As a consultant who assists small business owners with online branding and marketing, I often get asked: how do you block someone on Facebook?
With over 2 billion users, Facebook connects us to friends, family, customers – and occasionally, unwanted interactions. As an entrepreneur, you need to protect your personal and professional presence.
Fortunately, Facebook provides customizable blocking tools to limit specific users. In this comprehensive guide for small business owners, I‘ll overview:
- Key reasons to block someone
- Step-by-step blocking instructions
- What happens when you block
- Additional privacy settings
- Unblocking and considerations
Let‘s explore how blocking works on Facebook and why it may benefit your business.
Why Entrepreneurs Block People on Facebook
Over 41% of Americans have experienced online harassment, from offensive name-calling to physical threats. Reasons business owners block someone include:
- Ex-partners seeing intimate posts: Blocking prevents an ex from accessing your dating profile or pictures with a new partner.
- Cyberbullying: Small shop owners sometimes encounter cruel comments from dissatisfied customers. Muting these attacks preserves your mental health.
- Political arguments: Heated election commentary burning up your feed? Blocking limits this negativity.
- Protecting professional reputation: Entrepreneurs restrict previous coworkers from viewing their new business plans or critiquing service quality.
Psychologist Dr. Perpetua Neo explains that seeing an ex or former friend‘s activities on social media can elicit hurt and setback one‘s healing. Blocking tools can empower users to curate their experiences.
Step-by-Step: How to Block Someone on Facebook
You can block both friends and strangers on Facebook through desktop or mobile.
On Desktop
- Click the profile name of the person you wish to block.
- Select the three-dot icon next to the Message button.
- Choose "Block" from the dropdown menu.
- Confirm again that you wish to block this person.
Alternatively, you can navigate to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Blocking. Type in names to block users from this page.
[insert screenshot of blocking UI]On Mobile
Similarly, the mobile app blocking process is:
- Go to the profile of the person you wish to block.
- Tap the three dots icon in the top right corner.
- Select "Block" from the menu.
- Confirm again that you wish to block.
The Blocking page can also be accessed in the app‘s Settings & Privacy section.
Easy enough! Now let‘s review what happens after you block someone on Facebook.
Consequences: What Changes When You Block Someone
Blocking a Facebook user is a private action – they will not receive any notification about it. However, they will likely notice being unable to access your profile.
Specifically, blocking prevents the user from:
- Viewing your posts, photos, Stories or profile info
- Commenting on or reacting to your content
- Messaging or calling you on Facebook/Messenger
- Tagging you or inviting you to events/groups
- Appearing together in Mutual Friends sections or searches
You mutually become invisible on Facebook!
However, it‘s not identical to unfriending someone:
- They may still see your public profile and cover picture
- Friends can tag you both in the same post or photo
- You lose access to any mutual friends in common
For full separation, blocking combined with privacy settings is ideal.
Additional Privacy Tools beyond Blocking
Alongside blocking capabilities, Facebook allows granular control over what specific users view. Under Settings & Privacy:
Limit Past Posts: Restrict previous posts, photos or background information only to friends. Helpful for sanitizing during career transitions!
Review Tags: Approve any tags from acquaintances before they appear on your profile. Avoid untagging embarrassment!
View As: Toggle between public, friend, and restricted views of your profile. Assess what personal contacts can access.
Activity Log: Monitor complete history of likes, posts, follows and location check-ins. Scrutinize tags from five years ago!
With over 500+ million business profiles, entrepreneurs must vigilantly manage their visibility across social platforms like Facebook. Blocking unwanted followers is an essential first step.
Unblocking: Reversing a Block
What if you change your mind? Unblocking a Facebook user is fortunately straightforward:
- Go back to the Blocking page under your Settings.
- Locate the person‘s name and click "Unblock."
- Confirm you wish to remove the block.
This restores your connection and mutual visibility. However, previous posts or messages will not be restored after unblocking.
Use Facebook‘s versatile blocking and privacy tools judiciously to protect your personal wellbeing and professional reputation online. Let me know if you have any other questions!
