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Has your Facebook news feed become a jumble of uninteresting or annoying posts that you skip over to get to the stuff you do care about? It doesn’t have to be that way. Facebook offers a handful of tools that let you weed out the stuff you don’t want so you can more quickly get to the stuff you do want. These tips are based on the Facebook mobile app.
1. Hit the snooze button
Maybe your friend is over-posting about a new job, a new relationship or a new diet. If you want to hide someone’s posts temporarily, Facebook now lets you hide their posts for 30 days with its new snooze feature. Just tap the triple-dot button next to the post of the person, brand, group or news outlet you want to banish from your news feed for 30 days and tap the Snooze option.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
2. Hide post
If you want someone’s posts to remain in your news feed but with less frequency, you can tell Facebook to show you fewer posts from that person. Tap the triple-dot button next to one of their (many) posts and tap Hide post. That current post will be hidden, and you’ll see fewer posts from that person.
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3. Unfollow someone
Facebook’s Unfollow option lets you stay friends with someone but stop seeing their posts in your news feed. Just tap the triple-dot button next to the post of the person you no longer want to hear from and tap the Unfollow option. You’ll stop seeing that person’s posts and he or she won’t know you are no longer following their Facebook activity.
4. Block/unfriend someone
The nuclear option is to unfriend someone. If you are ready to part ways with a Facebook friend, go to their profile page, tap the little down-arrow button and choose Block. Blocking someone will unfriend them, and they will no longer be able see your posts or tag you in any of their posts. They will not be notified that you unfriended them, but they still might see your name is no longer on their friends list.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
5. Report a post
If you come across a post that you find offensive, you can report it to Facebook. Tap the triple-dot button next to it and tap Give feedback on this post. Facebook will give you a few options to describe how the post is offensive — violence, harassment, suicide or self-injury, hate speech and others. Facebook will review the post and remove it if it doesn’t follow the Facebook Community Standards. Your name and information will be kept confidential if Facebook contacts the person behind the offensive post.
