F.B. Purity is a browser add-on that lets you customize your Facebook wall, profile and much more. It’s been around for ages and is considered trustworthy and safe to use. It’s also very frequently updated, so if a featured stops working because Facebook changed something, the F.B. Purity team update the add-on quickly to resolve any problems.

Best of all, it’s available for every major desktop browser, including: Chrome (and Chrome-based browsers like Vivaldi), Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari and Opera. Click on the link that represents your browser to install it, or visit the F.B. Purity installation page and install it from there. In most cases it’s as easy as clicking a button and following a couple of steps. Safari is a bit more involved, but really you just need to install another add-on first.

Proceed with step #1 once you have F.B. Purity installed.

1. Head over to facebook.com. The first time you visit Facebook after installing F.B. Purity you’ll be greeted with a welcome message. Click the “X” in the upper-right corner to close the message.



2. One thing you’ll probably notice right away is the new “FBP” button in the main toolbar. This is your gateway to the F.B. Purity settings – give it a click.



3. There are a lot of settings and options. Don’t let this intimidate you, it’s all quite easy to understand and configure. As you can see, FBP blocks “Sponsored” posts (ads) and Game/App posts by default.


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4. Close out of the FBP settings and take a look at your Facebook ‘wall’. You’ll see a new line right above the posts on your wall titled F.B. Purity hid:. This is where FBP lets you know how many items it blocked (hid) and lets you review them. As illustrated in the screenshot below, FBP blocked 2 app related posts, and 2 ‘other’ posts. If your F.B. Purity hid: line doesn’t have any items in it, scroll down your wall – it will update as your wall expands. Once FBP has found something to hide, click the Show link.



5. FBP will show you exactly what it blocked. It will also include a small “WL” link in the upper-right corner of the posts it blocks. WL stands for “whitelist” – so if there is an app or game you do want to see on your wall, you can add it to your whitelist and FBP will no longer block/hide it.



6. Another large frequent ‘waste of space’ on your Facebook wall is the People You May Know section.



7. Go back to the F.B. Purity Settings by clicking the large FBP button in your toolbar. In the More Options section, place a check next to People You May Know



8. Now click the Save and Close button. This ensures the new setting is saved, and refreshes your Facebook page with those new settings applied. In this case, the People You May Know section will stop appearing on your wall.



9. The only way to really figure out everything F.B. Purity can do is to go through the options one by one. Start with the Newsfeed Filters section.



10. A big list of all the various things that FBP can hide from your wall.



11. The “catch all” way to hide content using FBP is the Text filter. This lets you block content that matches a keyword or phrase no matter who or what posts it. You can use it to filter out things like sports, politicians, celebrities or products.



12. Keep reviewing the various options and settings and eventually you’ll have a version of Facebook that completely suits your needs.

The post How to Remove Sponsored Posts & Other Annoying Facebook Content appeared first on Simple Help.

Background

Facebook and the websites that you visit communicate with each other. Facebook calls it Off-Facebook Activity, and buried deep within the settings, you can disable it. Plus, you can clear any existing data (you might be surprised how many sites will be listed).

One of the differences that you’ll notice right away is that you won’t see any targeted ads from sites you’ve previously visited. You’ll still see the same number of ads, they just won’t be based on your Internet history and usage.

Facebook buries these settings, so here are step by step instructions on accessing them. If you’re using the Facebook app for iOS or Android, click here to jump down to the steps to disable Facebook tracking via the Facebook iPhone & Android apps. If you’re accessing Facebook via a web browser, the instructions are directly below.

Disable Facebook Tracking via the Web

1. Sign into Facebook and then click the Account button (it’s the one in the very upper-right corner that looks like a triangle, see screenshot below). Select Settings & Privacy from the Account menu.



2. Choose Settings



3. Now choose Privacy



4. This time select Your Facebook Information



5. Finally, select Off-Facebook Activity



6. From the What Can You Do menu, select Manage Your Off-Facebook Activity



7. Locate the Clear History button and click it. As an aside, you can see in the example screenshot below I had 339 apps and websites that shared my info with Facebook.



