Facebook users can select their audiences for Facebook posts on their personal page. Have you tried changing your audiences? You do it in the section to the left of the blue Post button in the status update box.

It’s important that you keep in mind that whatever audience you select will become the default for your next post. So you must be vigilant about remembering to check that you’ve got the right audience for your current post.

For example, let’s say you have a post that’s more personal in nature. It’s one you’d prefer to not have your business acquaintances who are also Facebook friends see. First you need to make sure you have assigned these folks the status of Acquaintance. You can do this in your list of Facebook friends. Now make the audience for this post Friends Except Acquaintances.

Another example would be the reverse – you have a business-related post you don’t want your non-business friends to see. In this case, you can put your business-oriented Facebook friends into a customized list. Call it something like “Business Connections.” Then you can select that list as the only audience for this post.

You can create these lists as needed, adding existing Facebook friends to one more or lists as appropriate. Then as you get Facebook friends, you can add them to the appropriate list(s) at the time you become friends.

 

Selecting the Audience for Facebook Updates – Post by Post

• Each time you create a post, click on the arrow to the right of where you see the current or default audience. You will see these choices: Public, Friends, Only Me, and More Options.
• When you click on More Options, you find Friends Except Acquaintances (if you have at least one Friend you have made an Acquaintance). You will also see lists that Facebook creates, like Close Friends and every place you have listed in your About section, such as where you worked or where you went to school.
• If you have created any customized lists, they will also come up under More Options. These could be a list of Facebook friends who go to your place of worship, or people on your softball team, or your business connections.
• By the way, Facebook doesn’t notify people when you mark them as an acquaintance or put them on a list.

• The other option for list making is Custom. When you click on that, the first thing that appears is Friends. If you want to have a subset of your Friends see the post, click on the X by Friends and start typing in the names of the people and/or lists of people you WANT to see the post. Those are the only ones who will get it.

• Choosing Custom also allows you to select people and/or lists of people you do NOT want to see the post. Use whichever option is quicker as they both have the same result – some people don’t see the post and some do.

 

 

Setting a Standard Audience for Facebook Updates

• Many people find it easier not to have worry about selecting audiences for Facebook posts. By choosing the audience in the status update box and not changing it, you keep the same audience for all your posts.
• You can also go into your privacy settings and select your standard audience.

 

How About You?

Do you tend to have all your posts be seen by same audience? Or do you prefer to adjust the audience based on the type of post you’re sharing? Is this something you’ve ever even considered before? If so, what changes might you make as a result of reading this post?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 45 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit organizations, job seekers, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.