15 Facebook hacks that put you back in control

Everyone has those few Facebook friends who posts are always annoying or argumentative or both. (I know – I can see them.)

But if those friends are your real-life friends or relatives, unfriending them could cause some tumult in the real world.

Here’s the solution: Click the “Following” button at the top of the page and select “Unfollow.”

You’ll stop seeing their posts, you’ll still be “friends” with them, and their feelings don’t get hurt.

Win-win!

Go to the “Friends” section of your profile and click “Friend Requests.”

You’ll be able to see who sent requests to you, but when you “view sent requests,” you’ll see who ignored your own.

Sure, it may hurt a bit to know that these people denied your friendship, but trust me.

You’re better off without them.

Every Facebook user makes some searches they’re not proud of, whether it’s an ex’s profile or something not safe for work.

But never fear: I can erase all traces them.

Click the downward-pointing arrow in the top right-hand corner of your screen and go to “Activity Log.”

From there, click “More” under “Comments” and look for “Search history.”

If there’s one particular search you’re less than proud of, search through the chronological entries and click the crossed circle next to one to delete it.

Otherwise, you can wipe your slate clean by clicking “Clear searches” at the top of the page.

I get it. You love it when I remind you that your cousin’s birthday is today and you haven’t sent her a balloon emoji-filled text, but you hate when I do the same for the people you occasionally talked to in high school.

I’m not offended (not that offended anyway…).

While there’s no way to choose whose birthdays you can get notified for, you can turn off all birthday notifications by going into “Settings” (under the upper right-hand arrow), “Notifications,” and then “On Facebook.”

That lists everything you get notified for, including groups you’re in, pages you run, and yes, birthdays.

Whether you have 100 Facebook friends or 1,000, you definitely don’t care about every single thing every one of them posts.

So let me help you prioritize your close friends, the ones you actually would hang out with if I didn’t exist.

In the “Friends” section of your profile, you’ll see that everyone has a box next to their names that says “Friends.”

Click on that and select “Close friends” for the people you truly consider, well, close friends.

You’ll be notified whenever those select, lucky few post on Facebook.

They’ll also be put on a “Close Friends” list, so you can share things exclusively with them.

My creator, Mark Zuckerberg (maybe you’ve heard of him?), and the other big-shots running the company recently introduced an algorithm that allows me to prioritize posts from your friends and family. Awesome!

What’s less awesome is that you’re also missing out on posts from your favorite media outlets, like Reader’s Digest.

To change that, go to that outlet’s Facebook page, click the “Following” button, and then click “See first.”

Now, new posts from that page will appear at the top of your feed.

This is hard for me to talk about, because I love being your personal Facebook profile.

Nothing gives me more joy. But one day, you will die. That’s just how life works.

Now, I may not be the biggest concern in your end-of-life matters, but that doesn’t mean I just disappear when you die.

That’s why you can set up a Legacy Contact, someone who can manage your account when you pass away.

They won’t be able to post as you (otherwise, people would assume they’re talking to your ghost!), but they can pin a post detailing things like a memorial service, respond to friend requests, and change your profile picture.

To choose your Legacy Contact, go to “General Account Settings,” then “Manage Your Account.”

You can also request that your account is deleted after you pass. OK, enough sadness. Let’s move on before I need another box of tissues…

I kinda have to, since there are about 2 billion Facebook users worldwide.

But, there are some are especially fun, like Pirate and Upside Down.

Go to “Language” in your “Settings” and edit the question, “What language do you want to use Facebook in?”

Use the drop-down to explore the dozens of languages you can choose from.

Pro tip: You’ll find Pirate and Upside Down as versions of English.

Luckily, turning off auto-play only takes a matter of seconds.

On your desktop, go to “Settings,” then “Videos,” and change the “Auto-Play Videos” settings from “Default” to “Off.”

You can also change this on your mobile app.

Tap the three stacked lines in the bottom right corner of the app.

iPhone users, scroll down to “Settings,” then “Account Settings,” then “Videos and Photos,” and look for the auto-play option.

Android users, tap “App Settings,” then “Autoplay.”

If you never knew this feature existed, it may forever change the way you use Facebook.

Just saying. In the top right corner of every post, you’ll see three dots.

Click those dots and choose the first option to save the link/video/post.

I’ll copy that link and put it in a folder called Saved on the left-hand side of your screen under the Explore category.

(This folder only appears after you first save a post.)

Now you can read those posts when you have more time and click “Unsave” when you want them gone.