I have friends on Facebook that I like to see their status updates, but I don't necessarily want them to see my status updates. People like my boss, or my mum.
Is there any way I can still be friends with them, but just block them from seeing my status?
You can change these under your privacy settings.
On your Privacy Settings page, select Custom as your plan and then "Customize Settings".
Click Posts by me under Things I share and select Customize.
From this screen you will be able to blacklist specific people from viewing your status updates and posts.
If you want to keep a list of people like this who you want to keep at arms length but whose friend request you don't want to decline, use the Limited Profile friend list.
From Facebook help:
The Limited Profile functionality is a type of Friend List. You can limit the privacy settings for any friend list you create. If you had people on your Limited Profile, they have been moved to a new friend list called "Limited Profile," and this friend list has been added to the appropriate places on your privacy settings. For example, if you hid your Wall Posts in your Limited Profile, the new Limited Profile friend list has been placed under the "Except These People" setting for Wall Posts.
So add your boss to the limited profile friends list, and go to:
account -> privacy settings -> customize settings -> Posts by me -> Customize -> Hide from: Limited Profile
Under account -> privacy settings -> sharing on Facebook, you'll want to choose "custom" and customize your settings. For each "thing you share" you can further customize who can see it, down to a list of specific people. There are two places to put names, a "whitelist" of people who can see your posts, and a blacklist of people who can't.
One things worth noting here... Facebook has a history of changing how their settings are arranged/applied. Even when this is set, you'll want to keep in mind that there's still a possibility that these people can see everything about you. Such is the nature of Facebook. There is no real security, it's always in your best interests to watch what you post.
