How to see a log of everything you’ve ever done on facebook

Harry Guinness is a photography expert and writer with nearly a decade of experience. His work has been published in newspapers like The New York Times and on a variety of other websites, from Lifehacker to Popular Science and Medium’s OneZero. Read more.

Facebook keeps an Activity Log of absolutely everything you do—tracking things you like, post, or share on someone’s Timeline. You can view that Activity Log anytime you like. Here’s how.

What Activity Log Is Useful For

While being able to scroll back through every Facebook interaction you’ve ever had might seem a little terrifying (yes, you really did like that many cat photos) and even creepy, it’s actually useful.

Look at your News Feed and you’ll see dozens of posts your friends have liked or commented on. If they haven’t shared them, those items don’t appear on their timeline. Your friends get all the same notifications from you. The only way you can see what they all might see is through your Activity Feed. Just look at each item and you’ll see who can see it. In the screenshot below, for example, all of Ferdy’s friends can see that I’ve commented on his post. It’s likely that Facebook’s algorithm has shown that activity to some of our mutual Friends as well.

Activity Feed is also good for making sure apps aren’t doing stuff without you knowing about it. Our editor, for example, says he checks it every time he gives a new app permission to do something, just to make sure it hasn’t posted to his timeline or done something crazy. You can see below that, although Spotify has pushed something to Facebook, only I can see it (the lock icon indicates that it’s private).

From the Activity Feed, you can even undo anything you’ve done on Facebook. Click the “edit” button (the little Pen icon) next to any post and you can unlike, delete, or hide that post. If someone decides to “frape” you by liking a few hundred Justin Bieber fan pages, Activity Feed is the simplest way to undo the damage.

How to Access Your Facebook Activity Log

Log in to Facebook, head to your profile, and then click the “View Activity Log” button at the bottom right of your cover photo.

Now you’ll see everything you’ve ever done on Facebook in one big list.

If you’re looking for specific posts, you can use the “Activity Search” box. You can also filter the feed so you just see specific posts by selecting one of the options in the sidebar on the left. And you can navigate by year with the sidebar on the right.

You can also view your Activity Log in the mobile app. Head to your profile and tap “Activity Log” underneath your cover photo.

How To See A Log of Everything You Have Ever Done on Facebook

Social networking app/website, Facebook keeps an activity log of all its users do int it. It records things you like, post, or share on someone else’s timeline. Facebook lets you view all that, and in this post, we will be talking about how to check your Activity Log on Facebook.

What Activity Log is Used For

Finding out you can check every Facebook interaction you have ever had and going through them might seem a bit terrifying and maybe creepy even. Well, it is beneficial though.

Go to your News Feed on Facebook, and you will see different posts which your friends have liked or commented on. If your friends didn’t share such posts, they wouldn’t appear on their timeline. The way you see such notifications about your friends is the same way your friends also receive notifications about your friends too. The only way which you can see what all the others might see it by going to your Activity Feed. Check each item there, and you will see some people who can see each of them. In the screenshot below, for example, all of Ferdy’s friends can see that I’ve commented on his post. There is a huge chance that Facebook has displayed that activity to some of our mutual friends too.

You can also use the Activity Feed to make sure that apps aren’t doing stuff on your Facebook account without you being aware. I, for example, check it every time I give a new app permission to do something on my Facebook account just to make sure it hasn’t posted to his timeline or done something else which I didn’t give permission to do. In the screenshot below, you can see that, although Spotify has posted something to Facebook, only I can see what it posted (the lock icon means it is private).

You can also undo anything you have done on Facebook from the Activity Feed. To do this, click the edit button (the little pen icon) beside any post to edit it. Here, you can unlike, delete or hide such post. So, if someone tries to “frame” you by liking a few hundred Wizkid fan pages, Activity Feed is the easiest way to undo all whatever has been done.

How To Access Your Activity Log on Facebook

Log in to your Facebook account, go to your profile, and then click the “View Activity Log” button which is at the bottom right of the cover photo space.

The Activity Log will come up as a big list of everything you have ever done on Facebook.
If you can’t seem to find what you are looking for, you can use the “Activity Search” box. You can also use the search box if what you are looking for is an older activity. You can also perform filters on the feeds to bring up specific types of activities by choosing one option from the ones provided in the sidebar on the left. You can also navigate through different years with the sidebar on the right side.

If you are on mobile, you can check your activity log on Facebook’s mobile app by going to your profile and tap “Activity Log” below your cover photo.

Table of Contents

Today we are going to show you how to see everything you’ve done on Facebook using Activity Log. Facebook records practically everything we do. Not just the friends you add or the posts you publish, but also what you like, what you comment on, etc. And we can see all of those data thanks to Activity Log.

We can see what we have done if we want to review previous posts, old friends, or comments that no longer interest us. We can delete them too if we would like to. This tool also allows us to filter by year and or by month.

How to see everything you’ve done on Facebook using Activity Log?

You can see everything you have done on Facebook since you have joined the social network.

To access the activity log we have to follow these steps:

• Click on the arrow next to your photo at the top right of Facebook
• Tap on “Settings and privacy”
• Choose the “Activity Log” option.

How to see everything you’ve done on Facebook using Activity Log?

Filtering

You can choose to see a specific category or you can review all of them. These are your options:

• Activity Log
• Posts
• Activity in which you have been tagged
• Photos and videos
• Photos you have been tagged in
• Other people’s posts in your bio
• Hidden in biography
• Likes and reactions
• Posts and comments
• Pages, page likes, and interests
• Comments
• Profile
• Added friends
• Removed friends
• Friend request sent
• Friend request received
• Significant events
• Archived stories
• Your stories
• Video surveys you have participated in

How to see everything you’ve done on Facebook using Activity Log?

Just scroll to the bottom of the list to check the category you want. There are many others that we have not included here that you can find by following the steps above. Choose the filter you want and at the top of the window, you will find: Year

A drop-down will allow you to choose the year you want to look for. You will be able to search for the year you want since you created your Facebook account. When you have checked all the filters and have chosen the specific year, tap on “Filter” to see all the related activities.

For example, you can see which friends you added on Facebook in 2016. Or which friends you had deleted on Facebook in 2017, which photos you were tagged in 2019, which comments you wrote in 2020. Everything you’ve done, if you haven’t deleted it, will appear in this log. And you can even choose the exact month of the year too.

Results

The results will appear on the left side of the screen, in a column. Just tap on the different posts on the left to open them in a large window on Facebook. For example, if you have written a comment on a post you will be able to see what it was about or to whom it was addressed.

Delete any event

There are two options for deleting items from the activity log: you can delete events (comments made, friends added…) or you can delete searches you have made in the last few months or days.

Once you have followed the above steps and you are in the Facebook activity log, you can delete anything you want. However, you will have to delete each item individually. In the left bar, you will see the chronology: day, month, year, and what happened.

You can tap on the different events and you will see that just by hovering the mouse over them, a circle with three dots will appear. If you tap on this dot, a button will appear: Delete. Click on it to delete the specific event.

How to see everything you’ve done on Facebook using Activity Log?

How to delete searches using Activity Log?

You can delete searches you have made on Facebook. From the website, on the top left, you will find the search engine of the social network. Tap on it and you will see recent searches and blue letters indicating “Edit”. Tap on them.

The search history of the last few days will now open with the same format as above: the items are in a column on the left and you can tap on any of them to open them in large format. Here we have two options: tap on the circle on each of the items to delete them individually or delete all of them together. If you want to delete all searches, tap on “Delete searches” and they will disappear from the history.

Keep in mind that only you see what you have searched for so it is not important if you do not remove this, no one will be able to access it unless they enter your social network.

How to review posts and tagged photos using Activity Log?

One of the things that Facebook’s activity log also allows us to do is to review photos in which you are likely to appear or posts in which you may have been tagged in the past and that you want to review to remove your tag, add to profile, hide, etc.

Follow the steps above to open the Facebook log (tap on the arrow in the top right corner, go to settings and privacy and go to activity log). Once you are in, choose the “Review posts you have been tagged in” section. You can hide those posts or add them to your profile. You can repeat the process with all the posts in which you have been mentioned on Facebook.

