Selectively Sharing on Facebook
This is the first part of a 3 part blog post in which I compare selectively sharing updates on Facebook and Google+. In this post, I show how to selectively share content on Facebook.
Here are the steps for selectively sharing status updates on Facebook. This example, assumes that you know how to create a friends list in Facebook. We have previously created a friends list called ‘close friends’ and we will create a post that is only visible to members of that list.
1. Load Facebook in your browser
2. Type the status message that you want to selectively share
3.) Click the lock icon under the message
4.) Select Customize from the drop down menu
5.) A box titled ‘Custom Privacy’ will pop up. There will be a drop under ‘Make this visible to’ next to ‘These people’. Select ‘Specific People…’ from the drop down menu.
6.) In the text box that appears, begin typing the name of the friends list that you want to share the post with. In this example, we have a friends list called ‘close friends’. Facebook will attempt to auto-complete the list name.
7.) Click save settings
8.) The visibility settings for the post will be updated so that it’s only visible by the members of the list you specified. However, it’s a good idea to mouse over the lock icon to verify that the settings are what you expected before sharing the post.
9.) After you’ve verified the privacy settings, click share. The post is now published to your profile. If you want to verify its privacy settings later, you can hover over the lock icon.
Be aware that once something is shared to your profile, it’s no longer possible to change its privacy settings. If you discover that you’ve made a mistake — for example you shared a posting with the wrong group of friends — you’ll need to delete what you shared and repost it with different visibility settings.
(Note: You can, however, change the members of the friends list itself as a way of changing who has access to an already posted item. But it’s usually easier that to delete the post and re-post with a different privacy settings.)
