How to Hide Your Online Status on Facebook

Does it get annoying when you log on to Facebook and that certain somebody seems to instant messages you and expects you to respond so you can chat? And it's not just once in a while, but whenever you log on? It is almost as if that one person sits in front of their computer waiting for you to get online so that they can say 'hi'.

Now if you have a ton of friends that are 'Facebooking' all day, and their existence in life is to write status updates and chat with anyone who logs on, this could be a very frustrating issue. Sure, Facebook is a social networking site, but sometimes being social is not why you are on there in the first place.

Sometimes you just want to read news feeds, check your inbox, or post a status update and you do not want someone to bombard you with questions about what you're doing right now or if you're there. They know you're there, they see you online with the chat feature. They also know if you are idle based on the icon next to your name. How do they know this?

The chat feature, found to the right of the bottom menu bar, allows you to chat with friends who are online.

A green dot means you are online (even if you're in the kitchen making a sandwich).
A quarter dot or moon you are idle (but maybe still logged onto Facebook).
A grey dot next to your name means you are offline. And in this case - even if you are online!

If there is a green dot, you are susceptible to an annoying text of, 'are you there?' or 'whatcha doin?'

So how do you set this up so that your network of friends do not bombard you with a text message every single time you log on to Facebook?

Here is the step-by-step guide on telling your social network that you are offline even if you are not.

1) Navigate to the 'chat' feature on the bottom right corner of your Facebook screen.

You will see you an icon of a person and a green dot next to it followed by "Chat" and a number in parenthesis.

Example: (18).

The (18) represents 18 'friends' who are online or idle.

2) Click on the 'chat' feature.

You will see the list of 18 'friends'. The top portion are friends online - indicated by a green dot. The bottom portion are friends who are idle - indicated by a quarter dot/or moon.

3) Navigate to the top where it says "Options".

Click "Options" and click on the the gray dot next to "Go Offline". The 'chat' feature will close.

Now, the 'chat' feature on the bottom right will show the same icon of a person but a gray dot next to it followed by "(Offline)" instead of (18).

You won't be able to see how many of your friends are currently online at this point.

Now, in order to get back online just click on the 'chat' feature and you are back - available to your whole network!

See, simple, easy, and a good way to 'hide' when you should be working!