Question from Marie: I love your tips Rick, and I visit this site every morning to see what’s new!
Now, my question: I’m trying to completely delete my Facebook account because I’ve seen nothing but harassment on there since I signed up over a year ago.
The trouble is I can’t find a way to delete the account, just deactivate it. Can you help me find it? Thanks!
Rick’s answer: Thanks for the kind words Marie. I really appreciate your kindness!
If you’re bound and determined to delete your Facebook account, it’s really easy to do, but finding the page you need to visit in order to do it is almost as hard as driving a nail into an oak board with a wet spaghetti noodle.
Before I give you the link for deleting your account, let’s make sure that’s what you really wish to do…
There are basically two ways to take an active Facebook account offline. The first is to deactivate it, which effectively makes your Timeline and every bit of information associated with it immediately disappear from other Facebook users. They won’t be able to find your page via the Search box and they won’t be able to contact you.
Deactivation has more or less the same effect as deletion, with one huge difference: If you deactivate your account it is only hidden, not removed. You can easily re-activate it if you later change your mind and everything will be as it was before you deactivated it.
That’s what I recommend that you do, at least in the short term. That way you can think it over for a while before making a final decision.
Follow the steps below that match the device you’re using to deactivate your Facebook account.
If you’re using Facebook in a web browser on a laptop or desktop computer:
1 – Log into your Facebook account.
2 – Click the little down arrow in the top right-hand corner of the page and select Settings from the drop-down menu.
3 – Click Manage Account.
5- Click the Deactivate your account link that’s located near the bottom of the page.
If you’re using the Facebook app on a mobile device:
1 – Log into your Facebook account.
2 – Tap the Menu icon located near the top-right corner of the screen (it looks like three horizontal lines stacked atop one another).
3 – Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy.
4 – Tap Settings.
5 – Scroll down and tap Account Ownership and Control.
6 – Tap Deactivation and Deletion.
7 – Tap Deactivate Account to select it, then tap the Continue to Account Deactivation button and follow the prompts from there.
The second way to take your Facebook account offline is to permanently delete it – what I refer to as the nuclear option. Deleting an account does just that. It removes your account and all data associated with it from Facebook’s servers, leaving you no way to change your mind and reactivate the account later.
In short, once a Facebook account has been deleted, it is gone forever!
If you truly wish to permanently delete your Facebook account, it’s extremely easy to do. Just follow the steps below for the device you’re using.
If you’re using Facebook in a web browser on a laptop or desktop computer:
1 – Log into your Facebook account.
2 – Visit this page on the Facebook website and click Delete My Account.
If you’re using the Facebook app on a mobile device:
1 – Log into your Facebook account.
2 – Tap the Menu icon located near the top-right corner of the screen (it looks like three horizontal lines stacked atop one another).
3 – Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy.
4 – Tap Settings.
5 – Scroll down and tap Account Ownership and Control.
6 – Tap Deactivation and Deletion.
7 – Tap Delete Account to select it, then tap the Continue to Account Deletion button and follow the prompts from there.
I hope this helps Marie. Good luck!
Bonus tip #1: This post explains how to “unfriend” someone on Facebook without really unfriending them.
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