Oversharing. Notification spam. Post pollution. TMI. Annoying! Sometimes your Facebook newsfeed just gets filled with junk – quizzes, game notifications, and my latest pet peeve, Spotify updates.

It’s time for Facebook hiding and blocking.

OPTION 1: Hiding

Hover over the top right of any post you’d like to hide until you see a little arrow and a drop-down menu. Then select the type of hide – person or application – and check it. (The screen capture below shows just the option of hiding the app, but on other posts you’ll be able to hide the person, too.) Your hide is not publicized, or communicated to the person if you’ve hidden a person.

Hiding is less harsh than unfriending and a good choice if you want to turn the volume down without tuning someone totally out. If you change your mind and want to unhide the app from your feed, scroll ALL the way down on your newsfeed until you see this:

Then click on “Edit Options” and you’ll see an alphabetized list of all of the apps and people you’ve hidden. I bat those quizzes and game notifications like flies as soon as they come up, before they breed and muck up my feed – 466 applications hidden and counting.

OPTION 2: Blocking

When hiding isn’t enough, there’s blocking. Blocking means that you totally prevent an app or person from interacting with you. For people, it’s beyond unfriending. It’s being unlisted for just that person.

The blocking function is a little harder to find. Start with your “Privacy Settings,” pictured right. Then scroll down to the “Blocked People and Apps” and select “Manage Blocking.”

You can block users, app invites from specific friends (the over-inviters), event invites, and apps. The event invite blocker in particular is a glorious feature.

Hiding and blocking let you have more control over what you see and who you interact with. I’m sure there’s something you’ve been itching to drop from your feed. Go hide!

photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography