When it comes to Facebook, which has over 2 billion users worldwide, just about anything on the social media site can make a difference in your life. Like, for example, nowadays he is under criticism for what happened between him and Cambridge Analytica.
There is even a fast growing and trending #deletefacebook campaign that is encouraging people to delete their Facebook accounts outright.
Of course, not everyone likes Facebook. Too many people reluctantly joined, and they hate exposing so much personal information. No matter how secure their privacy setting, they are still concerned about the threat of predatory scams, cyber-bullying and identity theft.
As crazy as it sounds, you can turn off Facebook. You can delete your account, dust off your hands, and never go back. Or you can rebuild your account from scratch.
The first thing to know is the difference between deactivating your account and deleting your account. If you deactivate, your account will be invisible to everyone.
No one can friend or unfriend you, your wall and personal data is invisible, and all activity comes to a halt. But you can turn it back on whenever you want, and you’ll be right where you left off.
Deleting your account means permanently erasing everything you put on Facebook. Your account will cease to exist. If that’s your goal, here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Download your data
Simply put, Facebook doesn’t want you to leave. The company’s global reach is all-out and deep, and the last thing they want is to lose a friend.
As a parting gift, Facebook allows you to download all your personal data. It’s a very easy process: you just go to Settings >> General Account Settings >> Download a copy of your Facebook data >> Start My Archive.
If you ever decide to change your mind, Facebook will be more than happy to help you recreate a new account with all your old digital stuff.
Step 2: Request to delete account
Unfortunately, you can’t just flip a switch and be done with it. You will need to ask Facebook to delete your account.
You will find a sad and lonely looking page here. The rest of the process is very simple: just follow the steps mentioned.
Step 3: Wait
This is the weirdest part about deleting your Facebook account: it doesn’t happen right away. Your friends can’t see your page. Your feed will stop interacting with others. But your account is still there, hopefully you will come back and show it some love.
If you try to log in, the removal process will stop immediately, and you’ll have to start all over.
Incredibly, the entire process of deleting your account will take up to 90 days. But once those three months are over, Facebook should have removed all your information: every status, picture, anniversary, and relationship would disappear from the Internet, as if it never existed.
Step 4: Cleaning After
Just because your account is closed doesn’t mean that traces of your activity will remain. Your messages will remain in other people’s inboxes. Photos copied from your album may appear in other people’s feeds.
There’s nothing you can do about these leftover pieces except ask people to remove them or just pray that they don’t become embarrassing. If you request the deletion of these messages and photos, your old network should be able to do it easily. This way you will know who your real friends are.
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