Have you noticed that Facebook allows you to monitor your activities Activity Log, including the posts you liked, comments you made, and more? From this Activity Log, you can change the privacy settings on your own posts and more easily, unlike a liked message. In this guide, I will show you how to find or see Facebook activity log on PC, Android, and iPhone.

What is the Facebook Activity Log?

The Facebook Activity Log is where all of your updates and events can be found, starting from today until the very beginning of your Facebook history. Scroll through updates, images marked and any friends you’ve added along the way. Facebook users can also upload a cover photo with this update, add Facebook Life Events, and change the privacy settings for each post easily.

Meanwhile, the update has made everything that a Facebook user has ever shared much more available. So, whether you’re interested in taking a trip down memory lane to see some of your early posts or are on the hunt for a particular status update, you’ll find what you’re looking for in the Activity Log.

See Facebook Activity Log on PC ( Desktop Version)

Log in to Facebook’s account, head to your profile, and then click the “View Activity Log” button at the bottom right of your cover photo. Now you’ll see everything you’ve ever done on Facebook in one big list.

Step 1. Go to Facebook’s website and then log in to Facebook.

Step 2. Go to your Facebook Timeline by clicking on your profile icon.

Step 3. At the bottom of your cover photo, locate and click the Activity log.

Step 4. All your liked, commented and shared posts are displayed here.

Step 5. In the activity log, you will notice a side-menu containing different filters. You can apply them to narrow down your results.

See Facebook Activity Log on Android App

If you have an Android Smartphone and want to see your activity log then follow the below steps.

Step 1. Launch your Facebook app on android.

Step 2. Tap on the three horizontal lines at the top right-hand corner.

Step 3. Tap on your profile icon.

Step 4. Tap on More.

Step 5. Select Activity Log.

Step 6. Scroll to view all your “activity log” chronologically arranged.

See Facebook Activity Log on iPhone (iOS)

Step 1. Launch the Facebook app on your iPhone or iPad.

Step 2. Click on your profile picture to go to your Facebook homepage.

Step 3. Tap more or three dots underneath your bio.

Step 4. Select the activity log.

How to See/View Facebook Activity Log on PC, Android & iPhone 2020

How to See/View Facebook Activity Log on PC, Android & iPhone 2020

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Step 5. Scroll to view all your “activity log” chronologically arranged.

Conclusion

This is how you can view or see your Facebook activity log on PC, Android, and iPhone. You can either view activity log by year or by category.

February 6, 2019

by Mara Calvello

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I’ve been on Facebook since 2006, and I still remember the exact moment I made my account.

As one of the first social media platforms I joined, I have spent countless hours commenting on posts, writing on my friend’s wall, tagging friends in photos (and untagging myself), and updating my status. As you can imagine, my Facebook history is pretty vast, and if I was on the hunt for a specific post or photo, it could take me hours to find.

Luckily, there’s the Facebook Activity Log, a place where I can easily see all of my Facebook history and search for that certain status update, Timeline post, or tagged photo.

What is the Facebook Activity Log?

The Facebook Activity Log is where you find all of your posts and activity, starting from today to the very beginning of your Facebook history. Scroll through posts, tagged photos, and any friends you have added along the way.

Interested in finding out more about the Facebook Activity Log? Just keep reading!

Facebook introduced the Activity Log in September 2011 along with the Facebook Timeline. With this update, Facebook users could also upload a Cover Photo, add Facebook Life Events, and easily update the privacy settings for each post.

Related: Find out the perfect Facebook Cover Photo size!

With this update, everything a Facebook user has ever posted was made much more accessible. So, whether you’re interested in taking a trip down memory lane to view some of your early posts (and potentially cringe, as I did) or are on the hunt for a specific status update, the Facebook Activity Log is where you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Navigate to the Facebook Activity Log

Whether you’re accessing Facebook on your mobile device or on a desktop, finding the Facebook Activity log is the same.

At the top of your Facebook profile, click the icon that is three lines and three bullet points labeled Activity Log.

On a desktop, it’ll look like this:

If you’re on a mobile device, you’ll find the Activity Log here:

Explore the Facebook Activity Log

Once you’re within the Facebook Activity Log, it’s easy to browse your history on Facebook. If you’re on mobile, you can select the Year or Category you’d like to search through. Personally, I think the Facebook Activity Log is easier to access and browse through on a desktop, as you can use the Search Bar to find something more specific, in addition to clicking a specific year.

Search for past posts

You can use the Search Bar to find activity with a certain Facebook friend or a specific topic.

For instance, if I search the name of one of my friends, I can see our entire history, starting with the most recent.

Or, if I want to see all of the posts and comments I have made on a specific topic, I can do that, too.

Browse by year

Clicking on a specific year on the right side of the screen brings you to all of your activity during those 12 months. For example, if I click on 2009, I am taken back in time to posts I made, pages I liked, and posts my friends made on my timeline.

Other filters

On the left-hand side of the Facebook Activity Log are other filters you can use to find something more specific. Click through your posts, posts you have been tagged in, posts to your timeline, and any posts that you have chosen to hide from your timeline.

Depending on your settings, you can also see any pending Timeline posts under “Timeline Review” and any photos you have yet to approve under “Photo Review”. Photos here are pictures Facebook believes to be you based on facial recognition technology. You weren’t tagged in them, which is why they aren’t on your timeline. Once you approve of these photos, they will appear on your timeline.

The ghosts of Facebook’s past

Whether you’re cleaning up and clearing out old Facebook posts from your college days, looking for a specific photo for the perfect Throwback Thursday, or just in the mood for some nostalgic content, take a look through your Facebook Activity Log.

This feature makes it easy for you to search through your history, dating back all the way to when you first signed up. Start reminiscing!

Interested in learning more about Facebook? Check out our articles on:

Mara Calvello is a Content Marketing Manager at G2 with a focus on Human Resources and SaaS Management. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Elmhurst College. In addition to working at G2, Mara is a freelance writer for a handful of small- and medium-sized tech companies. In her spare time, Mara is either at the gym, exploring the great outdoors with her rescue dog Zeke, enjoying Italian food, or right in the middle of a Harry Potter binge.

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Facebook’s Activity Log shows pretty much everything you’ve ever done: what you’ve posted, commented on, saved, and more.

You know that feeling when you’ve liked a link on Facebook but can’t find that link again? Luckily, it’s really easy to find every link, post, and even comment that you’ve liked.

There are quite a few ways you can find anything on your Facebook timeline, but to find everything you’ve ever liked on Facebook, the easiest way to do this is to head over to your profile and click View Activity Log. In addition to seeing your likes, you can see pretty much everything you’ve done on Facebook: what you’ve posted, commented on, saved, and more.

If you want to drill down just to your likes, there’s a menu on the left that allows you to view just one type of interaction. In this case, you’ll want to click Likes. A small submenu will appear that allows you to drill down even further to either posts and comments or pages and interests.

Using the calendar to the right of the screen allows you to view all the content on Facebook you’ve liked from the day you joined the social network.

You can also use the activity log to unlike content without having to go back to someone’s profile or page.

What tips and tricks do you use to keep track of your Facebook activity? Let us know in the comments.

Do these quick checks on your Android phone to make sure your privacy and security are never compromised.

Nancy is a writer and editor living in Washington DC. She was previously the Middle East editor at The Next Web and currently works at a DC-based think tank on communications and social media outreach.

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Facebook today began rolling out a new feature that lets you see a history of everything you’ve searched for on the social network. A list of search queries now appears intermingled with all the Likes, comments, and wall posts that appear inside the Activity Log, a private section of your profile that only you can view. Only searches from now on get included in Activity Log, so you can’t go back and revisit who you’ve been repeatedly stalking all these years.

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facebook activity log

Facebook today began rolling out a new feature that lets you see a history of everything you’ve searched for on the social network. A list of search queries now appears intermingled with all the Likes, comments, and wall posts that appear inside the Activity Log — a private section of your profile that only you can view. Only searches from now on get included in the Activity Log, so you can’t go back and revisit who you’ve been repeatedly stalking all these years. It works just like search and URL history inside your web browser.

