Facebook’s featured photos allow users to showcase a photo at the top of their profile. This eye-catching photo is often the first thing people will see when visiting someone’s profile page. With featured photos being such a prominent part of a Facebook profile, many users wonder – are my featured photos always public? Let’s take a closer look at how Facebook handles the privacy settings for featured photos.
The Basics of Facebook Featured Photos
Facebook introduced featured photos in 2011 as a way for users to showcase a special or meaningful photo at the top of their profile. When you select a featured photo, it appears in a larger size at the top of your timeline cover photo. Users can change their featured photo as often as they want. Many people change it to match their current profile picture or to show off their favorite recent life event or travel photo.
Featured photos appear in several places on Facebook:
- The top of your personal timeline page
- Next to your posts, comments and other interactions
- On your profile that others see when visiting your page or searching for you
In addition to profile photos, Facebook Pages can also have a featured photo that appears at the top of the Page.
The Privacy Settings for Featured Photos
When you first set a featured photo on Facebook, the default privacy is public. This means the photo is visible to anyone on or off Facebook. However, you can customize the privacy settings for your featured photo:
- Public: Everyone including people off Facebook can see your featured photo.
- Friends: Only your friends on Facebook can see your featured photo.
- Only Me: Only you can see your featured photo.
To change the privacy setting for your featured photo:
- Click on your profile picture and select “View Profile”
- Click the camera icon to bring up your photos
- Hover over your featured photo and click on the ellipsis (three dots) icon
- Select “Change Privacy”
- Choose who can see your photo – Public, Friends or Only Me
One thing to note is that if you’ve shared the featured photo in any public way – such as posting it on your timeline – changing the privacy will not remove that public exposure. The privacy setting only applies to limiting visibility of the featured photo in the future.
Key Points on Featured Photo Privacy
- Featured photos are public by default when first selected.
- You can customize the privacy setting for your featured photo at any time.
- Options include Public, Friends or Only Me.
- Changing the privacy will only limit future visibility, not past public sharing.
- Featured photos have their own privacy setting separate from where the photo may have been shared.
The Difference Between Profile and Cover Photos
In addition to featured photos, Facebook has profile photos and cover photos that also appear on your timeline. Here’s the difference between these three key Facebook photos:
| Photo Type | Description | Privacy Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Profile Photo | Small photo that appears alongside your name and interactions | Public by default |
| Cover Photo | Large wide banner photo behind profile photo and info | Public by default |
| Featured Photo | Large highlighted photo at the top of your page | Public by default |
While all three types of photos are public by default, you can customize the privacy settings for each one independently. Your profile, cover and featured photos can all have different audiences if you choose.
How Private Can You Really Be on Facebook?
While Facebook does allow you to tweak privacy settings like who can see your featured photo, the reality is much of what you do on Facebook will be at least somewhat public. Here are a few reasons it’s difficult to have complete privacy on the platform:
- Facebook’s default settings maximize sharing and visibility.
- Facebook’s algorithms highlight photos and posts to non-friends.
- Facebook owns all content you post – even private content.
- Facebook collects extensive data about you for ad targeting.
- Past public posts, likes, locations and more remain public.
- Friends can screenshot or share anything you post.
In many ways, Facebook is designed to encourage users to publicly share information, photos and life updates. While you can tweak some privacy levers, ultimately much of what you do on Facebook will be visible to a wide audience in some form or another.
Strategies for Managing Featured Photo Privacy
If you are concerned about controlling the privacy of your featured photo and Facebook presence in general, here are a few strategies to consider:
Limit Personal Information
Be selective about the personal details, contact info and location data you provide on your profile. The less specific intel on you the better.
Review Your Privacy Settings
Regularly check your privacy settings on who can see your posts, photos, friends list and other data. Tighten up settings as much as you desire.
Customize Featured Photo Audience
Change your featured photo visibility to Friends or Only Me if you don’t want it completely public. But remember past shares will still be visible.
Be Wary of Oversharing
Think carefully before posting very personal or intimate information that could be seen by employers, family etc.
Use Temporary Photos
Rotate your featured photo frequently to minimize how long any single photo is shown. Avoid indefinite permanent photos.
Leverage Blocking Features
Make use of options to block certain users from seeing your profile or specific posts to limit some visibility.
The Reality of Social Media Privacy
While Facebook does provide some controls around your featured photo audience and general privacy, the reality is social media platforms are designed for wide sharing and visibility. Nothing you do on these public platforms is ever 100% private. It’s important to think carefully about what details, photos and information you share online through Facebook or any other social channel. The privacy genie doesn’t easily go back into the bottle once content is posted.
Conclusion
In summary, featured photos on Facebook have a public default privacy setting but users can change this at any time to limit visibility to only their friends or just themselves. However, past public sharing cannot be undone. Facebook and other social media are fundamentally designed for sharing information widely. While some privacy controls exist, true privacy is difficult if not impossible on these public platforms. Think carefully before posting any content you want to keep private now and in the future.