How To Create A Restricted Friends List On Facebook

In Facebook, there is a very easy way to hide your posts and updates from specific friends without having to block them or unfriend them. Facebook has a very useful feature called restricted list, which can be used to restrict a group of friends from seeing any of your posts, photos or updates.

So what is restricted list on Facebook and how is it different from a generic Facebook friend list? In todays post, I am going to explain Facebook's restricted friend list in full detail.

What is Restricted List On Facebook? Where Do I Find it?

The restricted list is a special friend list every Facebook users has by default (you don't need to create it). People you add in the your restricted friend list will only see your public posts and status updates. So if you are friends with colleagues and employers and do not want them to see any of your posts other than public updates, the restricted list is the way to go.

The restricted list is the easiest way to restrict friends on Facebook from seeing any of your updates that are not public. You may have your Boss, your previous employers, your ex and sensitive relationships on Facebook, if you don't want them to see your wall posts, your photo uploads, tagged photos and everything else, it would be best to add these Facebook friends to your restricted list.

Now here is how you find the so called "restricted list of friends" on Facebook:

1. Login to your Facebook account, click the "settings" icon and select "account settings".

2. Click "Blocking" in the left sidebar.

3. In the next page, select "Edit list" under the section "Restricted list", as shown in the following example:

4. When you click "Edit", you will be able to add or remove Facebook friends to your restricted list. You would also be able to review which of your existing freinds were already added to this list and are banned from seeing any of your updates that are not public.

When and Why you should Restrict People On Facebook

You may wonder – why not add all of them into a generic "blocked" friend list, or add them to my acquaintances list, rather than using this restricted friend list. What is the advantage of using restricted friend list over a general friend list with which I will never share any post or update?

Here is the difference.

When you add friends to your "Restricted list" they can only see the information and posts that you make public. Facebook does not notify your friends when you add them to your Restricted list. You don't have to remember your privacy settings everytime you post to Facebook, or worry about with whom a particular post is shared. If you have added your employers and senstive friends to the restricted list, they will never be able to see any of your updates, but you can continue to be friends with them on Facebook and exchange IM chats and messages. (related – prevent strangers from sending you friend requests on Facebook)

I have a lot of friends in Facebook and I use friend lists very wisely. Until now, I used to put all those friends with whom I do not intend to share anything to the "acquaintances" list and would have the default privacy setting as "Friends except acquaintances". The problem with this approach is that when I use multiple devices e.g iPhone, Android or the iPad, I had to repeatedly cross check whether the privacy setting is uniform across all these devices.

However, with the restricted list feature, I never have to worry whether my not so close can see my Facebook posts, status updates and photos that I do not want them to see.