The default privacy setting for searches is “Only Me,” and cannot be changed unlike the privacy toggles of other Activity Log entries. But, you can delete any searches you want to hide from yourself. The idea is to provide added context and transparency to using Facebook, as well as provide you with complete control over every single thing you do on the site, like searches — which apparently we’re doing a lot of. Mark Zuckerberg recently spoke about how Facebook gets over a billion search queries per day.

Some people think that searching publicly can yield better answers, especially when tied in with Facebook’s real-time News Ticker. The new Bing, for example, can be set to publicize your search queries inside a Bing sidebar so friends can help if they have knowledge about what you’re searching for. You can also manually share any Bing searches you’ve performed to Facebook so friends can comment on them. The Facebook update will roll out over the next few weeks, the company said.

Whether you spend hours a day posting, liking, and commenting on Facebook or you haven’t used the social networking platform in weeks, everything you have done on the site is recorded in your Activity Log in chronological order.

The Activity Log can serve as an easy way to find a post, comment, or other action you want to share or revisit, but at other times you just want to delete a record of certain Facebook activity.

While you can’t clear your entire Facebook Activity Log at once, you can delete or remove individual records of activity one at a time.

Here’s how to do it.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Macbook Pro (From $1,299 at Best Buy)

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 (From $999 at Best Buy)

How to clear your Activity Log on Facebook

1. Log into your Facebook account on your Mac or PC and click the little downward facing arrow at the top right corner of the screen, then click “Activity Log.”

2. Scroll to find an item you want to remove, and click on the pencil icon at the end of the row.

3. Depending on the type of activity you’re looking to clear, you will have the option to “Delete” if it is your own post or comment; “Unlike” a post; “Unfriend” someone; or change a post’s viewing status to hide it from your timeline.

If you’re also looking to clear your Facebook Search History, you can click on the word “MORE” beneath the word “Comments” on the left-hand column of the Activity Log page, and then click “Search History.”

In the header that says “Search History” at the center of the screen, click “Clear Searches” and then confirm again in the popup box.

• 10:55, 11 Sep 2021
• Updated : 12:08, 11 Sep 2021

INSTAGRAM holds loads of data on you – including details of stuff you did years ago.

You can check up on this info whenever you like, examining old profile bios you had, or long-discarded usernames.

Facebook has been desperate to improve how transparent it is with your info.

And because Facebook owns Instagram, both apps let you quickly see a deep-dive into your online habits.

On Instagram, there’s loads of info you can check out.

For instance, you can see when you joined Instagram, including the exact time.

Instagram will tell you about any account privacy or password changes you’ve made, as well as past email addresses and phone numbers.

If you’ve used other usernames or full names, you can see those.

And all of your old “bio texts” and bio links will also be visible.

There’s a Connections section that shows your current follow requests, any accounts following you and accounts you follow, and hashtags you follow too.

And it’ll show any accounts you’ve blocked, or ones that you hide stories from.

Instagram keeps a detailed record of all logins and logouts on your account, as well as your search history.

So unless you’ve deleted it, you can see what you were looking for back in 2012.

There’s also a timeline of Stories you’ve interacted with, including polls, emoji sliders, questions, music questions, countdowns and quizzes.

And at the very bottom, you can look at “ads interests”, which reveals what Instagram thinks you like – and therefore shows you ads around.

Instagram – the key facts

Here’s what you need to know.

• Instagram is a social network for sharing photos and videos
• It was created back in October 2010 as an iPhone-exclusive app
• A separate version for Android devices was released 18 months later
• The app rose to popularity thanks to its filters system, which lets you quickly edit your photos with cool effects
• When it first launched, users could only post square 1:1 ratio images, but that rule was changed in 2015
• In 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1billion in cash and stock
• In 2018, some analysts believe the app is worth closer to $100billion
• In October 2015, Instagram confirmed that more than 40billion photos had been uploaded to the app
• And in 2018, Instagram revealed that more than a billion people were using the app every month

How to access Instagram data

Find your info is easy.

First, tap on your Profile and then go to the Menu.

Next tap on Settings and then choose Security.

Halfway down the page is a section called Access Data – tap that.

You’ll be able to see all of the info Instagram holds on you, split into different sections.

These sections are Account Info, Profile Info, Connections, Account Activity, Stories Activity and Ads.

Below the Access Data tab is another option to Download Data.

This lets you export all of Instagram’s records on you as downloadable files.

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And, Windows 10 users are being told to update their PC to escape an ‘Eternal Darkness’ flaw.

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Facebook has a little-known feature called Friendship Pages that shows all the wall posts, updates, and photos you’re tagged in with someone. Today it’s getting a redesign, and Facebook is launching the quick link for couples to see their Friendship Pages. The previous design was stuck on the ugly, old profile format, but now they look like a shared Timeline.

You can check out your Friendship Page with someone by going to their profile, clicking the gear icon on the right, and selecting “See Friendship.” There you can browse your mutual friends and Likes, the photos you’re tagged in together, and see a Timeline of all the posts you’re in together. Facebook even chooses a mutually tagged photo for your cover image.

Friendship Pages aren’t totally complete. You won’t see each other’s posts that you’ve Liked or commented on, but they still give you an emotional look at your history with someone. Or between two other people. If you click the “More” button on the right of any Friendship Page, Facebook will suggest other friendships to view or let you punch in any two of your friends’ names to see theirs.

For couples it’s even easier. Just go to and if you’re in a Facebook relationship with someone, you’ll see your Friendship Page. If you’re all alone, you’ll sadly get dropped back on your own profile. The redesign and couples pages are rolling out gradually starting today, so you might still see the old design for a while.

Friendship Pages serve to remind you that your whole life is on Facebook, and if you leave, you lose. Facebook originally launched the feature two years ago but it hasn’t gotten much love since. That’s a shame and today’s update is nice because they’re a cute way to relieve memories with those you care about most.

Then again, you could always check out your “Friendship” Page with someone you’re technically friends with but actually kind of hate. “Why did you have to ruin that party?” “This photo would have been so much better if you weren’t in it.” And if you really want some agony, check out your Friendship Page with one of your exes. If only you hadn’t been so focused on your group buying photo cloud startup, she’d still be yours.

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No built-in Facebook feature exists that lets you track your history on the social network. However, a few apps let you retrieve all the status messages you’ve ever posted, see the history of which users deleted you as a friend and view all the photos you or your friends have uploaded to Facebook. Using these third-party developer apps gives you a snapshot of your Facebook history.

Status History

Type “Status History” into the top search box. Click the “Status History” app from the drop-down list.

Click the “Go to App” button at the top of the app’s description page. On the next page, you are asked to give permission to the application. Click the “Allow” button to give permission for the app to access your Facebook data.

Scroll down the page until you see the All Status Updates So Far section. You’ll see a box with a scroll bar. Scrolling up and down this section lets you see all of the status updates that you’ve ever posted to your account. The Status History app takes several minutes to load the first time as it retrieves your history.

Friend History

Type “Who Unfriended You” in the top search field. Click the app with the same title of the search term.

Click the “Go to App” button on the top of the application’s information page. On the next screen, you are asked to give permission for the app to retrieve your Facebook profile data. Click “Allow” to grant permission.

Review the Who Unfriended You page that loads. You will see a list of names with direct links to each Facebook profile.

Scroll down below the list of friend names. Go to the Difference From Before section. If someone has deleted you as a friend since you installed the app, then that person’s name is shown in this section. For best results, wait a few days to a few weeks before returning to the application to check who has deleted you on Facebook.

Photo History

Go to friendlens.me in your browser and click the “Log in with Facebook” button in the middle of the screen. If asked to give permission to your Facebook data, click the “Allow” button in the popup window.

Scroll up and down the page to see photos in the Your Friends view. The pictures shown on this page are all the ones that were uploaded in the last few days. You can return to this view at any time by clicking the “Recent Photos” button at the top of any FriendLens page.

Click the “Your Photos” button at the top of the page to view all the pictures that you have ever uploaded to your Facebook account. The first time the app loads, it may take several minutes to display the photos.

Go to the left sidebar and click the name of a friend. On the next screen, you will see all of the pictures ever uploaded by that friend. You can individually view the pictures of each friend by going to each name or using the search box at the top of the Friends sidebar.

