Facebook is a useful service for keeping in touch with others. Unfortunately, the company collects a lot of information about you, and creates a lot of distractions. Deactivating Facebook can be a solution, but then you will miss a lot of event invitations and you will no longer be able to manage a possible page. We give 22 handy Facebook tips with which you can still use all the functions of the social networking site with a bare profile.
1 Download profile
Before you get started to delete all kinds of data from your Facebook account, it is smart to make a copy of all your messages and photos. Go to Settings and choose General / Download a copy. click on Start my archive and all your messages, photos and chat conversations will be downloaded. Facebook will email you when your archive is ready to download. You can also refresh the page yourself and click Download archive click. The result is a zip file where you will find an offline copy of your profile.
2 Unlink apps
Not only does Facebook know a lot about you, apps that you have linked to Facebook over the years can also view all kinds of data about you. This varies from your email address to your friends list and your personal information. To find out which app is allowed to view which information, go to Settings / Apps. Click on the pencil behind an app and see what information the app is allowed to use. Turn individual topics on or off here. To completely unlink an app, click on the cross when you hover the mouse over it.
3 Disable Platform
Once you've unlinked all apps, you can choose not to link any app to Facebook in the future. For this you have to disable the so-called app platform. Go to To manage below apps, websites and plugins and select Disable Platform. However, some apps, such as Tinder and Spotify, may require this link to function. Before you disable the platform, you must be sure that you no longer need the link per service. Go to your account settings for the relevant service and see if there is a possibility to reverse the link with Facebook.
4 Delete contacts
A clean-up action also includes the removal of vague acquaintances. Go to your profile page by clicking on your name at the top and choose friends. Behind each contact you will see a check mark with the word friends. Click on it and choose Delete as friend and this person has disappeared from your digital life. It is smart to scroll all the way down first, because Facebook already makes a pre-selection. The people with whom you communicate little or who are not very active on Facebook are at the bottom.
5 Unfollow friends
You can also choose to remain friends with someone, but not to follow this person anymore. The contact person will of course be unfriended, the unfollowing will not be visible to the person. You can still contact this person and invite them to events, but updates will no longer appear in your News Feed. Click on a friend and on the profile page hover your mouse over Next and choose your Unfollow X.
6 Multiple Unfollow
If you want to unfollow multiple people at the same time, there is a faster way. Click on the triangle at the top right and choose News Feed Preferences. Select Unfollow people to hide their posts. Click on a person's profile picture to select it. This person will no longer appear in your News Feed. At the top left you will find a selection menu, here you choose whether you want to see only friends or also groups and pages. You unfollow groups and pages in the same way.
7 Activity Log
Facebook keeps track of everything you've done on the social network. Go to the triangle at the top and select Activity Log. On the right you choose a period and on the left you can choose the type of activity. For example, click Your messages to see all your status updates and shared content. if you're on Comments click, you'll see exactly when you responded to which message. For each activity you can manually take an action by clicking on the pencil. For example, you can undo a friendship, take back a like, or remove a tag.
8 Delete messages
In the Activity Log, click Your messages. Click on the pencil behind a message and choose remove to delete the message permanently. You must confirm the action. You can also choose to keep the post, but only remove it from your timeline. In this case you choose Hidden on timeline. You can also delete a post by going to your profile page and clicking the triangle at the top right of a post and for remove to choose.
9 Remove tags
One of the most annoying things is when someone else tags you in a photo or message without asking your permission first. If you want to delete a tag, this is a little more complicated than deleting a post. Go to Posts you've been tagged in. You now have two choices: click on Hidden on timeline to leave the tag but only hide it on your timeline. Your contacts can no longer see the photo when they go to your Page. The other option is Report/Remove Tag. You now have to let us know why you want to remove the tag and confirm this action, a time-consuming task if you have a lot of messages.
10 Tags from photos
Removing a tag from a photo is slightly easier. click on Photos / Photos of you and put a check mark in front of the photos where you want to remove the tag. Choose now I want tags removed from the photos. Please note that photos in which you are tagged will not be downloaded in your archive. If you want to save a photo, click on the photo and choose Options / Download. With an individual photo you will also find the option remove tag if you on Options clicks. You don't have to indicate why you want to remove your tag.
11 Remove likes
Likes can be removed by clicking Likes clicking, selecting the pencil and for I do not like it anymore to choose. On the left you can optionally filter your activities by Posts and comments or Pages and interests. To delete comments, click on the left Comments. In addition to the pencil, you can also see who can see your comment or like. A globe means that it is public and can therefore also be viewed by people without a Facebook account, two figures mean that only your contact's friends can see it. Three figures means that friends of friends of your contact can see it.
