How to Limit Who Can See Your Facebook Friends Without Unfriending Them

We all have a few Facebook friends we don't feel socially obligated to interact with, and some whose constant posts fill up our News Feed in an annoying way. Luckily, Facebook offers a way to subtly distance yourself from these individuals by either unfollowing their profiles or adding them to your 'Acquaintances' list. Keep in mind that these people can still view and comment on your posts, but you won't see their updates anymore.

Visit Facebook. The simplest way to clear your News Feed from posts by bothersome friends is by going to their personal profile and selecting 'unfollow'. This feature is similar to the 'mute' option on Twitter.

• If you're not logged in, enter your email and password first.

Type the person's name in the search bar at the top of Facebook. If they have recently posted on your News Feed, you can also click on their name here to go directly to their profile page.

Click on the "Following" option at the top of the page, located to the right of their name.

• On mobile, this option will appear below their name and profile picture.

Click or tap the "Unfollow" option from the menu that appears. This will remove their posts from your News Feed, but you will still remain friends on Facebook.

• You may need to refresh your News Feed for their posts to disappear.

Go to the Facebook page. You may have numerous friends constantly posting political content; no matter your stance, you can unfollow multiple friends directly from the Facebook menu.

• If you're not logged in, first enter your email and password.

Click on the menu button. The downwards-facing arrow icon is located at the top-right corner of the screen; a dropdown menu will appear with links to general Facebook settings.

Click on "News Feed Preferences". A small menu will pop up with settings related to your News Feed.

Click on "Unfollow people to hide their posts". A list of your Facebook friends will appear.

Click on each person you wish to unfollow. Note that Facebook will not ask for confirmation when you click on a person to unfollow.

• Click "Done" when you're finished. You will no longer see posts from them.

Return to your News Feed. You may need to refresh the page for these changes to take effect.

Open the Facebook app. You can unfollow several people on your phone directly from the Facebook menu.

• If you aren't logged in yet, enter your email and password.

Tap the Facebook menu icon. This button looks like three horizontal lines and is located at the bottom-right corner of the screen. The Facebook menu will open.

Tap on the "Settings" option. The Facebook settings menu will open.

Tap on "Unfollow people to hide their posts". A menu will appear displaying a list of all your Facebook friends.

Unfollow as many people as you like. You can tap on each person you want to unfollow; Facebook will not ask for confirmation when you tap to unfollow someone.

Tap "Done" when finished. You will no longer see posts from these people.

• You may need to close and reopen the Facebook app for these changes to take effect.

Go to the Facebook page. Essentially, the "Acquaintances" feature reduces the frequency of posts from these people to a minimum, meaning you’ll hardly see any posts from anyone in the Acquaintances group.

• If you're not logged in, first enter your email and password.

Click on the 'Friends' tab. This tab is located on the left side of your Facebook page. After clicking it, you'll be taken to a list of your friend groups.

Click on 'Acquaintances'. This option is located near the top of the page.

Click on the 'Add friends to this list' field. This field is located at the top-right corner of the Acquaintances page. Enter the names of the friends you'd like to add here.

Click on friends' names to add them to the 'Acquaintances' group. You can add as many people as you like to this list.

Return to your News Feed after you're done. You may need to refresh your Facebook page to remove posts from the Acquaintances group.

• When posting a status, click the 'Friends' option next to the 'Post' button and select 'Friends except acquaintances' to ensure these individuals won't see your update. You may need to click 'More Options' at the bottom to see this option.

Go to Facebook. If you don't want to block someone, you can prevent them from seeing specific posts by adjusting the 'Who should see this?' settings in the status update box.

• On mobile, tap the 'Facebook' app to open Facebook.

Navigate to the status update box at the top of the screen. This is usually labeled 'What's on your mind?'.

• On mobile, you’ll need to tap the status box to see the available options.

Click on the 'Friends' button below the status update box. A dropdown menu will appear with options for who can see your post.

• The 'Friends' option is located below your name at the top-left corner of the mobile screen.

Click on 'More Options' and select 'Custom'. The 'Custom' option allows you to filter out specific friends you don't want to see the post.

• On mobile, tap 'Friends except' here.
• If you're tagging people in your post, consider unchecking the box next to 'Friends of Tagged' to prevent tagged users' friends from seeing your post.

Enter the name of the friend you want to exclude. You need to type their name into the field below the 'Don't share with' line. You can add as many people as you want to this list.

• On mobile, just tap the circle next to each person you don't want to share the post with.

Click on 'Save Changes' after you're done. The default sharing option will be set to 'Custom'; you can always switch it back to 'Friends' from the same menu.

• On mobile, tap 'Done' in the top-right corner of the screen to save your changes.

• You can follow someone again anytime using the same option you used to unfollow them on their profile.