Facebook groups allow users to connect with others who share similar interests and have focused discussions. When you post in a Facebook group, by default, your friends will be able to see that post in their News Feed. However, you can change your settings so that your friends don’t see your group posts.
Why friends see your group posts
When you post in a Facebook group, that post is visible to all members of that group. In addition, Facebook’s default settings allow your friends to see your group posts in their News Feeds.
There are two main reasons why Facebook shows your friends your group posts:
- To encourage engagement – Facebook wants to show relevant content to your friends that might interest them, spark conversation and increase engagement.
- As social context – Seeing the groups you are active in and your interactions gives your friends context about your interests and activities.
Limiting audience for posts
While you can’t completely hide Facebook group activity from friends, you can limit the audience that sees your posts.
Adjust default audience
When making a post in a group, you can adjust the audience at the time of posting to limit visibility. On desktop, click the audience selector below the post box (likely set to “Public” by default) and adjust to “Friends except…” or “Specific friends…” to customize who can see it.
Friends except acquaintances
Choose “Friends except acquaintances” to show your post to close friends only. Acquaintances won’t see the post in their feed. This prevents casual friends or distant connections from seeing your group activity.
Custom friend list
Create a custom friend list with only your closest connections. Then when posting in a group, choose “Specific friends” and select that list to limit visibility to just those friends.
Changing default audience setting
Rather than adjusting audience each time, you can change the default audience setting for your posts:
- Go to your Facebook Settings.
- Click “Privacy.”
- Go to “Your activity” and click “News feed and stories.”
- Click “Audience selector” and choose desired default audience like “Friends except” or “Specific friends only.”
This will make your preferred audience the default when posting in groups moving forward.
Leaving preview on posts
Even if you limit the audience, friends can still see a preview of your post if you leave post previews turned on. Post previews show a brief snippet of the post text in the News Feed.
To disable previews:
- Go to Settings.
- Click “Privacy.”
- Go to “Your activity” and click “News feed and stories.”
- Turn off “Show a preview of what I share” to disable snippets.
Restrict old posts
Limiting audience will only affect new posts going forward. To restrict visibility of old posts:
- Go to your Facebook page and click “More” on a post.
- Select “Edit audience” from the dropdown menu.
- Change the audience to only close friends or a custom list instead of “Public.”
- Click “Confirm” to apply the change.
Repeat this for any other old posts you want to limit.
Leave revealing groups
If you don’t want friends knowing you are in a particular sensitive or private group, you can always leave that group. This will completely remove your visibility and association with that group from all friends moving forward.
Limit old group posts
To limit old group posts without fully leaving a group:
- Go to the group and click “See All” on your posts.
- For any post, click the three dots then “Edit Privacy.”
- Change audience to “Only group members” or a custom list.
- Click “Confirm” to save the change.
This will retroactively apply your preferred privacy to old posts.
Disable comment sharing
Your friends can see when you comment on public posts in a group. Stop comments from being reshared:
- Go to Settings.
- Click “Privacy.”
- Go to “Your activity” and click “News feed and stories.”
- Turn off “Share your comments on public posts to News Feed”
This will prevent comment notifications being shown to friends moving forward.
Avoid friend tagging
Getting tagged by friends in group posts or comments also shares that activity. To prevent being exposed:
- Ask friends not to tag you in groups
- Remove tags if you get tagged
- Disable the audience for any post you get tagged in
Staying untagged will help keep your group activity private.
Limit old tags
To limit visibility of old tags:
- Click on your profile and go to “Posts you’re tagged in.”
- For any group tag, click the three dots then “Edit privacy.”
- Change audience to “Only me” or a custom list.
- Click “Confirm” to apply the change.
This will retroactively remove the tag from friends’ feeds.
Disable public link sharing
Group members can share links to public group content which friends may see. Stop link reshares:
- Go to the group’s About section.
- Click Membership Approval if you have admin rights.
- Uncheck “Allow members to share group links and content to non-members.”
- Click Save to disable.
Leave public groups
For public groups anyone can see activity and join. For maximum privacy, only join closed or secret groups.
Create a private group
If you can’t find an existing suitable closed group, create your own. This gives you full control over privacy settings:
- Click Groups in the left menu and select Create New Group.
- Name your group and add members.
- Under Privacy, select “Secret” group.
- Under Posting Permissions, uncheck “Allow members to post.”
- Click Create to make the private group.
This will ensure only you can post and only members see any activity.
Use an alternate account
Creating a separate Facebook account just for private groups helps compartmentalize your activity. Simply don’t add personal friends to that account.
Block friend accounts
If there are a few specific concerning friends seeing too much, you can block them from your posts:
- Go to your Facebook profile.
- Click Friends in the left column.
- Click the three dots next to a friend’s name and select Block.
- Confirm the block.They will no longer see your posts.
Use blocking judiciously for privacy without offending friends.
Conclusion
Limiting friends’ visibility of your Facebook group activity takes a bit of effort but can be done. Adjust default audience, restrict old posts, leave public groups, and create private groups to gain more control. With the right settings, you can participate in groups while maintaining your privacy.