No matter how carefully you’ve checked your Facebook privacy settings, it can still be an eye-opener to see how your timeline looks to everyone else on Facebook—friends and strangers alike.Facebook’s “View As” feature not only lets you see how the world sees your timeline, it can also show you how your timeline looks through the eyes of a specific friend.
It’s a handy way to see, for example, whether your updates, photo albums, and friends are viewable by complete strangers—or, say, a Facebook frenemy on your “Restricted” list.
Click the gear icon and select “View As” to see your timeline as others see it.
- Go to your timeline by clicking your name in the top-right corner of any Facebook page. Next, click the little gear icon in the bottom-right corner of your “cover” photo, then select “View As” from the drop-down menu.
- You should now see your timeline as most people on Facebook see it—that is, anyone on Facebook who isn’t your friend. See anything public info that you’d rather keep private? If so, go back to your privacy settings (click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the page, then select Privacy Settings) and start tweaking.
- Want to see your timeline as a specific friend sees it? From the “View As” version of your timeline, click the “View as Specific Person” link in the black strip along the top of the page, then type the name of one of your Facebook friends. Again, take a close look to see if a given friend can see anything on your timeline they shoudn’t.
- All done? Click the little “x” in the black strip to return to the standard timeline view.