• FriendLens
• Facebook: FriendLens
• Facebook: Who Unfriended You
• Facebook: Status History

John Mitchell is an expert in all things technology, including social media and smart phones. He is a news ninja for Qwiki, bringing the latest news on the interactive platform. Mitchell graduated from the University of Sedona with a master’s degree in pastoral counseling psychology and authored the book, “No More Taxes.”

Author

Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Communication, Colorado State University

Disclosure statement

Michael Humphrey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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If the latest deluge of Facebook controversies has you ready to kick the app to the digital curb, you are not alone. There are plenty of good guides out there on how to do it right. Even Facebook makes it pretty easy to understand the nuances of saying “see ya later” (deactivating) or “never speak to me again” (deleting).

But before you go, you might want to consider this: What happens to your life stories?

For many people, a decade or more of updates, comments, photos, messages, tags, pokes, groups and reactions reside inside that particular digital sphere. And Facebook wants you to remember that. As one writer put it: “Facebook is obsessed with memories. It likes to make you nostalgic, and remind you of just how long you’ve used social media.”

As a researcher who studies life stories on social media, I know that’s an accurate assessment. This strategy drove Facebook to build a powerful and unique life narrative tool. Millions of people have invested billions of collective hours building what scholars call a networked life narrative, in which people “co-construct” their social identities through their interactions with one another.

Perhaps you’ve never thought about how archiving the small moments of your life would eventually amass into a large narrative of yourself. Or how interactions from your family, friends, colleagues and strangers would create meaningful dimensions of that story.

Deactivating versus deleting

What happens if you decide to be done with all of that? If you deactivate Facebook, it is like putting that story into suspended animation. Much of what you did and said will either be removed or grayed out. If you reactivate it someday, most of it will be restored and on you go.

Delete the account, on the other hand, and “Your profile, photos, posts, videos, and everything else you’ve added will be permanently deleted. You won’t be able to retrieve anything you’ve added,” according to Facebook.

If all those memories you have stored mean anything to you, your last chance to keep it before deleting is to download your information. I suggest you do this once in a while anyway, because it reveals a lot about how you are tracked, how you consume media on the app and how you have acted on the site over the years.

It’s also a pretty nifty set of files that you can view offline either through the folder system or using a web browser offline by opening the index.html file. You can also look at the data online through Facebook.

Losing the connections

But to a surprisingly large degree, your downloaded narrative gets “de-networked.” What do I mean by that?

Your posts are listed by date and time, but have none of the reactions and comments that followed. This is also true of photos and videos you have posted.

The same happens to the comments you made on other people’s posts. There is no reference to what you were commenting on because technically that is not your data.

The polls you have voted on do not have the context of the poll itself, only your answers.

The invitations you received are listed only by name.

There is a section of all the people you have interacted with on the app, but it’s just a list of names, dates and times.

There are dates attached to most everything, but none of the context – think personal and social news – in which those posts were made.

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There are exceptions. For one, your messages are left in context, so you see the conversations you had. Another exception is that events are ordered by how you responded about attending. And I have one caveat: I am gathering this information from my own data, so there might be other exceptions I cannot see.

Take a look around before walking out the door

Still, what you ultimately download starts to feel like the scaffolding of a life, with the depth of those memories only activated by your own mind. That might be enough for you.

If the richness of your networked narrative means something, on the other hand, slow down. Take some time to dive into your account one last time – saving the responses you cherish, capturing the context where you can – before you say goodbye to Facebook for good.

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No, Facebook doesn’t have a new rule that allows it to use people’s photos

If Your Time is short

Facebook, now called Meta, said its data policy and terms of service remain in effect and that its name change does not affect how the company uses or shares data.

After Facebook announced that it changed its name to “Meta,” a refurbished rumor surfaced that claims the company can freely use people’s photos and messages.

“The new Facebook/Meta rule starts tomorrow where they can use your photos. Don’t forget the deadline is today! This could be used in lawsuits against you. Everything you’ve ever posted is posted today – even messages that have been deleted. It doesn’t cost anything, just copy and post, better than regretting later,” the warning message begins.

The second half then instructs people to post a legal notice telling Facebook it isn’t allowed to use their content:

“Under UCC Law Sections 1-207, 1-308. I am imposing my Reservation of Rights. I DO NOT ALLOW Facebook/Meta or any other Facebook/Meta related person to use my photos, information, messages or messages, both in the past and in the future. This statement I inform Facebook/Meta that it is strictly prohibited to disclose, copy, distribute or take any other action against me based on this account and / or its contents. This account content is private and confidential information. Violation of my personal life may be punished by law.”

We’ve seen these posts about fake social media rules before, and this one is just as wrong as the others that came before it.

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat potential false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

There is no such rule change and posting a notice barring Facebook from implementing it doesn’t have any effect.

This online rumor first appeared in November 2012 when Facebook started trading publicly, and while the language is tweaked from earlier iterations, the message remains the same: Post this or else Facebook has control of your content.

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Here at TapSmart, we get asked a lot of tech questions each week – and many of the questions crop up time and time again. So each Friday, we’ll be answering a Frequently Asked Question right here in a bid to help a bunch of you in one fell swoop!

Today’s question: how do I make the Activity Log on Facebook private?

Facebook’s Activity Log shows pretty much every interaction you’ve had with the social network. It tracks pictures you’ve liked, groups you’ve followed, comments you’ve made, and so on. It’s the social equivalent of your internet browser’s history!

For the uninitiated, you can find it in the Facebook app by going to your own profile page and tapping Activity Log.

Unlike your browsing history, you can’t simply delete everything from your Activity Log. (Though it will let you undo individual likes). However, rest assured it’s only for you to see anyway! Other users will be able to see the individual things you’re doing on Facebook (likes, comments, etc) but can’t access this handy archive of everything you’ve ever done on the social network.

That said, it is worth checking the Activity Log in a bit more detail. When viewing interactions, there will be a little marker beneath each one to show which groups have permission to view the activity. This is the simplest way to get an indication of who can see what you’re doing, and where.

Following that, it’s a great idea to head to the Settings & Privacy > Privacy Shortcuts section within the main Facebook app. Here you’ll be able to change all kinds of settings to ensure that your activity is only shared with those you’re happy sharing it with.

Of course, remember that no matter what your privacy settings, if you’re commenting on a public post other people will be able to see it – that’s the whole point!

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The recent debacle of Facebook user data used by Cambridge Analytica has raised some serious concern among everyone in the world. While the fight against Privacy is not new, but because the way Facebook and User data has become accessible to others is a concern now.

That said, you will be surprised to know that we all kind of agreed to this when signing up for Facebook. So the problem is not just with Facebook alone, but its also our ignorance where we agree to anything to get all the attention we can have on social media, and we are not paying the price.

Like every other service, Facebook does allow you to download all your data, and activity, and if you look at them, you will be shocked at how much Facebook knows about you.

How to download Facebook Data

• Sign-in to Facebook Account.
• Click on the down arrow button, and click on Settings > General > Click on the link which says “Download a copy of your Facebook data.”

• It will verify your password, and ask you to wait till a backup is created.
• Once the backup is complete, an email will be sent to you. If you stay on the same page, you should get the option to Download the Archive.

The download size could be around

500 MB to 1000 MB.

What data does Facebook store

In brief, everything you have done on Facebook is backed up. When you extract the file downloaded, it looks like the image below. It has folders for all the messages, photos, videos, and the main page which lets you surf throughout.

Messages:

This folder contains all audio, video, files, stickers, and other elements of conversation. The message text is available in each of the HTML pages and rest are linked. They include the timestamp for each message, and exactly in same order as you had conversed.

Photos:

This is your archive of all the images you have uploaded to your Facebook. The data from the images including location and EXIF data are stored as well. This gives them a clear idea which phone you had been using, your location, and so on.

The same goes for Videos and other things.

Summary

As a summary, Facebook has all this data with them-

• Every message you’ve ever sent or received.
• Every file you’ve ever sent or received.
• All the contacts on your phone.
• All the audio messages you’ve ever sent or received.
• Things you had been interested which is based on your searches, pages, and content you have liked, and topics you and your friends talk about.
• They also store every time you log into Facebook, where you logged in from, what time, and from what device
• All the applications you’ve ever had connected to your Facebook account.
• The files you download, the games you play, your photos and videos, your music, your search history, your browsing history, even what Radio stations you listen to.

