I hope this topic is okay - I'm not giving out contact info I just had some questions... So, I was considering getting a Facebook account (though I haven't had one in 3-4 years). But I wanted it to be under my preferred name and gender. If I were to do such a thing, I would not "friend" any of my family or their Facebook friends. This wouldn't be a problem, as none of them are my friends anyway nor do I care about following them. But I'm only concerned about the risk of this idea? I would take precautions, of course. I would not put pictures of myself, nor contact any family/friends with that account. It would be separate and only for people who I know that respect my identity, to contact me. My name is common, and there are bound to be dozens of accounts with the same name as me so I don't think I could be "discovered" with only a name. I'm not even sure how all the privacy settings work on Facebook anymore. What can the public see, without me "friending" them? Anyway, has anyone else done this or does anybody have advice? Thanks in advance.
Well, I don't specifically have advice on this, but I do have a trans cousin with some Facebook issues. I know that changing his account name was difficult because they won't let you change the gender without proof of it so he needed his birth certificate first to prove that he was he. But as for making one from scratch, you would need to use or make a separate email account that is connected to it I'm sure of that. I know because I made one for my cat. And before you question my sanity on this decision know that it was just for the LOLS. But From there on you may post and friend whomever you choose, its completely your choice. Privacy settings as well are completely at your leisure, I for one do not add people unless I actually know who they are. And I rarely post pics, or updates or anything it's just for me to see what's happening with my family and friends. So if I can make a separate Facebook account for my CAT, I'm pretty sure that you can do the same for yourself to show as male. And that's all I know of how to use Facebook on this issue. I hope that helped a bit.
You can make your settings so that people who don't have any mutual friends with you can't even search you up in the search bar. I'd just double check all privacy settings and maybe get a trusted friend to unfriend you and check that what they can/can't see, that's the best way I've found. I'm sure that'd be safe for you to do though. Especially if you don't mention to them that youve got it. The only thing I'd watch out for is that if you do add someone who is Facebook friends with someone you don't want to know, then you might come up under the 'people you may know' for them. The tends not to happen unless you have a couple+ mutual friends though. For peace of mind I'd find all the people you definitely don't want to find you and block them. They can't find your profile or message you or see any of your posts. Then you'll feel a lot better about being on there.
Thanks. I went ahead and did it. Took your (Aberrance) advice and blocked the people I didn't want finding me. Now I'm good.
