Sometimes it seems like I no sooner provide instructions on how to do something on Facebook, than Facebook changes it. This is the case with restoring your Facebook map (you can’t) or deleting a post on Facebook (it’s changed.) I get questions about deleting a post a lot, so time to write a new set of instructions. Thanks, Facebook. So here is how to delete a Facebook post from your wall.
One Way to Delete a Facebook Post
This is for a post someone else wrote on someone else’s timeline. It will not remove the post, it will hide it from you.
When you look at a post, you will not see the carrot on the right side. Hover your mouse in that area to see the carrot. Click on it.
You will see several options. Click “I don’t want to see this.” You will no longer see it. Facebook changes exactly what this says from time to time, but the concept is the same. As in my next set of instructions.
Another Way to Remove a Post
I noticed that I have a slightly different set of options when I go to delete a Facebook post by someone else.
On my Facebook account, the options include “Hide” and “Report/Mark as Spam.” I don’t have the survey option and I don’t have “I don’t want to see this.” What’s the deal? I guess Curtis has a different set of options than I do on his page, because one is newer than the other.
Deleting Your Own Facebook Post
The two posts above were written by others. The first account belongs to Curtis Ellis, the second to Jennifer Ellis. If you have written a post of your own that you want to delete, here is how it is currently done.
As you can see, there are completely different options when the post is your own. You can delete your own post, unfollow it, or embed it somewhere else.
Deleting or Removing a Comment
If you have written a comment on a post (yours or someone else’s) you will instead see a pencil when you hover.
Conclusion
It seems to me that Facebook is in the middle of changing how you remove someone else’s Facebook post from your timeline. Since Facebook is always in the middle of changing stuff, this does not surprise me. It also seems that Facebook has decided to change the word delete to hide, or something else that does not make it clear whether you are actually deleting the post from your timeline. Given that you cannot delete someone else’s post anyway, this makes some amount of sense.
I will eagerly await the next change. This will enable me to write a 3rd post on how to remove a post from your Facebook wall.
Yay.