The amount of data we have given to Facebook because of ignorance mind-boggling. They can create a profile of your every move. The apps can tell your current states when you were single when you dated somebody, and when you got married. The messages are scanned for keywords which give the idea of what you had been thinking. The call history and messages know which people influence you most.

All this can be used to change your decision about anything. It’s not just about politics, it’s about everything that’s online, and offline.

What can you do to minimize the impact

Almost all the things you’ve listed can be individually disabled, and you can delete them as well. However, the choice is entirely yours. It may not be possible to totally get off the network, but it’s a good idea to make it more private.

We have written a complete guide on how to harden Facebook Privacy settings. It shows how you can keep your posts private or only with friends, permissions to tags, and so on.

However, there are two things I will add here.

1. Settings > Face: Recognition will make sure that your photos aren’t tagged automatically when somebody posts it online.
2. Settings > Apps: This lists down all the apps you have connected with Facebook till date. I am sure there will be many which you had not used for a while, and it’s a good idea to get rid of them. Select them, hit remove. It will also remove anything that was posted by those apps on your behalf.

All in all, there is no escape, but this post should be an eye-opener for you. This happens with every social network. The same goes for Google and YouTube. They can track your every move. So be careful when using a Social network. These companies aren’t running for free. Your data is a gold mine for advertisement and can be used against you to change your mindset, and decision.

PS: If you have installed Facebook Messenger app, then it also stores your call and text message history in log form.

Be smart about what you share on Social Network, Apps you connect with, and above all keep your private life, private.

You made memories, but you don’t have to lose them.

By Sandra Gutierrez G. | Updated Oct 25, 2021 8:09 PM

So much has happened with Facebook lately that it’s hard to keep track. Since Frances Haugen, a former data scientist for the company, made public thousands of documents (known now as The Facebook Papers) and addressed a Senate subcommittee at the beginning of October, the world has been privy to more and more of the platform’s inner workings and struggles.

These include failing at managing hate speech and misinformation, the existence of internal research regarding the negative effect Facebook-owned Instagram has on teens and especially girls (and the failure of executives to do something about it), and even uncertainty about the true size of the platform’s user base. The set of documents could later reveal even more about the platform, in what is undoubtedly the worst crisis the company has faced in its 17-year history.

If these findings have exhausted your patience and you’ve decided you no longer can be a part of the company’s community, all of Facebook’s platforms have easy-to-follow steps to back up your data and delete.

How to delete Facebook

Your Facebook and Messenger accounts are one, so deleting one will affect the other. This will not happen with WhatsApp or Instagram, or any other apps you’ve used your Facebook account to log into.

But before you pull the plug, you may want to save all the data you’ve amassed on the platform throughout the years. First, open your preferred web browser and go to your Facebook page. Then, click on the downward arrow next to your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen, go to Settings and Privacy, and then Settings. From the sidebar menu on the left, choose Your Facebook Information.

Here you can see an itemized version of your data (click on Access your Information), move it to another platform (click Transfer a Copy of Your Information), or Download your Information.

To do the last of those options, click the View link next to it. This will let you save everything you’ve ever posted to Facebook since you opened your account, plus all the data the company has on you. If you only want the last few years, for example, you can choose a date range, as well as the specific type of information you want to save—from Messenger conversations to posts, polls, places, and events. This long list of items is completely selected by default, but you can pick and choose what you want to take with you by clicking the checkboxes on the right.

Once you know what you want to back up, select a file format (HTML or JSON—the latter is better if you want to transfer your data somewhere else), and click Create file. Facebook has a lot of information about you, so this will not be immediate—it may be several days before the file or files are available for you to download. Once it’s done, though, Facebook will let you know via email that your data is ready for you to save. This is a time-sensitive matter—files are large, so Facebook will only make them available to you for a few days before they delete them. If your download window closes on you, you’ll have to start again.

When you have everything you want to take with you safely stored on your hard drive, you can finish deleting your account. Back on the Your Facebook Information menu, scroll down to find Deactivation and deletion, which are precisely the two options you have here.

Deactivating means you can temporarily take your account down—removing your name, photos, and most of the things you’ve shared, but you’ll still be able to use Messenger. You can undo this whenever you want. On the other hand, you can choose to permanently delete Facebook. You can’t go back on this choice, and once you go through with it, all of your data will be lost to the internet ether. Click on the bubble next to your preferred option, then hit Continue. Facebook will ask for your password one more time before it makes everything disappear.

One down, two to go.

How to delete your Instagram account

The process of backing up your data and deleting your account is fairly similar on Instagram. On mobile, go to Settings, Security, and then Download Data; on the web, go to Settings, Privacy and Security, and then Request download under Data download.

Just as on Facebook, you’ll need to ask the platform to bundle up your information into one or several files so you can download everything at a later time—the process may take up to 48 hours, Instagram says. If you do this process on the web, you can choose the format you want your data to come in (HTML or JSON). When the file is ready, Instagram will email you a link that will be usable for four days.

Sadly, temporarily disabling or permanently deleting your Instagram account is not as straightforward as with Facebook. If you’re still not sure whether you want to completely delete your existence from the ‘Gram, log into your account from a web browser, go to Settings, and then Edit Profile. Scroll down and you’ll find a link (not a button) that reads Temporarily disable my account to do just that. The platform will ask for a reason (you can say Something else) and your password. Once you supply it, you’ll get logged out and your account will be deactivated until you log in again.

Deleting your account is even more complicated, as the only way to do so is to go to this webpage, which apparently hasn’t even been updated since Instagram changed its branding back in 2016. If you’re already logged in, Instagram will ask you for the reason you’re deleting your account (again, you don’t have to provide one). Finish by entering your password and you can kiss that second tie to Facebook goodbye.

How to delete your WhatsApp account

WhatsApp has two sets of data you can back up: your chat history and your account information.

To save all of your messages, including the files you’ve shared with your contacts, go to Settings and then to Chats and Chats backup on mobile. There, you’ll see the backup settings for your device (Google Drive for Android phones, iCloud for iOS devices), and you’ll be able to tweak how often the app saves your messages to the cloud. If you want to manually back up your data, tap the BACK UP button. If you change your mind about deleting WhatsApp later, you can restore your chat history easily.

To save your account information, you’ll have to request it. On Settings, go to Account and then Request account info. There, tap on Send request. As with Facebook and Instagram, you’ll need to wait around 48 to 72 hours for WhatsApp to bundle up your data. When it’s ready, you’ll get an automated message with a link, which you’ll have a limited amount of time to use. In this case, though, instead of a few days, it’ll be a few weeks.
Finally, go to Account and then Delete my account. Enter your registered phone number and hit DELETE MY ACCOUNT. This will delete your entire chat history, remove you from all of your WhatsApp groups, and obliterate your Google Drive chat backup, as well as your final tie to Facebook.

• In this article…
• 1. When did I join Facebook?

It used to be really easy to find out exactly when you joined Facebook. All you had to do was visit your profile page and click the correct part of the Timeline graphic on the right-hand side of the page.

However, that feature got ditched a little while back.

You can still get a decent idea of when you joined Facebook by opening the ‘Recent’ dropdown menu that pops up at the top of your profile when you start scrolling down the page, and hitting the earliest tab (that isn’t your birth year). But it’s a bit of a faff, and only shows you the first posts on your Timeline.

When did I join Facebook?

For a much more accurate idea of when you joined Facebook, open the Settings menu, select Your Facebook Information, and dive into the Activity Log.

From here, click the earliest date on the timeline that appears on the right-hand side, then scroll right down to the bottom of the page.

It will show you everything − yes, absolutely everything − you’ve ever done on Facebook, in chronological order. Your first friend, your first status, your first Like, your first comment, the first post on your wall… yes, there’s a strong chance that a lot of what you find here will be very embarrassing indeed.

In my case, I edited my profile for the first time on November 5 2007, made my first two Facebook friends on the same day (and yes, I still have them), and posted my first status update on November 6. I’d rather not reveal what it was.

However, if that’s still not precise enough for you, and you want to know the exact time your Facebook account was created, you’re going to have to go down a different route.

