.10; there is no longer a “News Feed & Wall posts” privacy option, unless it is somewhere else in FB that I cannot find.
Any suggestions?
I appreciate all the wonderful information you share with the world.
Warmly, Shelley
Hi Mari,
I have the same exact question as in the previous post by Shelly Carsisle.
Since there is no longer a “News Feed & Wall Posts” privacy option, is there another way to “hide” my posts to other’s walls so they don’t go into the general feed to all my friends?
Thank you,
Susan