Facebook

[237SJ]

I don`t belong to Facebook and don`t want to do the whole 'friends' thing but someone told me my old village has a history Facebook page and I`d quite like to join because I have some old photos to post and I`d love to share the memories of the place. Can you join Facebook and just remain private?

[ummmm]

Yes...You don't have to use your real name. You can set it so that only 'friends' can see what you post on you wall. If you don't want to add any friends you don't have to.

[Retrochic]

You will never be 100% private on FB but for what you want to do that won't be a problem. Open up an account in your own name as it would be useful for when you are posting as the group is probably a 'closed' group. You are not obliged to add any personal information such as where you live etc and if you do not post anything on your 'wall' then privacy is not an issue. Facebook is not private even if you put on all your privacy settings. They track people who come to your page(even if those people can't see anything on your page) then send you 'suggestions' to befriend them -its rather funny really how many I recognize from AB who 'pop up' on my page as friend suggestions LOL! You can choose to ignore these posts or follow then through this is the control you have. Actually once you get going on FB you may find it quite a useful tool for getting back in touch with lost school friends and keeping in touch with relatives.

[woofgang]

Indeed you can, but if your profile doesn't look like a real person then pages and groups may refuse your request to join them. Like everywhere else, there are scammers and other types who will set up fake profiles and try to join groups to post ads and propaganda.

[jannatul18]

Yes its absolutely possible to make your profile completely private as you want in Facebook.

[237SJ]

Thanks for the replies. I would use my real name because everyone in the village knew everyone else and anyway, I have family pictures to share. It`s just that I didn`t want to do the friends bit but I also don`t want people to look at my profile and see I have no friends (don`t want to appear like Billy Nomates). Someone the other day told me he had been searching for me on Facebook so I was just wondering how to deflect all the searchers. What I`d like is just a blank outline (no picture) with no information to share.

[Retrochic]

When you open your FB account there is plenty of help on there to make sure only the people who you want to see can see your stuff. When you post a picture you have the choice to show it public,friends only,friends of friends or custom. Be very careful posting family stuff because you may have your privacy settings cranked up, but friends may not and they may share your photos. When you choose not to show a picture to certain people it does not appear on your FB page at all. FB is not private and not safe so you have to be aware of stuff you post.

[woofgang]

If you join a group or follow a page, then your posts on that group are posted with the group settings.
Is it a page or a group?
Pages
Privacy: Page information and posts are public and generally available to everyone on Facebook.
Audience: Anyone can like a Page to connect with it and get News Feed updates. There is no limit to how many people can like a Page.
Communication: People who help manage a Page can share posts from the Page. Page posts can appear in the News Feeds of people who like the Page. Page owners can also create customized apps for their Page and check Page Insights to track the Page’s growth and activity.
Groups

Privacy: In addition to a public setting, more privacy settings are available for groups. In secret and closed groups, posts are only visible to group members.
Audience: You can adjust group privacy to require members to be approved or added by admins. When a group reaches a certain size, some features are limited. The most useful groups tend to be the ones you create with small groups of people you know.
Communication: In groups, members receive notifications by default when any member posts in the group. Group members can participate in chats, upload photos to shared albums, collaborate on group docs and invite members who are friends to group events.

What are the privacy options for groups?

There are 3 privacy options for groups: Public, Closed and Secret. The table below shows who can join these groups and what people can see about them.

Public Closed Secret
Who can join?
Public Anyone can join or be added or invited by a member
Closed Anyone can ask to join or be added or invited by a member
Secret Anyone, but they have to be added or invited by a member
Who can see the group's name?
public Anyone
Closed Anyone
Secret Current and former members
Who can see who's in the group?
public Anyone
closed Anyone
Secret Only current members
Who can see the group description?
public Anyone
closed Anyone
secret Current and former members
Who can see the group tags?
public Anyone
closed Anyone
secret Current and former members
Who can see what members post in the group?
public Anyone
closed Only current members
secret Only current members
Who can find the group in search?
public Anyone
closed Anyone
secret Current and former members
Who can see stories about the group on Facebook (like in News Feed and search)?
public Anyone
closed Only current members
secret Only current members

[237SJ]

Blimey, thanks for the great link Woofgang and thanks to everyone for the replies.