Facebook novice - how to lay low?

[shopsalot]

As per title - I have never used Facebook but want to join as there are some private groups which I'd like join or just see their information. How can I do this without sharing all my information with the world?!

I have a MacBook / iPhone and don't want to inadvertently invite all my contacts to be friends. Ideally I'd like to use a different name but assume I can't.

I know that Facebook is there to share info with friends etc but this is not for me. I also know that you can change settings to private (not sure how as haven't got that far) - but I'd like to set it up without inviting friends and keeping it very private. And I really don't want to be suggested as a friend to anyone. I assume there are clever algorithms which look at email addresses / phone numbers? I have an email address which is relatively unused compared to my main email so will use that one.

Has anyone done this? Any clues / tips on keeping as anonymous as possible during set up....?

Technically I don’t think you’re supposed to use a fake name but it’s not uncommon to do so. I use a nickname I am not known by and my middle name (so for example if you are Elizabeth May Jones and known as Liz Jones I would use Beth May).

Use an email address that isn’t linked to any friends and don’t link a phone number to your account. Don’t add anybody as a friend as friend suggestions are usually based on who your mutual friends are.

Also you can usually be quite strict on your privacy settings, for example you can set it so that photos, friend lists etc are private and can’t be viewed by anyone. You can also make it so that nobody can send you a friend request unless you have mutual friends in common.

You can tie it all down pretty tightly in the privacy settings, including not accepting friend requests. Don't let it have access to your contact list.

Agree with all @BillyIsMyBunny’s suggestions

I’m another Beth May and don’t add any personal photos / profile pics to mine.

It's totally easy to set up a fake FB profile, no one's checking.

Use an email address that doesn't have any contacts, make up a fake name and you're off. I've had a second account for years for certain groups I'm in and I've never in that time had any friend requests or suggestions for anyone I actually know and neither account has ever been suggested to the other as a friend.

Facebook will 'know' your phone number but just decline to confirm it. Do not enable chatheads on messenger they are so annoying and before you know it you will have inadvertently 'waved' to one of your contacts by mistake. If you follow groups, if they are 'private' in their 'about info' then any comments or likes you make won't be posted to your time line. If they are public they will.

Just so you know in advance you won't be able to see anything in a private group unless you are a member so if it's a group where the admin needs to know it's you before you're accepted you'd need to let them know your alias which might defeat the purpose of what you are trying to do.

@GoWalkabout

Facebook will 'know' your phone number but just decline to confirm it. Do not enable chatheads on messenger they are so annoying and before you know it you will have inadvertently 'waved' to one of your contacts by mistake. If you follow groups, if they are 'private' in their 'about info' then any comments or likes you make won't be posted to your time line. If they are public they will.

Surely facebook can only know your phone number if you use it on your phone. If you use it on a computer or tablet how would it find out your phone number?

I have two factor authentication set up on mine so it needs my phone number but I don't have it visible to others.

Private groups may be wary of admitting someone who has no information visible on their profile, especially if the subject matter is sensitive or controversial, in case you are a spammer / troublemaker.

Many people in public facing jobs such as police or teachers do not show their real names. They either spell it differently, use middle names or nicknames. If you set a profile picture, set it as a scenic picture from a popular tourist spot you’ve visited previously. Make your settings so that only friends can see your posts.

If someone does find out you have FB and you feel you have to accept them as friends, you can create lists and limit what they see. If groups are private, then what you post in there won’t be seen by anyone else. If they’re public pages, they could be seen people on your friends list but people will probably get bored of seeing the updates in their newsfeed.

I deleted Facebook years ago, and like you needed to get it back recently to join a private group. It was such a pain to do, and my account was suspended at one point because they didn’t believe I was a real person. It also meant I struggled to join other private groups because my account was so locked down they presumed I was a scammer/fake account. In the end I had to add a few close friends, profile picture etc and verify I was real by sending Facebook a video of myself 🙄

I dunno but it always used to ask me 'is this your phone number' and it was. I guess because some people Do give it access to all their contacts so from anyone with my name number and email address? Just like Facebook gave Cambridge Analytica access to my (or anyones) data because a Facebook friend had ticked yes on a random 'fun' survey? Even if I hadn't.

Years ago I set up a Facebook profile for my mum so she could see the photos and videos we took of the grand kids. I created a separate email account for her, solely for Facebook, and used the names of my childhood pets, (which were all human names, so she wasn't Fluffy Puppikins or anything like that) as her profile name.

Thanks all for the tips. And thanks for the points on joining private groups but being seen as a real person. Think I'll use my second name.

There seem to be lots of privacy settings but I have to set up the account first and I'm slightly worried of making mistakes in the set up!

I know this may sound stupid but if I use my gmail (which I only use occasionally, for gumtree and other mailing lists) would Facebook 'find' the contacts I have set up on my MacBook/iPhone (linked to my iCloud but I would be using Safari browser and it all appears linked)?

I need an idiots guide to setting this up - going to look on amazon.....

I have about 6 email accounts on my phone, I just say no to FB accessing my contact list and it's never been a problem (been on FB for years).