In Settings, click the Your Facebook Information tab and select Download Your Information. From here, choose the data you want and select Create File. The file that begins downloading will contain your Facebook profile information, so be very careful about where you keep it.

As my New Year’s resolution for 2019, I quit Facebook. One year later, it’s the best decision I ever made—at least about my online life.

I gave up Facebook for a few reasons: I grew weary of group chats, I noticed friends silently deactivating their profiles, and quite simply, I didn’t want it in my life anymore. In short, I was Zuck’ered out.

Renouncing my Facebook-ship was a privilege. I can afford a cell phone and computer, technological tools that allow me to constantly be online in other ways. And fortunately, I need not worry about family or friends in conflict-stricken countries. My folks mostly reside in the US and western Europe.

Quitting was something I planned in advance, so a few weeks before New Year’s, I deleted the Facebook app and Messenger from my phone. I wanted to start small. Then, on Dec. 20, 2018, I pulled the plug. Ignoring Facebook’s pleas to reconsider (or to only deactivate my account), I brazenly followed the instructions for permanent deletion. At 12:15 am, it was all over. Every trace of my Facebook existence was gone—or so I thought.

One minute later, I received a somber email notice: “Facebook will start deleting your account in 30 days. After Jan 19, 2019, you won’t be able to access the account or any of the content you added.” I’d have to wait.

Avoiding Facebook for 30 days would be difficult. I’d actually tried deleting before, but the grace period allowed me to lapse back into old habits. This time, though, I was prepared.

A few months earlier, I employed a few tactics to wean myself off the platform, excising my News Feed and gradually deleting my own posts and information. Each step made Facebook feel less personalized and less useful. By the time I was ready to delete it completely, I didn’t feel a Facebook-shaped hole in my life. The 30-day period passed without incident, and to my knowledge, my profile was purged.

The advantages of quitting were immediately obvious. I started to save time, probably a good 20 to 30 minutes per day, and I felt a surge of righteous vindication. Every time a Facebook scandal broke, I didn’t feel complicit. Whenever the company came up in conversation, I felt good about myself, though slightly left out. Deleting my profile wasn’t without a few pitfalls—and it also wasn’t the end of my Facebook footprint. But overall, the benefits have been worth those annoyances.

For one, deleting Facebook has helped me destroy the expectation that people, and my relationships with them, will always remain the same. While Facebook can facilitate serendipitous reunions, I’ve always found it strange how it extends the expiration date on friendships or relationships. You can watch old friends change careers, move to new cities, break up with boyfriends and girlfriends … all from a digital distance. As a voyeur in their Facebook worlds, I often felt they were no longer the people I knew.

I legitimately have no idea what some of my closest college friends do on a daily basis, and at the risk of sounding heartless, we’re probably not all that important to one another anymore. But I think that’s okay. Twenty years ago, this would’ve been normal. People change, and then they move on. And accepting that change has been better for my emotional wellbeing, I think. If you go months or years between seeing a person, it’s easier to understand that they—and I—will be different. We might even outgrow one another.

What I’ve lost in quantity of friends, I’ve reaped in quality. Instead of using Messenger or WhatsApp, I now use iMessage with my closest friends, along with FaceTime, Google Hangouts, and the occasional phone call or email. Getting rid of my “Facebook friends” helped me sort through who mattered—and it showed me who cared enough to reach out when they noticed I wasn’t online anymore. To me, that’s a win.

There have been a few drawbacks. Facebook made event planning and RSVPs remarkably easy. When my old college roommate invited me to a Halloween party, he was coerced into texting me directly. While that was inconvenient for him, I felt extra special receiving a direct invitation rather than an impersonal Facebook invite. (Thanks, John!) Of course, by removing myself from the platform I might have also missed other potential invitations—I just don’t know.

Deleting Facebook means getting rid of Instagram and WhatsApp, too. While I was never an avid WhatsApp user, I miss some Instagram content. If you try to browse the website without a profile, you’re limited to viewing recent posts. After scrolling a few times, the site prompts you to create a profile to see more. Arguably, though, I’ve replaced my Instagram browsing with other diversions, like Reddit and YouTube videos.

By deleting my Facebook account, I’ve also voluntarily deprived myself of online supporters, a random assortment of people who “liked” everything I posted and shared it ad nauseam with their own circles. Launching a business or a podcast would probably be easier with those Matt-lovers behind me.

As much as I miss annual birthday posts from people I hardly recognize, here’s what really sucked: After deleting my Facebook account, I’ve lost touch with some friends, people I genuinely care about but don’t see frequently. I don’t share articles or memes with as wide a social circle, and I’m probably worse for it. In one Facebook group, I enjoyed watching about 100 ex-classmates debate over presidential candidates and policies. It made for great entertainment and shaped my knowledge of the election cycle, exposing me to different viewpoints and sources. I’m also sad I don’t chat about basketball every day with my old college crew.

But to me, my personal and political motivations for quitting Facebook made these sacrifices worth it. I didn’t want Facebook algorithms or experiments influencing my happiness. I was tired of hearing about its many failures, resulting in ethnic clashes and election interference. For me, deleting Facebook was a political statement. A year after I went offline, I would gladly do it over again. In 2020, I plan to remain Facebook-less.

Still, quitting Facebook wasn’t as final as I hoped. Despite the measures I took to delete my data—my likes, comments, and posts—it turns out my messaging history is still floating around, somewhere on Facebook’s servers. I only know this because a friend dug up my phone number from an old conversation on Messenger. Ultimately, I suppose I’ve un-friended Facebook, but Facebook’s still not over me.

F acebook has agreed to pay a record $5 billion settlement to resolve an investigation into privacy violations, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Wednesday. The company will also create an “independent privacy committee” to ensure “greater accountability at the board of directors level,” an FTC press release says. But the settlement won’t affect Facebook’s corporate governance structure, which lets Zuckerberg hold sway over the company’s actions.

Facebook has promised to clean up its act when it comes to privacy matters. But the social media giant’s missteps have nonetheless cost it the trust of some users. 74% of adult Facebook users have either adjusted their privacy settings in the last year, taken a break from the site, or deleted the Facebook app from their phones, according to the Pew Research Center.

Of course, there are also more extreme measures you can take if you no longer trust Facebook — including deactivating or deleting your Facebook account. Alternatively, you can review how much information you’re sharing with and on the platform. Here’s how to do all of those things.

How to permanently delete your Facebook account

To completely remove your Facebook profile and all the photos, videos, status updates and so on you’ve shared over the years, you’ll need to permanently delete your Facebook account. Doing so will prevent you from using Facebook Messenger, as well as disable any Facebook-based logins you use for other services, like Spotify. (Facebook says you’ll need to contact those sites to set up a new login.)

After deleting your Facebook account, you’ll have a 30-day window to change your mind. Once those 30 days are up, all your information will be permanently deleted and inaccessible. (Your information won’t be viewable to other Facebook users during the 30-day period.) Facebook suggests users download their Facebook data—posts, photos, comments, and other profile information—before deleting an account. Facebook can create a password-protected file containing all your posts and other content that’s downloadable a few days after being requested.

To permanently delete your Facebook account, navigate to the Setting page through the downward facing arrow at the top right side of the site. Click the Your Facebook Information link under Security and Login and navigate to the Delete Your Account and Information link. Once there, you’ll have the option to Deactivate Account, which will allow you to either keep Messenger access, Download Your Information, or Delete Account.

Assuming you’ve already downloaded any data you want to keep, click Delete Account. You’ll be prompted to enter your Facebook password. Click Continue and then Delete Your Account.

Again, you’ll have 30 days to change your mind before all your Facebook data is permanently deleted. (To stop a deletion in progress, log into Facebook and you’ll be prompted with the option to Cancel Deletion.) Facebook says that some information, “like messages you sent to friends,” could still be visible to other users even after your account is deleted. Anything your friends have posted about you will also remain on Facebook, since that’s their data and not yours.

Deactivate your Facebook account

There are other ways to take a step away from Facebook besides the nuclear option of fully deleting your account. Deactivating your Facebook account won’t delete any of your data, but it will make your page inaccessible to other users. It might be a good option if you want to take a break from Facebook but don’t want to go so far as deleting your account entirely. Deactivating your Facebook account will also allow you to continue using any Facebook logins and Facebook Messenger.

