How to Hide Your Email Address on Facebook

With Facebook, privacy is a major concern. One very public piece of information most people inadvertently share is their email address. This opens you up for any scammers to start sending you spam email. It also allows friends, which you may not actually know, to email you outside of Facebook. While hiding your email address on Facebook isn't glaringly obvious, it is possible. You can also test your profile to ensure the email is always hidden from the right people.

Hiding your email address doesn't mean you have to hide from everyone. You can still keep it visible for certain friends or hide from certain friends. You can change your settings at any time if you decide to go full stealth on Facebook.

Hide Your Email Address

Log in to your Facebook account. Select your name on the top right side of the screen to view your profile and wall. Press Edit Profile on the right side of the screen, directly below your name and Find Friends menu. On the left side of the screen, select the Contact Information category.

Your email is the first item listed. Some users may actually have more than more address listed. If so, repeat the following steps for each address you want to hide. Press the icon to the far right of your email address. The following options appear:

-Public

-Friends

-Only Me

-Custom

-Lists (one item for each list you have created)

Public is the option you want to avoid, period. This makes you email public to everyone, not just those on your friends list. The second option, Friends, hides your email address from the general public, but keeps it visible to everyone you've friended on Facebook.

The next two options are the most common. To completely hide your email address on Facebook, choose Only Me. This means you are the only person who can view your email address. The only exception is applications.

Quick Tip - Change Application permissions under Privacy Settings - Apps And Websites. Privacy Settings is listed beside the Home menu.

If you want some people to see your email, but not others, choose Custom. You then add which people you wish to hide your address from. If you already have custom lists created, you can also choose by list.

To make hiding your email easier, in fact changing any public permissions, create lists of friends. For instance, you may want your friends to see your personal email address, but not coworkers. A list of coworkers could be blocked quicker than selecting individual people.

Quick Tip - Create lists from the Home page in Facebook. See the left side of the screen for current lists and an edit button for adding more.

Your email address should never be publicly shared. Since friends can message you and chat in Facebook itself, there is no real reason to show your address to anyone at all. If you want someone to have it, share it in a private message. For other tips on controlling privacy on Facebook, see 5 Facebook Privacy Tips.