Use View As to see your profile as the public does, limit past posts to friends in one step, review tags before they appear, and keep business on a Page, apart from your personal profile.

What a client finds

Before hiring a realtor, a lawyer or a consultant, many clients search the person's name. Alongside the business website, the results often include a personal Facebook profile.

Clicking it shows holiday photographs, jokes shared years ago, a long argument in a community group, and pictures friends posted from a stag weekend. None of it was meant for clients.

Nothing in it is scandalous either. But a client deciding whether to trust someone with a house sale or a legal matter forms an impression, and nobody chose which one.

How a profile ends up public

Most of it comes from defaults and old choices. Each post keeps the audience selected when it was made, and on many accounts that was Public for years.

Changing the audience for new posts leaves old ones alone. Every post made under the old setting keeps it until someone changes it, one by one or all together.

Some things are public by design: the current profile picture and cover photo are visible to everyone. Photos others post and tag you in follow the poster's settings, not yours.

What adds up

A public profile is usually assembled from several sources at once:

Each piece seems harmless alone. Together they tell a stranger a good deal about someone they have not yet met.

Seeing what a stranger sees

Facebook's View As tool, on your own timeline, shows the profile as a member of the public sees it. Scroll all the way down, through years of posts, photographs and the About section.

Then search your own name on Google while logged out, to see what a client sees before ever reaching Facebook.

Do both on a phone as well. Many clients look people up on one, between appointments or from the car.

Limiting past posts in one step

In the privacy settings, Limit Past Posts changes every old post shared with Public or friends of friends to friends only, all at once.

It cannot be undone in one step, so it suits anyone with no reason for old posts to stay public. Posts you want public again can be reopened one at a time.

Then set the audience for future posts, and check who can follow you, since followers see your public posts in their news feeds.

Tags others add

Turn on review for posts and photos friends tag you in, so nothing reaches your timeline without approval. Removing a tag takes the photo off your profile.

Removing a tag does not delete the photo. If a picture should not be online at all, ask the friend who posted it; most people understand a business reason.

Check the About section as well. Old employers, a hometown and likes from years ago are public on many profiles, and some say more than you would tell a client.

A worked example

A forklift training school in an industrial area runs certification courses for warehouse staff and on-site training for employers. Its owner, a longtime instructor, signs every certificate.

Safety coordinators booking training for their crews often search his name first. Several had mentioned his Facebook profile when they called, some of them jokingly.

View As showed why. His posts had been public for six years, and a friend had tagged him in an old party photo: standing on raised forks, which his courses teach operators never to allow.

He limited all past posts to friends, removed the tag and asked the friend to take the photo down, which she did. Tag review is now on, and new posts go to friends only.

The school's Facebook Page, separate from his profile, carries course dates and training photographs. The public part of his profile now holds only what he chose, and the business has a place of its own.

Business on a Page, personal on a profile

Facebook's terms expect businesses to use Pages rather than personal profiles. A Page has its own name, audience and insights, and clients can like it without becoming your friend.

Keep client contact on the Page and the website. Friend requests from clients can be declined politely, or answered with a link to the Page, which keeps the line clear.

A current LinkedIn profile, with a professional photograph and an accurate work history, is usually what clients should find for the person. It is built for exactly that impression.

Checking again each season

Settings drift. A new phone app, a friend's tag or a change Facebook makes to its menus can open something you had closed. Repeat View As every few months.

Search your own name while logged out at the same time, and note anything new on the first screen of results, images included.

The counter-case

Some owners build their business on personality. A realtor known around town for community events, or a consultant whose opinions are part of what clients hire, may want a public profile.

It can be a sound choice for them, if it is deliberate: decide what is public, post it on purpose, and close whatever was public only by default.

For most professionals, though, clients are better served by a clear Page and website, and a personal profile that stays among friends.

Closing what was public by default

  1. Search your name on Google while logged out.
  2. Use View As to see your profile as the public does.
  3. Limit past posts to friends in one step.
  4. Turn on tag review for posts and photos.
  5. Tidy the About section and set who can follow you.
  6. Move business posts to a Facebook Page.
  7. Repeat the check every few months.

Step three covers the most ground in the least time. Years of old posts become friends only at once, and anything you want public again can be reopened deliberately, one post at a time.

A business Page reaches fewer of its fans than it used to, and why fewer fans see your Facebook posts explains why the website and email list are the parts a business owns.

Frequently asked questions

Why can clients see my personal Facebook posts?

Each post keeps the audience chosen when it was made, and on many accounts that was Public for years. Changing the setting for new posts leaves old ones as they were.

How do I see what a stranger sees?

Use View As on your own timeline to see the public view, and search your name on Google while logged out, on a computer and on a phone.

What does Limit Past Posts do?

It changes every old post shared with Public or friends of friends to friends only, in one step. Undoing it means changing posts back one at a time.

Can I stop friends tagging me in photos?

Turn on tag review so tags need your approval before reaching your timeline, and remove tags you do not want. The photo stays unless the person who posted it deletes it.

Should my business use my personal profile?

No. Facebook's terms expect businesses to use Pages. A Page has its own audience and insights, and clients can follow it without becoming your friend.

What if my public profile is part of my business?

That can be a deliberate choice. Decide what is public, post it on purpose, and close whatever was public only because of an old default.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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