How to Appear Offline to Some Friends But Not Others on Facebook

UPDATE: I have updated this post to accommodate the new Facebook layout. Please watch the video below for a quick walk through. The steps below the video are becoming obsolete.

You know how it is: you sign into Facebook Chat for three seconds to see whose online and as if it were magic, you're immediately sent a chat from your least favorite "friend." Well it is entirely possible to hide yourself from those people. You can even pick and choose who sees that you're online or not. Essentially, Facebook allows you to control these settings through the use of a feature called "lists." This guide will walk you through setting up your account so that only people you want to talk to can see that you're online.

First, create a Facebook list. To do this, log on to Facebook, and go to the "Account" menu and select "Edit Friends." Then click "Friends" on the left hand side of the page.

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Now click "Create New List" at the top. This is going to be a list of all the people you don't want to talk to in chat and who you don't want to be seen by. This doesn't affect any other things they can do as your friend, only chat. Also, they won't be able to see that they are in this list, it is only visible to you. Name the list something like "Hidden From Chat." Then, go through and select all the people you want in the list. If you don't select everyone, don't worry, you can edit it later. Also, as you get more friends, you can add them to the list in the future, even if you aren't friends with them now.

Create the list and then go back to your Facebook home page. Sign into chat at the bottom right. Click "Friends List" and make sure the list you just created is checked.

Now, open the chat window again and you will notice your list. To the right is a small green or grey circle. Green means that those people can see you as "online." Grey means you will appear offline to them. Turn your list "off."

In the picture above, the people in my list "Other Friends" will not be able to see that I am online. Those in my other lists can. It's very helpful for those annoying people who never stop chatting you or for when you just don't want to talk to them.

Now that you've set up the list, editing it is easy. Just go back to the "Edit Friends" page and add and remove people from the list from there. You can do this at any time.

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