As we imagine you already know, profile photography on social networks is crucial for anyone to be able to recognize you. Changing it is simple and no one has to know until they access your wall. In the case of Facebook it is different, since every time we make a change it will be published automatically, so it will appear to all those who follow us as if it were a notification.
Facebook and the privacy of our data
Today we'll explain how you can change your profile picture without anyone noticing , or at least without them easily finding out. Before we get into the details, let's remind you of some important points, such as privacy.
One of the most discussed topics regarding social media is the privacy of our data. These services must ensure that this data is safe and that, although it largely depends on how we use the platform, this information doesn't reach just anyone.
It's true that, ultimately, the profile picture is quite public. Even if we have a private account, completely protected from people outside our inner circle, it will be the first thing people find when they search for our name. But of course, Facebook wants each user to generate as many notifications as possible so that they, and their followers, spend more time on the social network. That's why a post appears on our timeline every time we update our profile or cover photo.
Why hide the notification?
While many Facebook profiles don't hesitate to torment their followers with several daily posts that often contribute nothing and are more spam than anything else, other users don't want to be such a nuisance and even find it absurd that the social network sends all their friends a notification that they have changed their profile picture.
Something that, normally, then generates a whole wave of comments (almost always positive and bordering on flattery: "time doesn't pass by for you", "beautiful", "you're like wine, you improve over the years", etc.) to which we are forced to respond, even if it is out of pure and simple courtesy.
So, we need to dedicate a few minutes to this, which we either don't have or prefer to spend on something else. So, if you're interested, let's tell you how to change your Facebook profile picture without anyone noticing. In other words, we want to avoid any notifications and prevent the usual suspects from bothering us: those friends, those eagle-eyed types, who are always on the lookout for changes to our profile and always end up finding out. Here we go.
How to change the profile photo and nobody finds out
To hide the update notification for this photo from everyone, the first step, obviously, is to change it . To do this, simply:
- Enter your Facebook account from your phone, tablet or computer and access your profile by clicking on your current avatar photo.
- Now, at the top of your screen you will see both the profile image and the cover image in a large size. It does not matter if you are in the desktop version or in the mobile version, click on your current photo to display the menu to change it.
- Select "Update Profile Picture". In this menu we can choose a photograph that has already been uploaded to our account, upload a new one, or even edit an existing one. It is already your decision which image to place. When you choose it, another menu will appear in which it is possible to scale the image and see how it will finally look with the circular frame.
A rather interesting new feature on this last screen is the ability to change your profile picture for a specific period of time. Once the time is up, it will revert to your previous one. You can access this function by tapping the "Use Temporarily" button , and then scheduling the period in days, weeks, or months that you want the profile picture to be displayed. This will also generate a notification on your timeline about the update.
At this time, and automatically, we will have placed the new profile image and, in addition, the update will have been published on our wall. At this time, and so that nobody gets to see that we have changed our image, you should follow these steps:
- Click on the menu of the three points in the upper right corner.
- Accede to "Edit Audience". In this menu we will select which users will be able to see this publication when accessing their news feed.
- In the event that you want nobody to see this post, you must select "Just me".
If you have followed this entire process, you and only you will be able to see this post and you will not receive any comments or interactions from the typical family member who likes everything you upload.
Customize who you notify with your profile photo
Increasingly, this and other social networks are characterized by listening to the requests of their users, including new functions or adapting those that they already had to their own needs.
And of course, in this case, you might not want an "all or nothing" approach regarding who receives notifications about your profile picture change. For example, you might have that one annoying friend who's commenting on it the minute you change your picture. Facebook has a solution for this kind of problem too.
If you don't want this photo to appear to a specific profile , you can select a specific person or group of users to block this post. The process is incredibly simple:
- Follow the steps until you publish a new profile photo as we mentioned above.
- Once posted to your feed, click on the three dots menu in the upper right corner.
- In this dropdown, click on "Edit audience".
- Now, instead of accessing the "only me" option, you must click on "Custom".
- In the pop-up window that we see now, Facebook will give us the possibility to select who do we want to be shown the new profile picture or who doesn't. As simple as that.
- Once you choose the option that interests you the most, you just have to click on “Save”.
In this very simple way you can adjust who is shown this profile photo update and who is not. The process is somewhat "cumbersome" because we will have to do it every time we change our avatar, but the truth is that it is not something we are doing every day.
If there's a user or group of people you don't want to see any of your posts, remember that you can globally select who sees your posts through your privacy settings. You can access this setting as follows:
- From your own profile, click on the “Account” icon in the upper right corner.
- Accede to "Settings and privacy".
- Click on “Checking privacy settings”.
- In this new menu, access the first option that has the name “Who can see what you share”.
- A new pop-up menu will guide you through the configuration. Although, what really interests us is on the second screen and it is called «Upcoming publications».
- Here you must customize the settings as we did in the previous section. Ready!
If you have any questions or problems with this process, please leave us a comment and we will try to resolve it as soon as possible.