8. Once again you’ll be prompted to click a Clear History button – do so.



9. Confirm that your info has been cleared.



10. On that same screen, look for the More Options menu and then select Manage Future Activity from that list.



11. Click the Manage Future Activity button.







12. Toggle the Future Off-Facebook Activity switch to OFF



13. Facebook will again ask you to confirm this change, so click the Turn Off button. Do you see the lengths they go through to discourage you from turning this stuff off? Not very cool.



14. Before you move on, confirm that the Future Off-Facebook Activity switch has been turned OFF



15. Now that you’ve disabled Off-Facebook Activity, it’s time to adjust your ad settings so Facebook and other sites/apps stop sharing your info that way. Just like you did way back in steps 1 and 2, click the Account button (the one in the very upper-right corner that looks like a triangle) and select Settings & Privacy from the Account menu. And again, select Settings.



16. This time, choose Ads from the Settings menu.



17. Click Ad Settings in the Ad Preferences menu.



18. Locate the section titled Manage Data Used To Show You Ads and click the Data about your activity from partners link.



19. Toggle the Use Data from Partners switch to OFF



20. Back in the Manage Data Used To Show You Ads section, click the Categories used to reach you link.



21. Switch everything you find in the Profile Information section to OFF. The switches that appear here will vary based on the info Facebook knows about you.



22. For the last time, go back to the Manage Data Used To Show You Ads section and this time choose Ads shown off of Facebook



23. Toggle the Allowed switch to OFF.



24. Done! Finally! If you’d like, you can go through Facebooks Privacy Checkup now, but it’s very basic and unsurprisingly doesn’t even mention Off Facebook-Activity or most of the Ads stuff you just disabled.

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Disable Facebook Tracking via the Facebook App

For the most part this section uses screenshots of the Facebook app on an iPhone. If you’re using the Facebook app on an iPad, or on an Android phone or tablet, you’ll have absolutely no trouble at all following along. The steps and screenshots are nearly identical across all devices.

1. iPhone and iPad users, open the Facebook app and tap your profile photo located in the bottom right corner (see screenshot below). Then scroll to the Settings & Privacy item and select it. Now jump down to step #3 below.



2. Android users, sign into the Facebook app and tap the “3 dashes” button (see screenshot below) scroll down a bit and select Settings & Privacy



3. Select Settings



4. Scroll to the Security section and then select Off-Facebook Activity



5. Tap the Clear History link.



6. Tap the Clear History button.



7. Now select the More Options link in the What You Can Do section.



8. Choose Manage Future Activity



9. Tap the Manage Future Activity button.



10. Finally, toggle the Future Off-Facebook Activity switch to OFF



11. Nope not really finally – yet again, tap the Turn Off button.



12. After having to tap your way through so many screens, make sure that the Future Off-Facebook Activity switch is set to OFF







13. Now we’re going to adjust some of the Ads settings so that your info isn’t shared that way. Start over by tapping your Profile photo from the bottom-right corner of the Facebook app and choose Settings & Privacy just like you did back at the start of these instructions.



14. And again select Settings



15. This time, scroll down to the Ads section and select Ad Preferences



16. Tap the Ad Settings button.



17. In the Manage Data Used to Show You Ads section select Data about your activity from partners



18. Toggle the Use Data From Partners switch to OFF



19. This time in the Manage Data Used to Show You Ads section choose Categories used to reach you



20. Switch everything off.



21. Last one – in the Manage Data Used to Show You Ads section choose Ads shown off of Facebook



22. Toggle the Allowed switch to off.



23. Done! Facebook will still show you ads, but you’ll notice that they’re much less ‘targeted’ now.

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The post How to Stop Facebook From Tracking You appeared first on Simple Help.

