How to hide your nasty self on FaceBook.

I have been collecting friends from every part of my life from people I celebrate with to people I work with to people I teach. Now I had never really given much thought to what I do and say on FaceBook. Honestly, my life is pretty PG-13. But recently I have decided that I should start hiding content from certain classes of people. I mean does my boss really need to know that I made an appointment to get another tattoo? Honestly, she knows that I have tattoos and doesn't care all that much. But does that matter? I came to the conclusion that although my boss doesn't care that I drop an F-bomb, I still shouldn't say it in front of her. So last night, I sat down, created a "hide stuff from" list and the revamped my privacy settings. My first post with these new settings was the foulest thing I had ever written. People were so impressed that they asked me to type up a tutorial on how to say filthy things on FaceBook while hiding it from sensitive eyes. So here it is!

At the top of FaceBook, select "friends."

You should see a list of your friends. Above that list, there is a button that reads "Create New List." Guess what? You are going to select it.

A window should pop up. Enter a name for your list. I chose "work" because most of the people who will go into the list will be people I work with and students. But name it as you will.

Next, choose people to be in that list. If you aren't sure how a person knows you, I suggest erring on the side of caution. You can always remove that person from the list.

Choose "create list" and you are done!

(NOTE: To add or remove people, simply go to "friends" and find that person. There is a drop-down menu next to their name which allows you to add or remove.)

Next, under "settings," choose "privacy." This is where we start selecting which lists can see what on your profile. When you select "profile information," you will see a drop-down list of who can see what. To block people on a list from seeing certain information, you need to click the black triangle and go to "customize." There will be two portions here: "make visible" and "hide from." Under "hide from," type in the name of your list and "Save Setting." Congratulations! You just hid that bit of your profile to an entire group. And of course you can choose individuals to hide from like your Mom or teacher by simply typing in their name. Being on a list is not required it just makes it easier to block content from a whole group of people.

To view your profile, select "Preview My Profile" at the top of this page. It will show you what a stranger will see. But let's say you want to see what your boss sees! Well, type your boss' name in the box labeled "preview how your profile appears to a specific person."

Important! "Posts by me" is your wall. If you want to hide your wall from people on the list, add the list to your "hide from." I don't do this simply because there are some things I want them to see. But how do I hide some posts and not others? Here's the secret!

First get your privacy settings in place. Now you want to post an update. Once you click inside of the box, you will notice a little lock in the right-hand corner. Select it and a drop-down menu appears. Type in the name of the list you want to hide your post from and it will be so hidden. When they look at your wall, all they'll see is your nice, clean posts. Not the nasty, mean, ugly posts.

The same holds true for notes which you can hide from people.

Does all of this make sense? I hope so! Good luck and happy posting!