As a fellow small business owner, I know you rely on Facebook to market your company, connect with customers, and build relationships with other entrepreneurs. But having an open friends list comes with privacy and security risks.
Over 2022 alone, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center reported over 1,000 incidents of contacts lists and messages being compromised on major social platforms. Protecting your digital connections matters – both personally and professionally.
The good news? Facebook offers simple settings to hide or limit visibility of your friends list. In this guide, I‘ll share tips based on my own entrepreneurial experience in safeguarding online privacy.
Why Entrepreneurs Should Hide Their List
Here are 3 key reasons to limit friends list exposure as a business owner:
1. Prevent Unwanted Solicitation of Contacts
Leaving your friends list public means anyone can access and potentially message those connections without your consent. This could lead to awkwardness with contacts as well as damage your professional credibility.
2. Reduce Account Security Risks
Scammers and hackers can exploit information in friends lists for targeted social engineering attacks. Keeping it hidden reduces these account hijacking risks.
3. Maintain Separate Business and Personal Spheres
As an entrepreneur, you may not want professional contacts mingling openly with personal friends. Hiding your list lets you curate a tailored image for your brand.
How to Hide Your Friends List on Both Desktop & Mobile
The process to hide your friends list is straightforward once you access Facebook‘s privacy settings. Here are the step-by-step instructions:
On Desktop
- Click the down arrow icon and select Settings & Privacy then Settings
- Go to Privacy > How People Find and Contact You
- Change Who can see your friends list? to Only Me or Friends
- Click Close to save settings
On Mobile
- Tap the hamburger menu icon and choose Settings & Privacy > Settings
- Go to Privacy Settings
- Tap Who can see your friends list?
- Select Only Me or Friends
- Tap the back arrow to save
That‘s all it takes! Now only you or confirmed friends will have access.
Additional Tips for Entrepreneurs
Beyond hiding your friends list, here are a few other quick privacy steps:
- Review all friend requests before accepting
- Limit old posts‘ visibility in your Activity Log
- Customize audience for future posts
Why It Matters
Taking these measures means you control the access strangers have to your connections and interactions. Given the rising cases of social media fraud against small businesses, it‘s a prudent shield against risks from account hijacking to reputation damage.
As an entrepreneur myself, I know how vital privacy controls are for safeguarding your digital presence. Feel free to reach out with any other questions!
