Two months ago, I did the unthinkable for a college student: deactivated my Facebook account. I am not shunning the social network because I don’t like it, as several young people recently discussed in The New York Times. And I am not going offline because there is anything particularly incriminating on my Facebook page.
What makes me uncomfortable about the tool is that I have actively used it since my freshman year of high school, beginning at age 15. It occurred to me that my page now groups all of the thoughts that my teenage self deemed relevant to the Internet community onto the same page that I currently use as I enter my professional life. I am nine months away from college graduation, and the idea that an Internet record possesses a detailed span of my life, visible to all my online connections, from age 15 and onward into my professional life and career is daunting, and, well, just plain weird.
The Internet has provided us with many new forums to engage, but for my generation, it has over- simplified communication. Work, school, and family identities are mulched into one page—a page that has existed since early high school for me and many of my peers. Google+ did attempt to mitigate this problem with “circles,” and Facebook has come out with similar privacy settings—but the idea is still strange. As I grow older, and my identity changes, my Facebook history still exists, available for my entire online community to see.
However, Facebook is an important tool to have in both your professional and personal lives. It helps you connect with old friends, peers, and colleagues—the ultimate, easy networking tool. This has led me to the conclusion that, following my well deserved break from Facebook (I’ve been on it for six years), I am going to make a new account. After all, it is about time that my online image was refreshed—my teenage self has no place in my upcoming world of job interviews, graduate school preparation, and nine to five business days.
If you are thinking about following in my footsteps and starting over, or just taking a break, Facebook offers two strategies: deactivation and deletion. Currently, I am part of the deactivation club, but if I really want to start over, deletion is next on my Facebook agenda.
Deactivation
What to know: Deactivation, according to Facebook, keeps all of your information stored online. However, it is inaccessible to your Facebook friends. No one can search you, and no one can look at your profile or photos. Some information, such as messages you have sent, will still be visible to others. The most important aspect of deactivation is that all your information is stored, in case you decide to return to the service.
How to do it
- Click the account menu at the top right of any Facebook page
- Choose Account Settings
- Select Security from the left-hand menu
- Click on “Deactivate your account”
If you want to reactivate your account, all you have to do is log in to Facebook, and your page reappears.
Deletion
What to know: Permanently deleting your account is more drastic than deactivation. Once you delete your Facebook account, you will not be able to access it again. Furthermore, any personally identifiable information is removed from Facebook’s database, such as an email or mailing address. However, remnants of your Facebook activity may remain, including messages you have sent. Images might remain on the Facebook server, but it is no longer linked to your name, and is inaccessible to other users.
How to do it
Deleting your Facebook account is more complicated than deactivation. Follow these steps:
- Close your accounts at any website that you use Facebook to log in to. For example, Pinterest, Stumble Upon, and many other websites allow you to log in using your Facebook account. If you log in to any of these accounts for 14 days following deleting your Facebook, your account will be reactivated.
- Go to the Facebook Deletion page and click “Delete My Account.” You will then be prompted to confirm this decision; click “Okay.”
- Do not log back into Facebook for the next 14 days, or it will reinstate your account and you will need to start the process over again.
**Note: You are able to create a new account within the 14 day period, so if you are deleting your account to start a new one, you do not need to wait 14 days.
If you are just entering the professional world, and think that your Facebook could use a fresh start, these tips can help. In PR, we constantly emphasize how important maintaining a professional online persona is—don’t forget to extend this thinking to your personal social platforms.