If you’re on Facebook and you’re trying to maintain a certain reputation on your social media presence, you likely refrain from accessing or interacting with content that does not fit your own brand. Sometimes though we like to explore new areas and want to take part in discussions that we don’t want associated with our main social identity. Examples are hobbies you’d like to keep separate from your family and friends, different friend circles, professional contacts, temporary acquaintance, etc. Whatever your motivation is, you might benefit from creating a legal additional Facebook profile.
Facebook allows you to create up to four additional profiles that you can administer and use normally from your Facebook account and app. In this article I will guide you through how to set up these profiles and keep them separate from your main identity.
What are Additional Facebook Profiles About
When browsing other people’s profiles on Facebook, you might have seen this notice before:
This person has created a new type of profile that doesn’t have to use the name that they go by in everyday life. These profiles have visible @usernames.
Facebook’s notice on additional profiles
Below shows such a profile. When you tap on “Learn more“, you’re directed to the relevant Facebook Help Centre article.
It basically says that your additional profiles are subprofiles of your main identity and your main profile can only be deleted when all additional ones are removed. Should you decide that you want an additional profile, the process is easy. You can do this either via Account Centre, or by tapping on the “Try it” link shown above.
Creating your own Additional Facebook Profile
No matter whether you go through the “Try it” button or through Account Centre, in the iOS app you are presented the below screen. It boasts about what you can do with additional profiles and how easy it is to use them. Upon tapping “Get started“, it will guide you through a simple process: You choose a name that shows up on your profile, a username, and are presented some final hints on what your new profile is.
Mind you that this profile does not carry over the settings from your main profile. Any adjustments to privacy settings, messaging preferences, content curation, etc. does not apply here and you will have to configure them again. You can choose a separate profile picture and banner, and write a new bio for this account. If you tap “Facebook’s policies for additional profiles” in the last step (all the way to the bottom), you are shown the policies that apply to additional profiles. You can see them below.
In general you are asked to behave according to Facebook’s community standards. You are explicitly not allowed to:
- Impersonation of other people: Don’t pose as friends, people you know, celebrities, etc.
- Misrepresent of who you are: Don’t create an entirely new identity that looks like a separate human being
- Use safe names and usernames: Don’t violate community standards regarding how you name yourself
- Verified bagdes: Don’t falsely represent that your profile has been verified by Facebook
If you follow these simple rules, you can create the profile just fine. Below shows what happens when you tap “Create profile“:
Here you get the opportunity to set a profile picture for your additional profile. You can also send friend requests to people from your main profile’s friend list. After that you are presented potential groups and influencers to follow. Once you’re done with that, you are reminded again that you should manage your settings for this new profile.
Once you’re done with the setup and customization, you see the screen below. Your main profile can or can not show notifications from that new profile – your choice. That is the last setting to configure, and you’re good to go.
After going through this process, you created a brand new Facebook profile. This is great to have if you want a second identity (representation of yourself) that you want to keep separate from your real identity. This doesn’t keep you anonymous from Facebook, but allows to keep a level of discretion between what you interact with on social media and what your main family and friends circle sees.
Conclusion
In this article, you learned how to set up an additional Facebook profile for yourself. This is an official Facebook feature, and you’re entirely in legal grounds doing so. This does not hide your identity from Facebook (like TeleGuard does for instant messaging), and you are still liable for any actions you take on your new profile, so stay safe. It helps you to follow interests that you want to keep separate from who you are in real life. Interact with special interests that otherwise your be frowned upon by your close circles. Creating a legal additional Facebook profile helps in enacting a part of your personality that doesn’t fit your own primary branding.
If you liked this article or want to share your own experiences, comment below to get the conversation started!