You have lots of friends on Facebook, but perhaps one or two rub you the wrong way. Maybe you don't like their posts or perhaps your real-life relationship has soured. Either way, you want to back off the Facebook friendship.
You have a few options. You can hide someone's posts or "unfollow" that person, which means you remain "friends," but no longer see their posts.
You can block someone so the person can't see your posts or communicate with you. Or you can unfriend someone entirely, which means the Facebook connection is severed, so you'll no longer see each other's posts or be able to communicate with each other.
How can you unfollow or unfriend someone? Here are the steps.
Hiding a Post
First, before you unfollow or unfriend someone, you do have the option of hiding individual posts created by one of your friends. That may be a useful initial step if the friend posts something you don't like or don't want to see on your timeline. One side effect of doing this is that Facebook will try to hide similar posts in the future. If that's okay, click on the down arrow next to the post. From the pop-up menu, click on the link to "Hide post."
Facebook then gives you a few options. You can click on the link to undo your "Hide post" action if you change your mind and still want to see the post. You can click on the link to see less from the person, in which case Facebook will try to show you fewer posts from this individual. Or—if the post is offensive or is spam in some way—you can report it to Facebook by clicking "Report post."
Unfollowing a 'Friend'
Okay, but let's say you want to take it a step further and make sure you never see any posts from this person on your News Feed. That's when you may want to unfollow the individual. Click on the down arrow next to any of the person's posts. Then click on the "Unfollow" link.
You'll remain friends with the person but won't see any more of his or her posts. If you change your mind, click on the "Undo" link. You can also report the post.
Manage Who You Follow
You can unfollow multiple people in one shot, or re-follow someone you unfollowed awhile back, by clicking News Feed > Edit Preferences on the top-left menu. A pop-up menu will appear with options for managing your News Feed.
To unfollow multiple people, click on the second option for "Unfollow people to hide their posts."
Select the people, pages, or groups you no longer want to appear on your News Feed and click on the "Done" button.
If you're ready to see posts from someone you unfollowed, meanwhile, select "Reconnect with people you unfollowed" and just click on the people you want to appear in your News Feed once again.
There is also the option to "Prioritize who you see first." So if you want to see new posts from your kids, significant other, or best friend atop your News Feed, click that and select your favorite people.
Blocking Someone on Facebook
Okay, let's take it to the next step. You can block someone on Facebook, which means that person can no longer see your posts, tag you, invite you to events or groups, start a conversation with you, or add you as a friend.
To do this and more, click on the down arrow next to the question mark help icon at the top of any Facebook page. From the pop-up menu, click on the "Settings" command.
At the "General Account Settings" screen, click "Blocking" on the left.
At the "Manage Blocking" screen, type the name of the person you wish to block in the "Block users" field. Click on the "Block" button. Facebook then shows people with that name. Choose the person you wish to block and then click on the "Block" button.
Un-Friending Someone
Finally, you can break up with the person completely (at least on Facebook) by unfriending them. To do this, find the person's name in a post or by searching for the name in the search field at the top of the page. Click on the link to the person's Facebook page. At his or her Facebook page, hover over the "Friends" button at the top. From the pop-up menu, click on the "Unfriend" command.
And the Facebook friendship is kaput. The person doesn't receive any notification that the friendship is over. But he or she will probably eventually catch on. If you change your mind, you can always re-friend the person. Otherwise, you don't have to deal with that individual any longer, at least not on Facebook.
For more Facebook tips and tricks, check out:
- Hidden Facebook Features Only Power Users Know
- Cool Tricks and Secret Gems Inside Facebook Messenger
- How to Delete Your Facebook Account
- Workplace by Facebook Review