How to Go “Invisible” in Facebook Messenger

If you happen to have a contact on Facebook who usually annoys you via chat, then you may have trouble keeping them away.

As you gain more contacts on this digital network, you may want to control who gets to see you online and not, via chat. The Facebook chat is handy, that is for sure.

But if in order to keep away from some annoying ‘friends’ or from any form of distraction, you have to turn the chat offline, wouldn’t you prefer a better alternative?

In this tutorial I will show you how you can selectively decide who can see you online on Facebook chat. There is no extension or plugin required, you can simply set from the chat box itself.

Hiding on Facebook Chat

Whether or not you are familiar with these options, there are two ways to keep away from annoying people on Facebook Chat.

Stay hidden from a friend

If there is only one person you want to hide from, click open the chat window of your friend, click the ‘gear’ button and select ‘Go Offline..’

By selecting this option, your friend will see you as offline, but you can still send them messages.

Stay hidden from list of friends

When there are a string of people you want to hide from on your Facebook chat, the best way is to group them in a list on Facebook.

1. To create a list, go to your Facebook Wall, look for ‘List’ on the left and click ‘MORE’.



2. Click on the button that says ‘Create List’.



3. A pop-up window will appear, in the ‘List Name’ field, you can name this list anything that’s easy to remember, then enter the name of people you want to hide from. When completed, click the ‘Create’ button.

Now you have created a list of people you want to hide from. Next, open your chat box and go to ‘Options’ by clicking on the gear button, and then select ‘Advance Settings…’

In the pop-up window, select the first option that says ‘All your friends see you except…’ and enter the name of the new list you have just created.

Click the ‘Save’ button and you now appear offline on Facebook Chat to the friends in the list.

Undo Hiding

To undo hiding, go back to the ‘Advanced Chat Setting’ and clear the group name off the list. Hit ‘Save’.

Conclusion

The step to hide from selective friends on your Facebook chat is no secret; anyone can do it. Of course, while you can hide yourself, there are no options that would allow you to check who is hiding from you. Yet.