Facebook Now Lets Users Manage And Delete Old Posts In Bulk
It’s now much easier to delete old posts and manage what people see on your profile
If you’re scrolling down Facebook memory lane and see posts you’d really rather forget, the social media platform is now giving us a way to get rid of them in bulk. Not only does this help us move on from exes and times we’d prefer not think about — it prevents stalkers, employers, the government, and those same exes from stalking your past posts.
Facebook just rolled out a new setting called Manage Activity to delete or archive posts from certain dates or involving certain people. That means posts you’ve long forgotten about involving that drunk night out where you danced on a bar, a romantic getaway with someone you most definitely wouldn’t get away with again, and that political post you forgot about that doesn’t remotely describe the person you are today can be gone with the click of a button. Well, a few buttons but it’s pretty simple.
According to Facebook, the Manage Activity functionality is its response to feedback from privacy organizations advocating for more security around the platform. In addition to forgetting unwanted memories, it also helps give people a sense of relief that prospective employers, schools, new acquaintances, and law enforcement don’t see old posts.
Of course, you’ve always been able to delete old posts or hide certain people from seeing them, but there’s never been a way to do it in bulk until now. And if you’ve ever tried keeping up with new settings in Facebook, you know it can be time consuming and overwhelming and don’t always work the way you think they do.
Unfortunately, if you don’t have Facebook on your phone, you’ll not be able to take advantage of this new feature as it’s only available on the smartphone app version, but it will likely come to the web version at some point.
To access the new functionality, go to your profile page and click on the “Go to Activity Log,” which will show you everything you’ve put on the platform. Click on the button on top labeled “Manage Activity,” then, “Your Posts.” From there, you can choose what kind of posts (check ins, photos, etc) and filter them by date range (that summer European vacation) or by who you’re tagged in a photo with, and you can then archive or trash them from there.
Unfortunately, you can’t search by keyword or trash any posts or photos posted by other people, but it’s an overdue option to give the platform’s users more control over what is out there attached to your name. It’s not perfect, but if you’re worried there’s old information you don’t want representing who you are today, this is a good way to do so without scrolling through years of data.
