How to Make Facebook Private

It is impossible to completely lock down your Facebook profile -- your name, gender, profile photo and cover photo, username and account number are always visible to everyone, no matter what. What you can do, however, is ensure any posts you make in the future, as well as any you have made in the past, are visible only to your friends unless you specify otherwise; you can also change the visibility of the friend list on your profile. Further, you can limit the ways in which people can search for your profile, whether the search is on Facebook or the Web.

Changing the Visibility of Posts

The entire bar, including the lock icon, is visible regardless of where you are on Facebook.

Click the lock icon on the Facebook bar.

The second option in the menu lets you change who can send you friend requests, while the third gives you access to the block feature.

Click Who Can See My Stuff?.

Image courtesy of Facebook.

Set the Who Can See My Future Posts? option to Friends.

Alternatively, if you want your future posts to be visible only to you unless you deliberately specify otherwise when posting, select More Options and then click Only Me.