Over time there’s been a number of web services and Apps that promise to keep track of who unfriends you on Facebook, almost all of which stop functioning after a matter of weeks, sometimes days. This method uses a different process, and it works :)

1. The first thing to do is install the browser add-on F.B. Purity (link will open in a new tab/window). F.B. Purity works with the following web browsers: Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera and Maxthon. The installation will differ slightly for each browser, but in every case it’s a very simple “click this button” process.



2. Once the add-on has been installed, head over to Facebook. Right away you’ll be presented with a big “Welcome” message from your newly installed add-on. Click the X in the upper-right corner to close it.



3. One immediate change you’ll notice is that there’s a large FBP link in your Facebook “menu bar” that wasn’t there before. This is the F.B. Purity Settings section. After you’re done going through this tutorial, take a look at those Settings – F.B. Purity doesn’t just keep track of your Friends List, it has a slew of very helpful features (removes sections you don’t want etc).



4. The first time you visit Facebook after installing F.B. Purity it will create a list of your Friends that’s stored on your computer. Each subsequent time you visit Facebook it will automatically compare that list to your current Friends List, and if there are any changes you’re prompted with a list of them.

   Note: if you unfriend someone, or if they outright leave Facebook, their name will also appear in the list. F.B. Purity determines who you’re not Friends with anymore, it doesn’t differentiate between who did the Unfriending – it just displays the change(s).



5. You’ll also notice a new Deleted Friends Alert item in your Facebook “sidebar”, which will be displayed each time a person “leaves your Friends List”.



6. Now that you can keep track of your Friends, go take a look at the rest of the F.B. Purity settings. It’s a fantastic little add-on that allows you to really customize your “Facebook experience”. Have fun!

The post How To Be Notified When You’re Unfriended on Facebook appeared first on Simple Help.

Note: this “feature” hasn’t been rolled out across all of Facebook yet, so your account may not be affected (yet).

1. Click the ‘Settings’ button in the upper-right corner of your Facebook page and then select Account Settings from the menu.



2. Select Notifications from the left column.



3. Click the link titled view from the On Facebook row.



4. Remove the check-mark from the Play a sound when each new notification is received box and then click the Save Changes button.



5. That’s it, no more beeping from Facebook!

The post How to Stop Facebook From “Beeping” appeared first on Simple Help.

Update: as of Oct. 14th, the method outlined in this tutorial does not work. I’m currently trying to figure out a new ‘workaround’. If you’ve figured one out, please feel free to leave a comment below. I will credit you as the source (and would be greatly appreciative!).

There is no “select all” option when inviting your friends to an Event on Facebook. Rather than clicking each name, one at a time (!) – here’s how you can do it all at once.

Note: this will not work in all browsers. I’ve tested it using the latest stable versions of Google Chrome (OS X and Windows), Safari (OS X and Windows) and Firefox (OS X only) – and it worked. There are mixed reports of this working in Internet Explorer. Try it in whichever browser you happen to be using now – if it doesn’t work, try a different web browser.

1. Create the event.



2. On the Event Page, click the Invite Friends button.



3. Important: scroll all the way to the bottom of your Friends List until all of your friends are displayed in the window.



4. Copy and paste the code below into your browsers Address Bar, replacing the Facebook URL (which probably looks something like http://www.facebook.com/events/xxxxxxxxx). Important: make sure the javascript: part remains intact, as some browsers will remove it after you’ve pasted it in. If that’s the case, manually add javascript: to the start of the code in the Address Bar. Hit Enter on your keyboard.

javascript:var x=document.getElementsByTagName(“input”);for(var i=0;i<x.length;i++) {if (x[i].type == ‘checkbox’) {x[i].click();}}; alert(‘Done, all your friends have been selected’);



5. Your screen might ‘flash’ briefly and then a pop-up window should appear letting you know that all of your friends have been selected. Click OK



6. Now each and every one of your friends will have a check-mark next to their name – click the Save button to send out the mass-invite.



7. That’s it! Again, if it didn’t work – try a different web browser. It’s probably faster to download and install another browser than it is to individually click hundreds (or thousands) of your friends to invite them to your event.