To deactivate your Facebook account, navigate to Settings through the downward-facing arrow on the top-right side of Facebook. Click Settings. Next, click on General and navigate to Manage your account. There you’ll have the option to Deactivate your account.

Manually delete information

Depending on your privacy settings, everything you’ve ever posted to Facebook, as well as anything you’ve been tagged in, may be viewable on Facebook’s Your Information page. Your data is separated into different categories, including posts, photos, likes and more. This is handy if you don’t want to delete all your Facebook data, but simply want to scroll through your user history and curate what your Facebook page displays.

You can also manually delete your information on this page — but it will likely be a time-consuming process if you’ve been on Facebook for a while.

After navigating to the Download Your Information page as described above, you’ll see a link to the Access Your Information page. If you’re interested in deleting things that you have posted to your own Facebook wall, click on the first option: Posts. From there, you can choose to see Your Posts, Posts You’re Tagged In, Other People’s Posts To Your Timeline, Posts Hidden from Your Timeline, Notes, and Polls. Navigate to the section you’re interested in curating. If that’s posts, click Posts. Facebook will list each post you’ve ever made categorized by year. Within each year, posts are categorized by month.

If you want to delete a certain post, you’ll need to click the pencil icon on the right side of the post. There will be a few options depending on the post. To delete, click Delete. There are also options to hide content or allow content to show up on your timeline.

Let’s be real, we all want to do delete Facebook. But few of us actually ever do, because whether you like to admit it or not, a lot of your life likely relies on Facebook. Whether it’s keeping up with friends’ birthdays, or keeping in touch with a relative who lives across the country, there are a number of factors that probably keep you using the service.

Getting off Facebook is a lot easier said than done. If you’re looking to detach from Facebook but want to keep some of the simple benefits it offers — staying in touch with family, reminiscing over old photos and so on — here are some helpful tips. We’ll also teach you how to delete your Facebook account.

Download your data

Before you take the big leap into the nothingness of a non-Facebook world, you’re going to want to keep a copy of all your data.

1. In the upper right corner of Facebook, click the arrow.

2. Tap “Settings and Privacy,” then tap “Settings.”

3. Next, tap on the item labeled “Your Facebook Information.”

4. Tap “View” next to “Download Your Information” and select which data you would like to download.

If you’re curious as to what Facebook means by data, you can find out more here. It includes basic stuff like your old statuses and all the photos you’ve uploaded to your account, but it also means things you may not have known Facebook was collecting, like your political affiliations, associated IP addresses and searches. If all of that is alarming to you, then, yeah, it’s probably time to delete your account.

Organize your memories

If you’re a fan of Facebook’s features that remind you of old memories, you can recreate them yourself — even if it’s a slightly tedious process. When you download your data, Facebook will serve it to you in a giant clump organized by photo and video folders.

Taking the time to sort through it now will make it much easier to sift through down the line, especially when you’re trying to find old photos of old events. Store them on your desktop or an external hard drive and sort them by events, dates, and places. That way you’ll be able to create your own version of the “On This Day” feature that you can peruse whenever you feel so inclined.

Check where you use Facebook as a login

Ah yes, you can’t forget all those times you’ve turned to the “Log in with Facebook” option to access an account. Whether it’s for Spotify or Amazon, there are probably a handful of apps or services where you’re using your Facebook as a login.

Luckily there’s a way to check all those places in one spot. Go back to the Settings page and click on the “Apps and Websites” tab to see which services have access to your account. Be sure to set up new logins for each before parting ways with Facebook.

Keep in touch with family and old friends

Let’s be real, we all have those select friends and family who we only communicate with via Facebook. There’s no shame, everyone has them. So before deleting your account, make sure to comb your Friends list to make sure you have the contact information for everyone you want to keep in touch with. Keeping them updated on your life will take a little effort, like, you know, picking up the phone every few days, but the extra effort will let them know you . care.

Be an old and use a physical calendar and journal

Yes, there are plenty of friends whose birthdays I only know because I see the little cupcake notification pop up on my feed every morning. And yes, there are plenty of people whose birthdays I’d be completely unaware of if I didn’t get a push notification. But there is a way to keep track of all that stuff sans Facebook.

Just go to the Birthdays tab under your Events page and jot down every single person’s birthday you care about on a physical calendar. Then go to Past tab under the Events menu and make note of any annual event you went to previously and would love to go to again. Sure, this may feel a bit archaic, but it’ll be better in the long run than being bombarded with notifications for people you haven’t seen since high school.

The same goes for the daily element of sharing. If you’re the kind of person who loved to share updates about your life to your friends every day, just jot all that down in a journal. You’ll still be able to sift through all your old thoughts and opinions, and it won’t be combed by any malicious bots.

Make sure to delete, not deactivate, your account

If you’re really looking to break up with Facebook, you’re going to want to make sure that you delete your account instead of deactivating it. They sound similar, but the two are very different.

To delete your account, navigate back to the tab labeled “Your Facebook Information.”

This is where things get tricky. Here, you can deactivate your account, but that gives you the opportunity to return at a later date and keeps your profile visible to others. To completely disembark, you need to delete your account. Follow the steps below.

1. In the upper right corner of Facebook, click the arrow.

2. Tap “Settings and Privacy,” then tap “Settings.”

3. Next, tap on the item labeled “Your Facebook Information.”

4. Click “View” next to “Deactivation and deletion.”

5. Select “Delete account” and follow the steps on the screen.

If you’re a bit confused about the difference between deactivation and deletion, Facebook has a handy explainer here.

This post was originally published in March 2018 and was updated in November 2021.

by Barbara Ortutay

Fed up with Facebook? You’re not alone. A growing number of people are deleting it, or at least wrestling with whether they should, in light of its latest privacy debacle—allegations that a Trump-linked data-mining firm stole information on tens of millions of users to influence elections.

Even before that, users have considered dumping Facebook after growing tired of political disagreements with friends and relatives. And studies have shown that the mindless scrolling that Facebook is so good for can leave us feeling depressed.

While Facebook has tried to address some of these problems, it’s not enough for some users. If you are one of them, there are options. Hard as it might seem to quit, especially for those entwined with it for years, it can be done.

Before deleting your account, rescue your posts and photos. Facebook lets you download the data you’ve shared with Facebook since you joined. This includes your posts and photos, as well as the “activity log”—the history of everything you’ve done on Facebook, such as likes and comments on posts, use of apps and searches. The download also contains your profile, messages, list of friends, ads you’ve clicked on and IP addresses you’ve used to connect to Facebook.

This process should give you a good—perhaps scary—idea of what Facebook has on you.

What you won’t get are photos other people shared with you, even if you’ve been tagged. You need to save those individually. And some stuff will remain, including what others have posted about you, your chats with others and your posts in Facebook groups (though your name will be grayed out). To delete all this, you’ll need to sift through your “activity log,” accessible through your profile page, and delete each item individually.

Once you’ve saved everything and gone through your activity log, sign in one last time. Go to and click on the blue button. You can’t get that from the settings page, as Facebook, it may seem, doesn’t want you to leave. Facebook says the process could take a few days. Your delete request will be cancelled if you log back in during this time. Facebook says it may take up to 90 days for all the data associated with your account to be wiped, but you can’t change your mind after the first few days are up.

If you used your Facebook account for third-party apps and sites, you’ll need new usernames and passwords for each.

If you’re not quite ready for a divorce, deactivating your account is an option. To do this, go to your account settings.

Deactivating means other people won’t be able to see your profile, but if you log back in, the whole thing is canceled and you are “active” again. Ditto if you log into an outside app or site using your Facebook account.

FOMO (FEAR OF MISSING OUT)

Depending on whether you were a full-time Facebook addict or an occasional lurker, the psychological separation could prove harder or easier than the physical one. Facebook has become a one-stop shop for so many things. You can keep up with friends and family, find out about or create local events, buy and sell stuff, keep up with the news, raise money for a cause or join groups of like-minded people such as parents, porch gardeners and people with a rare disease.

