Facebook is all about friends. Whether they’re your real life friends (or, irl friends), friends of friends, frenemies, co-workers, acquaintances, or former classmates — this wildly popular social networking website co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg while he was attending Harvard calls them all ‘friends’.
You may be wondering exactly how to edit your Facebook contacts, or ‘friends’. Perhaps you aren’t the most computer savvy person, or you’ve just joined Facebook. Here are some simple ways to customize your Facebook friends list to get the most out of Facebook.
Deleting Facebook Friends
There are two ways to remove contacts on Facebook. One way is to completely remove them entirely. In that case, they will be completely removed from your contact list and the Facebook privacy settings you have in place for people who aren’t friends will apply to them. So, deleting a friend may cause some initial drama. If you plan on ‘defriending’ someone on Facebook or ‘unfriending” them, you can simply go to your user account located on the top right hand corner of your Facebook page, under ‘Profile’. There you’ll see a drop-down menu with a choice that says ‘edit friends’. From there, you can see and edit all your friendships on Facebook. If you wish to permanently remove someone from your friend’s list, you can click the ‘X’ next to their name. See ‘ya, wouldn’t wanna be ‘ya. Adios, Bon voyage, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Hiding Facebook Friends
An easier way to ensure someone is ‘out of sight out of mind’ on Facebook is to simply hide them. This is a more preferable option, enabling you to retain a connection (so you can of course, look at their profile anytime you’d like) while still removing their status updates from your Facebook news feed. Simply locate their name in your News Feed and hover your mouse toward the right of their status update. There will be an option that appears that simply says ‘hide’. Click on it and Facebook will give you the option of either hiding the person, or the application you don’t want to see, such as Mafia Wars or Cafe World, or Farmville.
Customizing Friends on Your Facebook Profile
Did you know you can customize a ‘top friends’ list on your Facebook profile? Much like the option that Myspace had, you can edit the ‘friends box’ on your profile so people will see exactly who you hold dear. Simply click the option on the top right of your Facebook home page that says ‘profile. This will give you a view of your profile that others see (depending on your privacy and security settings). Then, scroll down to your friends box and click the little button that looks like a pencil. That’s the edit button. Then you’ll have the opportunity to customize your friends box to your exact specifications.
These are only a few ways to customize your friends on Facebook. You can also customize who can see your photos based on who you choose, you can set your privacy settings so that certain things are visible to certain Facebook friends, and you can choose to remain ‘invisible’ to certain friends you may not want to engage with in Facebook Chat. Spend some time getting to know the possibilities on Facebook and just how customizable the friendship options are!
