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Topic: Browser

How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

Summary: This gallery includes two key ways of deleting your Facebook wall posts and content, pre- and post-Timeline.

Zack Whittaker

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If you arrive here directly and are somewhat confused, read more about this gallery on ZDNet.

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In this screenshot, you can see that my Facebook wall is full of test Wall posts, but Wall posts nonetheless. I could easily select each one and hit 'Delete' but this will take forever, especially if you have a profile stretching years back. 

If you are lucky enough to not have enabled the new timeline, then you have saved yourself a great deal of time -- should this method work for you. If it does not, then never fear. There are other options you can explore.

1. For this, you need to be running Firefox as your web browser, and not Chrome. It's not clear why the 'magic button' does not work on Chrome, but it doesn't.

2. Head to the Mozilla Addons pages from your Firefox browser. You should be looking at a script called Greasemonkey.

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Topics: Browser, Google, Social Enterprise

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Talkback

30 comments
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  • Works great!

    Now maybe a prospective employer might hire me.
    yeshuafollower
    Reply 1 Vote

    • facebook post deletion

      how did u get it to work... mine doesn't do anything :(
      ctbellavita
      Reply Vote

    • Anyone Watching Here? Success with a caveat

      Yeshuafollower: (great user name) What worked for you the script or the macro. If you read my post of Apr 17th I didn't see the script working. I installed Greasemonkey and the right checks seem to be in the right place. Greasemonkey is enabled. And the Facebook Srubber is checked but nothing is happening. So I went to the imacro for Firefox. It works but with the caveat in the post I spoke of above. If you have a moment to read that rather than reposting is all. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks, jack
      jep0233@...
      Reply Vote

  • Luckily I don't have much a presence ....

    On Facebook.

    Facebook came about well after I became wary of putting personal data on the web, and I've been cynical even way before that. ;)

    By coincidence I was googling old usernames and email addresses today. I'm seeing things from 2 ISPs ago and before, when my 'web connection' was through an EDU. That's around 1995 or so. Kermit on a UNIX shell, email and news groups was pretty much the extent of the web. What a trip in the way back machine.

    Anyhow, Facebook and people posting stuff for the world to find that, in my day, we wouldn't have written in a journal or diary for fear of someone finding it.

    So yeah, I can see why some people may really want to scrub their Facebook.

    OTOH, twenty something year old teachers being fired from their jobs because they posted a picture of themselves having a beer while on vacation ... I can see us going back to not even writing something in a journal because it might be found.

    .
    rmhesche
    Reply Vote

    • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

      @rmhesche Big brother is watching you.
      paulfx1
      Reply Vote

  • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

    After installing greasmonkey I keep getting a "problem loading page" error at userscripts.org, but it loads fine in other browsers seamonkey. Any suggestions?

    (o:
    Jack-Booted EULA
    Reply Vote

    • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

      Aha. Userscripts.org and the https-everywhere plugin don't play well together.

      ( :
      Jack-Booted EULA
      Reply Vote

  • Easy way to fix the Facebook problems

    How dumb can people be?
    Just make a NEW email and facebook account. If you use gmail then make a new one on yahoo. Or similar. That is massively the easiest way to hide your past, unless you were dumb enough to put in your REAL name somewhere...

    NEVER EVER give out the personal one to an employer.
    Don't link one to the other.

    I knew this back in 1999 when I got my first modern PC...
    Zolar
    Reply Vote

  • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

    How do you find your timeline on Facebook?
    lenstaley
    Reply Vote

    • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

      @lenstaley

      If you haven't signed up for it then you don't have it, yet (until they force it on everyone.)
      Jack-Booted EULA
      Reply Vote

  • The best option is to...

    ...not have a Facebook account in the first place.
    Hatestone Johnson
    Reply 1 Vote

    • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

      @Hatestone Johnson That's what I do. We're smarter than the average bears.
      paulfx1
      Reply Vote

  • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

    i hit delete posts and nothing happens....why?
    varick
    Reply Vote

  • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

    If a prospective employer ever asks for your Facebook password, point out two things. First, do they really want to access your page when it might give them answers to questions that the law doesn't allow them to ask (marital status, age, religion, ethnicity, and in some states or cities, sexual orientation), and possibly open them up to EEO violations? Second, since you agreed to the Facebook terms of service that forbid you from giving your password to anyone else, do they really want you to violate that agreement and therefore commit an unethical, and possibly technically illegal, act?
    I haven't had to try this yet, but it should put them on the defensive, and maybe even make them consult their lawyers.
    Old Rockin' Dave
    Reply Vote

  • Zack - can we get this in a PDF?

    EOM
    Marc Erickson
    Reply Vote

    • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

      @Marc Erickson 'fraid not. My apologies.
      zwhittaker
      Reply Vote

  • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

    Works in deleting all wall posts but doesn't delete the recent activities; only option is to hide them with the government :p
    MrElectrifyer
    Reply Vote

  • What's the point?

    I went through the whole explanation, but don't see the point of using iMacros. What does it do? I can wipe messages etc on FB itself, don't need this FF app to do so.
    Olivier67
    Reply Vote

  • RE: How to delete every Facebook wall post, wipe your Timeline

    When I hit delete all posts it goes to "removing all older posts...click to stop," but then all it does is loads all of my older posts. NO deleting. Am I doing something wrong?
    dougjweber
    Reply Vote

    • Same here...

      I hope it just takes time... I see it loading my old posts... about 4 years of stuff...
      Robert Tatum
      Reply Vote
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