There are other places to do many of these things, though likely not all at once. There’s Eventbrite for events, Letgo for buying and selling stuff, Peanut for moms to connect, Meetup to find and meet like-minded people, GoFundMe for raising money and Twitter, or, gasp, your local newspaper’s website for the news.

If you find your mind wandering back to Facebook as you go through your day, thinking how you might craft a post about a thought you’ve just had or an article you came across, it’s OK. Let it go. It’s all part of the breakup process.

And while you may not see updates about near-forgotten schoolmates or that random person you met six years ago, the people who matter most will stick around. For them, there’s email, the phone, and meeting in person for coffee.

ABOUT THOSE OTHER APPS

If your boycott of Facebook has more to do with your view of the company than with tiring of the Facebook service, you might consider deleting Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger as well—they are all owned by Facebook. Deleting your Facebook account won’t affect your Instagram or WhatsApp account. If you want to keep using Messenger, you can create an account using your phone number instead of your Facebook profile.

© 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

USA TODAY’s Jefferson Graham explains how you can tell Google, Facebook and Amazon to stop following you around the web.

LOS ANGELES — Like many, I downloaded the data that Facebook compiled about me over the years, and frankly, it was spooky.

I love the social network for showing off my latest photos, staying in contact with old friends and catching up on the latest news.

But to get those features, Facebook kept:

— Location info of all my contacts. This happened when I joined and Facebook asked if I wanted to connect with other friends by importing my contacts from my computer, which happened to have their phone numbers and sometimes addresses. Facebook has lived with this info since I joined in 2007.

— Any restaurant or airport where I’ve “checked in.”

— The IP address of everywhere I’ve ever logged into Facebook.

— My (estimated by Facebook) political and religious views, despite my posts that focus on three areas: photography, work (the latest articles, podcasts and videos) and, occasionally, family.

— All my searches on Facebook over the years, the names of my followers and facial recognition of me and my friends.

After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which an app developer was able to sell personal data to a research firm that said it helped Donald Trump win the election, Facebook apologized. It says it has tightened its policies on what data can end up with app developers since that data leak happened. Additionally, it will be more transparent about the data it collects, the company vows.

Meanwhile, it will roll back some of the ad-targeting tools that have long been available to data brokers.

Facebook has evolved and changed immensely since its launch in 2004 (feel old? us too). Now, Facebook is owned under Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s newest rebrand of his media empire. But, as social networks continue to grow, you might be looking to reduce the number of accounts you have across platforms — including your Facebook account.

Whether you’re concerned about your online privacy, the polarizing effects of being on social media, or just want to disconnect altogether, there are two ways to get rid of a Facebook account: You can temporarily deactivate your account or choose to permanently delete it.

If you’re looking to delete social media altogether, you can check out our guides on how to delete Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Twitter as well.

What’s the difference between deleting or deactivating a Facebook account?

The biggest difference between deactivating and deleting a Facebook account is that deactivating your Facebook account gives you the flexibility to return whenever you wish, while deleting your account is a permanent action.

What happens when you deactivate Facebook?

When you deactivate your account, your timeline, including posts, photos, friends lists and “about” information are hidden, and others cannot search for your account. However, some information, such as messages you’ve sent, remains visible. Facebook saves all your information (friends, posts, photos, interests) in case you choose to reactive in the future.

What happens when you delete Facebook?

Deleting an account, on the other hand, is set in stone. You will not be able to regain access once the account is deleted and everything associated with the user will be permanently removed. For this reason, Facebook delays deletion for a few days after the request is made, in case you change your mind. It can take up to 90 days after your account is removed for all of your data stored in Facebook’s backup systems to be completely deleted.

How to deactivate your Facebook account

• 1. Click the upside-down triangle in the top right corner of any Facebook page.

• 5. Select “Deactivate Your Account.” Then click “Continue to Account Deactivation” and follow the instructions to confirm.

To reactivate your account, just log in to the account online or use your Facebook account to log in to a third-party app.

How to delete your Facebook account

• 1. Go to the “Delete Your Account” page.

Facebook recommends downloading a copy of your information before deleting your account so you have it and don’t lose everything you’ve posted. This is especially important if there are photos or posts from friends that you want to save.

How to download your information on Facebook

• 1. Click the upside-down triangle in the top right-hand corner of any Facebook page.

After you re-enter your password, the file should begin downloading.

Looking to delete Instagram, too? Our step-by-step guide will teach you how to delete or deactivate your Instagram account.

What is your Facebook pages activity log? Well, it’s exactly what you think! It’s a tool that archives your Facebook Fan Page’s history of posts, videos, comments, events, and much more.

However using it to your advantage is a whole nother story!

Page admins can access their activity log by selecting “Edit Page” in their admin panel.

Access your Activity Log by selecting Edit Page

Watch the helpful video below for a full walk-through:

Video Tutorial:

Now here’s where the Facebook Activity Log comes in handy, not only can you see previous posts as well as scheduled posts if you have any, but the activity manager also has its own set of filters.

Types of Filters:

• Posts and Apps
• Photos
• Spam
• Video
• Your Posts
• Comments
• Posts by Others
• Questions
• Notes
• Events
• Offers
• About

Using the Activity Log for Recent Posts By Others

For those of you were referred here by my Recent Post by Other tutorial asking why Recent Posts by Others are not showing up on your page — the Activity Log could provide you the answer you’ve been looking for. My friend Hugh Briss over at Social Identities helped me out with his insight.

First of all, if a page is tagged from a within a personal profile update it does not show up, but if the personal profile posts directly to your fan page it does appear.

Now if the posts on your Fan Page made by others are not showing up they may be getting flagged as SPAM! As far as I know all posts from others should show up. Check the SPAM section in your Activity Log. Depending on what people are posting (pictures, links, etc.) Facebook could be seeing it as spam and hiding it from appearing on your Fan Page.

Once you’re in the SPAM section of your Activity Log all you’ll need to do is un-hide the posts and they’ll show up. Also, by doing that it will train the system to stop seeing those types of posts as spam.

One last thing, whenever you hide a post from your own fan page, you can undo that action from your Activity Log. You can also choose to highlight stories from within your Facebook Activity Log as well.

All in all your Facebook pages Activity Log is a great way to keep track of the activity on your fan page. Especially if you’ve hired somebody to manage it.

Also Read – Twitter finally makes Communities available on Android

Facebook doesn t have a simple way of deleting specific data from one s timeline including old posts, comments and likes that a person would like to have removed from his or her profile, Slate s Jennifer Golbeck has learned. While the social network lets you easily save a copy of all your activity and lets you close your account for that matter it doesn t have a tool that can help with removing only certain past actions that may not be relevant to you and your Facebook friends. Also Read – Google, Facebook CEOs accused of colluding to dominate ad market

Golbeck said she averaged about 10 activities per day since joining the network in 2005, which meant she had roughly 30,000 past items to manually delete one by one printed, her full Facebook Timeline log would have taken 2,400 pages.

Deleting 30,000 things takes a long time. In the Activity Log, there s a pencil icon next to each item. Clicking that shows a menu of options. Some items can be truly purged; the Delete option is in the menu itself, Golbeck wrote. On average, it took 20 to 30 minutes to purge a month s worth of posts. After about 12 hours of hand-deleting stories, I decided it was time to automate.

The writer found two open-source tools that can run in Chrome or Firefox to automate the Facebook activity removal process, including Facebook Timeline Cleaner and Absterge. However, the results were not on par with expectations. The former would let the user delete only certain past activities, although it runs for a long time in the browser and can crash depending on workload. The second solution is less subtle: it deletes everything. Even so, some of the deleted posts still reappear on Facebook, whether they have been removed manually or by using an automated program.

The real lesson I learned from this exercise is how difficult it is to manage one s online persona. I had it pretty easy: I was willing to delete everything, Golbeck added. For someone who wants to cull their Timeline more selectively, the automated solutions wouldn t work it could take dozens of hours to clean it up.

While Golbeck doesn t see any value in having her entire activity history still available inside Facebook, the social network may certainly be interested in all those posts, status updates and likes to better serve her ads. Last month, it was discovered that Facebook keeps track of everything a customer writes while visiting the social network, even if he or she doesn t end up posting a status or message, in an attempt to better understand user behavior.