Yes, it is possible to be friends with someone on Facebook but not see their posts in your News Feed. Facebook gives you several options to control whose posts you see and don’t see.
How to Stop Seeing Someone’s Posts
Here are a few ways you can stop seeing someone’s posts on Facebook while remaining friends:
- Unfollow them – This means you stay friends but their posts no longer show up in your News Feed. Their profile picture and name will still appear in your friends list. To unfollow someone, go to their profile page and select “Unfollow.”
- Turn off notifications – Go to their profile page and click “Follow Settings.” From there you can turn off notifications so you don’t get alerted about their posts.
- Mute their posts – Click the three dots at the top right of one of their posts and select “Mute posts.” You can choose to mute them from your News Feed for 30 days or indefinitely.
- Add them to your Restricted list – This prevents them from seeing your posts as well. Go to their profile, click “Friends,” and select “Add to Restricted List.”
How the Facebook News Feed Works
To understand how to control whose posts you see, it helps to understand how the Facebook News Feed works. The News Feed does not show absolutely everything your friends post. Instead, it uses algorithms to select the posts it thinks you’ll find most relevant and interesting.
According to Facebook, there are over 100,000 potential stories that could appear in your News Feed every time you refresh it. The algorithms filter these down to around 300 stories that actually show up in your feed.
The main factors that determine what you see are:
- Pages and people you interact with the most
- Content that gets a lot of likes, comments and shares
- Videos and photos, which get higher priority
- Posts that are timely or relevant
So if you frequently like, comment on or otherwise engage with a friend’s posts, you’ll keep seeing more of their content. To see less of someone, interact with their posts less often.
News Feed Settings
In your News Feed preferences, you have additional options to prioritize the friends and pages you care about most or filter content you don’t want to see.
- Favorites – Pin up to 30 friends and pages to the top of your News Feed.
- Unfollow – Remove posts from specific people or pages without unfriending them.
- Reconnect – Get updated on friends you haven’t heard from in a while.
- Snooze – Temporarily stop seeing posts from certain people, groups or pages for 30 days.
You can access your News Feed preferences by clicking the three line icon in the top right of Facebook > News Feed Preferences. Take time to explore all the customization options here.
Seeing Only Close Friends
If you want your News Feed to show only posts from your closest friends and family, there are a couple ways to achieve this:
- Add your Close Friends list to Favorites
- Create a Restricted list with all other friends
- Go through and individually Unfollow everyone not on your Close Friends list
This will take some effort upfront, but ensure your News Feed becomes much more intimate and personal. You’ll only see updates from your inner circle.
Hiding from Specific People
You can also hide your own posts from specific friends while remaining connected on Facebook. Here are two options for that:
- Add them to your Restricted list
- When creating a post, use the audience selector to customize who can see it. Choose “Friends Except…” and type in the people you want to hide it from.
This lets you stay friends while choosing who sees your content on an individual basis.
Conclusion
Facebook gives you granular control over whose posts you see in your News Feed and who sees yours. While you need to be proactive in updating your settings, you can:
- Stay Facebook friends but unfollow someone
- Control notifications about their posts
- Prioritize your closest friends and family
- Hide your own posts from specific people
So it is definitely possible to be Facebook friends with someone while limiting how much you interact with their profile and posts.
| Method | Impact on Your Feed | Impact on Their Feed |
|---|---|---|
| Unfollow | Won’t see their posts | No change |
| Turn off notifications | Won’t be notified about posts | No change |
| Mute posts | Temporarily won’t see posts | No change |
| Restricted list | Won’t see their posts | They won’t see your posts |
| News Feed preferences | Controls what posts you see overall | No change for specific people |
| Custom audience when posting | No change | They won’t see your posts |
Benefits of Staying Facebook Friends
- Can still message each other
- Appear as friends in apps like Spotify and TikTok
- May reconnect in the future
- Avoids awkwardness of unfriending
Downsides of Staying Facebook Friends
- Still counted as a Facebook friend
- Can see some profile info and activity
- May create confusion in the relationship
Ultimately it comes down to your specific situation. Use the above settings wisely so you can tailor who and what you see on Facebook.