Facebook is giving its users the option to create multiple accounts in an effort to give people more freedom in how they want to interact with the platform.
Metastates in an announcement post it wanted to give people a way to compartmentalize different aspects of their online lives. This way you can keep your personal account separate from your professional account or have profiles for certain target groups. You can have family follow one profile while friends follow another profile, so you can better organize the content you want to share or view. Your feed no longer has to be a mix of everything randomly thrown together. Now you can keep things simple and organized. Furthermore, Facebook does not show that you have created other profiles on your main page.
When creating an additional profile, please note that your personal settings will not be transferred to another profile. When created, they are set to their default configuration. In addition, the settings for each setting are “managed separately”. You can’t use your primary account to make changes elsewhere. It looks like this update will be exclusive to the Facebook mobile app. Meta doesn’t mention whether it will be possible to create alt accounts on Facebook’s web interface.
Opening another profile is very easy.
You first tap your photo at the bottom right of the app to open the Settings. Below your name in the menu there will be a box where you can enter a new username. Give your new account a name and wait a few seconds for the process to complete. You can then follow your friends or discover other communities to create a unique feed. Switching between profiles is just as easy. Just tap the image for another account and it will switch, no login required.
There are some limitations to keep in mind. This update will only be available to “eligible adult accounts,” according to Meta. Some features like Facebook Dating, Facebook Marketplace, Professional Mode and payments “will not be available for additional personal profiles” – only the most important ones will have access to those tools. Messenger support will also be disabled on the extras. You can still send messages, but Messenger itself is inaccessible.
Availability
It’s a bit surprising that it’s taken Facebook so long to implement multiple accounts, especially considering that Instagram has had this functionality over seven years. But hey, better late than never. Meta states that the update is currently rolling out globally to Facebook on mobile devices “and will continue to do so over the coming months.” No word on a desktop version.
We reached out to Meta to ask if it will one day allow users to create new profiles on their desktop and if it could clarify what exactly a “qualifying adult account” means. This story will be updated at a later date.
One of the use cases for these alt accounts is to have better online privacy. With that in mind, check out TechRadar’s list of the best privacy apps for Android to learn about other methods.