The post How to Invite All of Your Facebook Friends to an Event in One Step appeared first on Simple Help.

We all have friends who are in bands, run websites, have “Fan” Pages etc. Perhaps you really do “like” a Page but it “updates” far too often and you want to view it on your own time. Maybe you want to support a Page but don’t really care what it/they have to say. Whatever the situation, here’s how you can “Like” a Page on Facebook and not have to see its posts in your News Feed.

1. Visit the Page itself and click the Liked button.



2. Select and then click the Show in News Feed menu item so that they ‘check mark’ is removed.



3. If you change your mind and decide you do want to see its updates, just revisit the Page by searching for it.



4. Select the Liked button again, click Show in News Feed and this time make sure the ‘check mark’ is displayed.



5. Yep, that easy.

The post How to Like a Facebook Page Without Having to See Its Posts on Your News Feed appeared first on Simple Help.

1. Click the image to open in a new browser window or tab, then right-click the image and select Save Image As….
2. To update your Facebook Cover image, hover your cursor over the cover, and click the Change Cover button



3. Select Upload Photo… from the menu.



4. Navigate to the new cover you want to upload, select it and click OK. Facebook will then let you re-adjust the positioning of your cover, although the covers below are generally “ready for use” without having to do much repositioning.

Who Rocks?

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Don’t Mess With Stewie

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You Look Funny…

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Too Seriously

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You Know You’re a Facebook Addict When…

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I am Sooooo Good Looking

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Daily Schedule

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We’re Here to Shut You Down

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Wasted Space

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Ninja!

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Keep Waiting…

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Depends Who You Work For…

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Peek-a-Boo

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Back in 5!

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The post 14 Fun Facebook Covers appeared first on Simple Help.

Windows users, double-click any of the symbols below and press ctrl+c to copy it, then ctrl+v to paste it.

For Mac users to copy and paste the following symbols, double-click one and then press Command(⌘)+c to copy, and Command(⌘)+v to paste.

Alternately, you can double-click the symbol, “right-click” it and select Copy. Have fun!

		♬	☻				✩	ϡ	♫
¼	½	¾	×	÷					ⓨ
♡						あ	⋚	⋛	☛
☚		✎		✁	✃			❥	❂
©	®		€	¥	£	ƒ	☨	∑	«
»	≤	≥	☬	§	☫	≈	ß	◊	√
µ	¶	†	•	≠	å	ø	π	ı	%
æ	Æ	œ	¿	♙		♔	♕	♖	♗
♘	♚	♛	♜	♝	♞	♅	♇	♆	☭
		☥		❁	❀	✿	✾	✽	✺
❈	❉	❊	❋	❖				☾	✵
☒			❧	❂	❁	❀	✄		①
②	③	④	⑤	⑥	⑦	⑧	⑨	⑩	Ⓐ
Ⓑ	Ⓒ	Ⓓ	Ⓔ	Ⓕ	Ⓖ	Ⓗ	Ⓘ	Ⓙ	Ⓚ
Ⓛ		Ⓝ	Ⓞ	Ⓟ	Ⓠ	Ⓡ	Ⓢ	Ⓣ	Ⓤ
Ⓥ	Ⓦ	Ⓧ	Ⓨ	Ⓩ	ⓐ	ⓑ	ⓒ	ⓓ	ⓔ
ⓕ	ⓖ	ⓗ	ⓛ	ⓙ	ⓚ	ⓛ	ⓜ	ⓝ	ⓞ
ⓟ	ⓠ	ⓡ	ⓢ	ⓣ	ⓤ	ⓥ	ⓦ	ⓧ	ⓨ
ⓩ	▀	▄	█	▌	░	▒	▬	▣	◙

If there are any neat symbols that you use and aren’t included above, paste them as a comment below and I’ll add them to this list. Cheers!

The post Cool Symbols to Copy and Paste for Facebook appeared first on Simple Help.

