Will this method for apparently restricting what people can see on Facebook actually work?

Question

I've seen the following post from at least two of my Facebook friends in the last couple of days (and who knows how many more I've missed when I've been off line).

I think I understand the logic behind the request - basically the theory is that your comments and likes of your friends posts won't become public.

However, I'm sceptical that this is a real thing and not something that gives us apparent control over what the world can see but in reality doesn't do anything.

Hi, FB friends: I want to stay PRIVATELY connected with you. I post shots of my family that I don't want strangers to have access to!!! However, with the recent changes in FB, the "public" can now see activities in ANY wall. This happens when our friend hits "like" or "comment" ~ automatically, their friends would see our posts too. Unfortunately, we can not change this setting by ourselves because Facebook has configured it this way.

PLEASE place your mouse over my name above (DO NOT CLICK), a window will appear, now move the mouse on “FRIENDS" (also without clicking), then down to "Settings", click here and a list will appear. REMOVE the CHECK on "COMMENTS & LIKE" and also "PHOTOS". By doing this, my activity among my friends and family will no longer become public.

Now, copy and paste this on your wall. Once I see this posted on your page I will do the same. Thanks

So - will this do what it purports to?

Answer 1

I don't think this is what you're looking for to control your posts. From what I can tell when trying this is that you are changing the settings of the person's news items that appear in your newsfeed. This means if you unselect "Likes and Comments" and "Photos," you will just be preventing their posts from showing in your newsfeed. It doesn't mean that it will change the behavior of the poster's post visibility.

I think what is happening to all these people is that they are hiding those posts from themselves only, but everyone else can still see these posts based on the whatever settings the poster has set.