Ongoing questions over Facebook User’s privacy practices – including a class action lawsuit in Austria involving 25,000 users that claim Facebook illegally tracked users’ browsing habits via software installed on other web pages, and participated in “Prism”, the American spy programme – are also making some people have a rethink about their membership of the social network.
If you are fed up and want to rid yourself of your account, you have two choices. You can either deactivate your Facebook account, which means your profile will disappear from the social network but all the information in your account stays saved on Facebook’s servers in case you decide to return, or you can permanently delete your account, which means all your data will be wiped from Facebook’s servers and you will not be able to regain access to that particular account.
Deleting a Facebook account is a very frequent topic amongst Facebook users. Each user wants to delete his/her Facebook account for various reasons, some want to delete because they have multiple accounts, others wants to delete their Facebook account because they are being abused by other users and others want to delete their Facebook account because they do not wish to be seen online anymore, etc.
But before you delete your Facebook account, I would like to share with you some important things that you may, or you should remember to do before giving up your social life.
Here are 5 important things you should consider before deleting your Facebook profile:
1. Be Very Sure You Want To Leave Facebook: If you have decided to leave Facebook, be sure that you have made that decision correctly and you won’t click on any ‘like’ button, you won’t wish to chat with any one on Facebook, and you won’t wish to browse any Facebook page.
This is because, some people decide to delete their account, but just a day after deleting their account, they log back in and like statuses, chat with friends and other stuffs.
2. Give Your Pages And Groups To Other Users: If you have created a group or a page on Facebook, and other members are happy using your group or sharing news in your page, let them keep on enjoying Facebook and don’t take the group away from them simply because you want to leave Facebook. Just grant admin privileges to other members of that group or page and let them enjoy while you are out of Facebook.
3. Inform Your Friends: It’s a good idea to let your close friends and acquaintances know that they won’t find you on Facebook anymore. Just inform them that you are about to delete your Facebook account, by doing this, you can exchange contacts and other means of communication with some other good friends that you will miss and who will miss you on Facebook.
4. Download Your Information: It’s also a good idea to download your data from Facebook, these may include your messages, photos, videos, contacts and other stuffs. To download your information from Facebook, read this help: https://www.facebook.com/help/131112897028467
5. Uninstall Mobile Apps, Clear Your Browser History And Log In Sessions: The last thing to consider and remember to do is to uninstall your Facebook app in your mobile devices and also clear your Facebook login sessions and history.
This will help you because someone else can use your device, either mobile or desktop computer and log in again, reactivating your account in the process if you have left the option of your password being remembered on your device.
DELETE FACEBOOK ACCOUNT PERMANENTLY
If you don’t think you’ll use Facebook again, you can request to have your account permanently deleted.
However, after an account has been deleted it won’t be possible to reactivate your account or retrieve anything you’ve shared on your profile. Before you do this, you may want to download a copy of your information from Facebook
The following is the official link for deleting your Facebook account, just click the link and confirm your action, then your account will be completely deleted after two weeks:
https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account
OR:
Log in with your Facebook details on your browser
Click the triangular-shaped icon located at the right corner of your Facebook homepage
Select “Settings”
Click on the link at the bottom of the main menu that says “Download a copy of your Facebook data”.
Then you need to go to https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account, click on “Delete my account”, then follow the steps to confirm.
N/B: It may take up to 90 days for Facebook to delete all of the things you’ve posted, like your photos, status updates or other data stored in backup systems.
While Facebook is deleting this information, it is inaccessible to other people using the social network. Some of the things you do on Facebook aren’t stored in your account.
For example, a friend may still have messages from you in their inbox. That information will remain even after you delete your account, so you will need to contact the recipients of you want it removed.
HOW TO DELETE THE ACCOUNT OF DECEASED PERSON
If you have lost your loved one, you can contact Facebook so that they can delete that account, or they can memorize it. To request the removal of your loved ones account, read this help:
https://www.facebook.com/help/www/265593773453448
OR:
– Click on the question mark (‘?’) in the right hand corner of the page,
– Click on ‘Help Center’, you will be taken to Facebook Help Centre,
– On the search box, type ‘deceased user delete’
– Then choose ‘memorialize’ or ‘delete’ account.
Facebook requires you to fill out an online form and upload documentation.
Remember, if you don’t want to delete Facebook account permanently, you can deactivate Facebook account temporarily pending when you want to start using your account again.