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This guide will cover how to remove/hide the News Ticker from Facebook if you’re using either Firefox or Chrome as your Web Browser. If you use a different web browser, the process is similar – just not outlined in this guide.

1. Start out by visiting the Userstyles page for Facebook – Ticker Remover.
2. If you’re using Firefox, jump down to step #5 below.
3. If you’re using Google Chrome as your web browser, simply click the install as user script link.



4. Now jump down to step #11 below – you’re pretty much done!
5. Firefox users – click on the link titled install just stylish, if you don’t already have the Stylish addon for Firefox already installed.



6. When prompted by Firefox, click the Allow button to install the Stylish Addon.



7. Click the Install Now button to continue the installation.



8. Finally, click the Restart Firefox button to restart Firefox and complete the installation.



9. Now that you have Stylish installed, return to the Facebook – Ticker Remover page. Click the Install with Stylish button.



10. Click the Install button.



11. You’re done! Return to Facebook (you may need to refresh the page). The News Ticker will now be gone!


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The post How to hide the News Ticker on Facebook appeared first on Simple Help.

Note: the Facebook Chat Sidebar/menu will re-appear when you initiate a chat with one of your friends on Facebook. Repeat steps #2 and 3 to hide it again. Keep an eye on FB Purity updates – I expect they will create a much more elegant approach to reverting to the previous Facebook Chat layout.

1. The image below illustrates the ‘new’ Facebook Chat sidebar.



2. To (temporarily) disable this sidebar, scroll to the bottom of your screen and locate the “cog” icon (see image below) and click it.



3. Select Hide Sidebar from the list of options.



4. Now your “Chat menu” will revert to its previous state – at the bottom of your screen in a much more unobtrusive location.



5. That’s it, you’re done! Do remember – when you click the “chat” box now at the bottom of your screen, the entire Chat Sidebar will re-appear. This isn’t a permanent solution, it’s just one that will remove the Chat Sidebar for your general Facebook surfing.

The post How to remove the Facebook Chat sidebar appeared first on Simple Help.

1. So you set up secure Browsing (Https) in Facebook to help protect against bad guys running packet sniffing apps like Firesheep over a public Wi-Fi network. When you check the box Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible you think your always protected right? Not necessarily.

2. Unfortunately there’s a flaw in the system. When you visit a page or app on Facebook that requires a regular (http) connection, it switches your entire account connection back to the unsecure (http). If you browse to an app or page that is unsecure, you’ll see the following message. At least Facebook gives you a warning…if you want to visit the page, click Continue.

3. Like in this example where we want to connect to NetworkedBlogs.

4. Here’s where the problem is. If you log out of your account, and sign back in, you’ll notice you’re no longer protected by a secure (https) connection! What? You though you checked a box saying use HTTPS Whenever possible. And the message advising you need to switch to a regular (http) connection doesn’t say you’ll lose your secure connection after visiting a non-secure site…very annoying.

5. So what you’ll need to do is go back into your Account Settings.

6. Under Account Security click on Change.

7. Then check the box next to Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible again to re-enable the setting…make sure to click the Save button.

8. Now you’re back to a secure (https) connection.

So, keep in mind that if you visit a page that isn’t on secure (https) that you double check your settings and re-enable the secure connection settings again. Hopefully Facebook figures out a way to fix this annoying issue soon.

The post How to Fix the Secure Connection Error in Facebook After Visiting an Insecure Page appeared first on Simple Help.

1. Log into your Facebook account and click on the Account dropdown menu on the upper right side of the page then click Account Settings.

2. On the My Account Settings page click on Change next to Account Security which is third up from the bottom.

3. Then you should see Secure Browsing (https). Check the box next to Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible…and then make sure to click Save. If you don’t see the option yet, be patient and keep checking back daily, as they’re slowly rolling out the feature to all users.

4. Now when you login to your Facebook account you should see “https://” before the URL in the address bar.

That’s it. Now when you’re on your Profile and Home page you’ll have a extra peace of mind knowing it’s secure. However, keep in mind that some pages may load slower, and it may not be available on all of the pages you access in Facebook, but at least they’re trying.

