Facebook has very complex and versatile privacy controls. This article will help you discover ways to use lists to control what content and settings your friends can see on Facebook.

Facebook has often touted that you only need one profile on Facebook to interact with friends, family, and colleagues. Most of us know, though, that there are certain things that you don’t want everyone in your life to know about. Maybe you don’t want your mom to know that you weren’t really sick last weekend, you just didn’t want to hang out with her and Aunt Mildred. Or you don’t want your boss to know that you actually were playing golf when you were supposed to be at the dentist. While we probably don’t need to remind you that putting this kind of information on Facebook could come back to haunt you in the end, we would like to show you how you can get control of all of your content on Facebook.

Creating a List

The key to efficiently managing your profile is to create lists. Lists allow you to better manage large groups of your friends without having to filter them individually each time you create a post or make a change to a privacy setting. Before making your list, you should decide what the purpose of your list is. Do you want to be able to exclude a group of people from content or posts, or include certain people on content or posts. One common list that we’ve seen people make is a “Limited Profile” list. Individuals on a list of this type may be excluded from seeing information you consider too personal for them, such as your home address or telephone number. Once you have decided the type of list you are making, creating the list is a simple process. Follow these steps to create your first Facebook friends list:

1. From the left navigation, click on friends.

2. In the top corner of the Friends page, click the Create List button.

3. A box will pop up. Name your list in the top left-hand corner.

4. From the box below, select the friends that you want to add to the list. You can either type their name in the search box or select them from the list.

5. As you add people to the list, you’ll notice that there is a link at the top of the box that says Selected. The number next to it will grow as you add friends and you can also click this link to see who you have added to the list and remove people as needed.

6. Once you have selected everyone that you would like to have on the list, save the list. The box will close.

Managing Your Privacy Settings with Friends Lists

Now that you have created your list, you can use your new list to edit your privacy settings. Let’s walk through how to make changes to your privacy settings with your new list.

1. First, in the top right-hand corner of your profile, click on the Account link. A dropdown will appear. From here, select Privacy Settings.

2. The next screen will show you a control panel where you can adjust several settings automatically. However, you want to be able to control each of your settings individually, so you will need to click the “Customize Settings” link near the bottom of the screen.

3. Select the category of information which you would like to edit.

4. Next to each category, there is a dropdown box. Open the box and select Custom. There is a link next to it that says “edit”. You’ll want to click on this link.

5. After clicking “edit”, a box will open up and you’ll be given two options. You can either include certain people or exclude them. If you include only certain people on a privacy setting, only those people will be able to see this particular information. Everyone else will be excluded. The other option is to exclude certain people. Only these people will be excluded from that category. Anyone not excluded will be able to see the information controlled by that privacy setting. Something to consider when excluding certain people or lists is that, if you don’t want your information available to anyone else outside of your friends list, you should always set your settings to include “Only Friends”. Then, exclude the people or lists for friends that you don’t want to have access to that category.

6. Once you have decided whether to exclude your group or include them, click in the box you have chosen and start typing the name of your list. Facebook will give you a list of options that match your search. Click on your list. Something to note is that you can include or exclude specific individual people from this category as well. Just begin typing their name just as you did the list. If you decide later you want to remove a list or person from this setting, simply click the “X” next to their name.

7. Save your settings.

8. To see how someone on your list sees your profile, you can choose the “Preview My Profile…” at the top right of the page. Once on this page, you can type in the name of a person and Facebook will show you what they are able to see on your profile. Some third party applications will not display correctly in this mode.

Managing Published Material with Friends Lists

Privacy settings are not the only place where Friends Lists come in handy. You can use the same lists to filter individual posts or status updates that appear in your friends’ News Feeds.

Whenever you post new content to Facebook, you’ll notice a small lock symbol next to the “Share” button. You can click on the lock and filter your post in the same way that you edited your privacy settings before you post the item. The one thing to note about customizing individual posts is that there is a “Make this my default” setting checkbox. If you always want to include or exclude certain people from posts, simply customize your post settings and check the default checkbox. From that point on, all of your posts will follow that setting. One thing to note about excluding people from your posts is that if you exclude someone, either individually or in a list, by default, they will not have access to your Wall. The opposite is true for inclusion. If you include certain people or lists on your posts by default anyone not included, either individually or in a list, will not be able to see your Wall.

Points to Remember About Filtering Content and Privacy Settings

• You can use a list to filter people in or out of content on your Facebook.
• The “Preview My Profile…” button is a great way to make sure that you are managing your content in the way that you intended.
• Make sure that, when you are excluding certain people from your Facebook posts or information, you include only the people you are comfortable with seeing your information. If you have your posts set to include “Everyone” then anyone on Facebook except for the people that you have excluded can see that particular information.
• If you exclude someone by default from your posts, they will not have access to your Wall.
• Anytime you want to see what groups or people your posts will be available to, simply hover over the lock symbol next to the share button. You can also use this method to check posts already made; however, you cannot edit posts that have already been shared.
• Setting a default posting setting can help you manage third party content. For example, if you use the social networking site, Foursquare, you may not want everyone to see where you are checking in at. However, if you exclude certain people by default, you don’t have to worry that your check-ins will be visible to people that you have excluded from these posts.

Facebook’s filtering tools can be really confusing. However, armed with a little knowledge, they can be a great asset when interacting with people on Facebook. Use lists to help you manage your friends and show them only the information that you are comfortable with them having. That way, you can talk about your golf slice with everyone but your boss.