Also, if you don’t see the option yet, you should be able to add “https” in the address bar manually to get the encryption feature until the Account Setting is available to you.

The post How To Set Up Secure Browsing (HTTPS) in Facebook appeared first on Simple Help.

1. Facebook has created an address that you should be able to use to go straight to the location where you can download all of your content – https://www.facebook.com/dyi. If that link takes you directly to a page on Facebook titled Download Your Information you can skip down to step #6 below.
2. If the address in the previous step didn’t take you to a page where you can download your info, have no fear, you’ll just have to navigate through some settings first. Click the Account button (the one that looks like a triangle) in the upper-right corner of the Facebook website. Select Settings & Privacy from the list of options, and then Settings



3. Select Privacy from the menu on the left side of the site.



4. This time select Your Facebook Information from that same menu.



5. Click the Download Profile Information line.



6. Now you’ll have a whole slew of options to choose from to include in your download. Review each one and either remove or leave that item checked based on your preference.



7. Make sure to choose High from the Media Quality: menu so that you’re downloading the best possible versions of your images and videos. Click the Create File button when you’ve made all your selections.



8. A small message will be displayed letting you know the process of putting all of your information and files together has begun.



9. Facebook will notify you when the download is ready. You’ll also see a small red “1” next to the Available Copies tab in the Download Your Information screen.



10. Click the Download button to begin downloading all of your Facebook info. Once it’s finished you’ll have a .zip file in your Downloads folder – open it up and you’ll see a series of folders with all of your info.



11. That’s it!

The post How To Download All of the Data You’ve Put on Facebook appeared first on Simple Help.

1. Start out by plugging in your Flip Video camera to a USB port on your Mac. FlipShare should launch automatically. If you don’t have FlipShare installed, give this tutorial a whirl and then head back here.

   Select the video you want to share on Facebook by clicking on it once. Then click the Online button from the Share panel.


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2. Select facebook and then click the Next button.


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3. Now you’ll need to sign in and authenticate with Facebook. Click the Login button.


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4. Enter your Facebook credentials and click the Login button.


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5. Click the Allow button.


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6. Take one last look at the Items to Share list to make sure the right video is going to be uploaded, and then click the Share button.


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7. The bottom left corner of the main FlipShare interface will now display the upload status.



8. Once the upload has completed, the status will change to Items successfully posted to Facebook. Click on the Facebook link (see screenshot below).



9. It’s likely that Facebook will need a little bit of time to process the video. Look for a link titled Videos Currently Processing and click it.


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10. Click on the Edit Video link.


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11. From here you can fill out all of the info you want included with your video. Give the video a title, a description, tag anyone in the video (if applicable) and set the Privacy: level accordingly. When you’re done, click the Save button.


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12. After Facebook has finished processing your video, it will be listed along with all of your others. That’s it – you’re done!


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The post How to Upload Flip Videos to Facebook from a Mac appeared first on Simple Help.

So you’ve requested to be ‘friends’ with someone on Facebook – and they haven’t answered. Or maybe you’ve just decided you don’t really want to be friends with that person after all. Maybe you accidentally sent a friend request to someone. Whatever your reason, follow these steps and you’ll cancel that Friend request in now time.

1. Visit your Facebook profile and select the Friends link found in the toolbar below your profile photo.



2. Click the Friend Requests link found in the Friends panel.



3. Find the See All link in the upper-left corner of the window and give it a click.



4. This time find the View Sent Requests link (it’s in roughly the same location as the See All link was) and click it.



5. Finally! Locate the friend request that you want to cancel and click the Cancel Request button.



6. Confirm that the Facebook friend status has changed to Request canceled and … that’s it! You’re all done.

If you’d really like to improve your Facebook experience, check out our guide on how to remove Sponsored Posts and other annoying Facebook content.

The post How to Cancel a Facebook Friend Request appeared first on Simple Help.