Tuesday, March 17, 2020

How Can I Find Out Who Blocked Me on Facebook?

facebook-block

Who blocked me on Facebook? It’s a question many of us will have asked since joining Facebook. Thankfully, there’s plenty you do if you suspect someone has blocked you on Facebook.

Perhaps a good friend has suddenly started ignoring you. Or perhaps you have stopped seeing their posts on your feed. Are they just busy? Or have you done something wrong and been blocked?

Unlock the free "Facebook Security Checklist" now!

This will sign you up to our newsletter

Enter your Email

In this article, we’ll show you how to find out who, if anyone, has blocked you on Facebook…

How to Find Out Who Blocked You on Facebook

You can’t exactly see who blocked you on Facebook, but there are a few decent indicators to watch out for.

The first thing you should do is determine whether you’ve been blocked or unfriended (yes, we know that hurts too).

Can You Still Tag Someone Who Has Blocked You?

Let’s say you’ve found a meme you want to show a friend. Normally, you’d simply tag them by writing their name then clicking on the relevant link to their profile. They’d be notified of the tag and see it next time they log in.

But if you’ve been blocked by that person, you won’t be able to tag them in any posts—that includes memes, photos, and any posts you’re adding to your (or someone else’s) timeline. Whether you can tag someone who has unfriended you on Facebook depends on the other person’s privacy settings.

Use the Facebook Search Function to See If You’ve Been Blocked

Search for your friend on Facebook. Simply sign in and you’ll see the search box at the top of the page. Similarly, if you want to know who blocked you on the Facebook app, it’s at the top of your feed.

Search social media friends by clicking on the box at the top of the news feed

A list of profiles and pages will come up. Toggle the results by clicking on People. If you’ve been blocked, their profile won’t show up under this setting. However, if you’re searching All, there’s a chance you will see them, even in the event that they have blocked you.

If you see the display image of the person you’re looking for, click on it. You’ll be able to partially view the profile (depending on their privacy settings) if they’ve simply unfriended you. But if you’ve been blocked, you won’t be able to access anything.

Use a Mutual Friend’s Profile to Check Who Blocked You

You can then go looking for further signs. The easiest way is to head to the profile of someone you and the person who has potentially blocked you both know. You’ll be able to see a brief list of their friends; click on See All. It should tell you how many contacts you have in common.

You can scroll through their contacts or just type into the field which reads “Search Friends”.

If you can see their name and profile picture, you can let out a sigh of relief, as they haven’t blocked you.

If you can’t see them, there is another potential answer for their absence. They might have deactivated their whole account. We’ll come back to that later.

Can You Read Previous Facebook Messages After Being Blocked?

Here’s another trick, albeit one which relies on you having communicated with the person before. This can’t help when it comes to relative strangers. (This shouldn’t bother you too much. However, being blocked before properly acquainting yourself can be just as damaging.)

Try to remember anything this contact has written on your profile or—if you’ve stopped others from posting on your timeline—a mutual friend’s profile. This could be a birthday message, a festive greeting, or anything incidental.

These will still be visible regardless of your friendship status. However, if you have been blocked, the other person’s profile image won’t appear, or will be replaced by a question mark. Their name might also be covered by black boxes too.

Are Contacts Who Might Have Blocked You Still on Messenger?

If you’ve previously spoken to this person using Facebook Messenger, this is another indicator. But you must do this via the Facebook website because the app still sometimes shows blocked accounts.

Facebook Messenger chat feature

Go to the Messenger section and click on See All in Messenger in the drop-down menu. Access the conversation you had with the contact. If you’ve been blocked, their profile image won’t load, replaced by a standard gray outline. You won’t be able to click on their name to look at their profile either.

You can try to send them a message too. If you have been blocked, your attempts will be unsuccessful. Facebook will tell you there’s been a temporary error.

How can you tell they haven’t just deactivated their Facebook account? In most cases, their name won’t appear at all if they have deleted their account, but deletion is different from deactivation. Deletion is a more permanent step, while deactivation merely means they’re staying off Facebook for a short time.

The platform might be a distraction at a busy time, so deactivating it is an attempt to give it up for a while. That could be why you’re not hearing from them—but at least they’ll probably be back soon.

Deletion means they don’t intend coming back. In this case, their Messenger thread will read “Facebook User”. Be aware that they could still be using Messenger without being on Facebook; nonetheless, if you can contact them here, at least you’re still friends.

Can You Invite Friends Who Blocked You to Events?

People create events on Facebook to coordinate meetups, including birthday parties, dinners, and Christmas celebrations. But if you’ve been blocked, you won’t be able to invite that individual.

Go to Events > Create Event > Create Private Event. After entering details, you’ll need to invite specific people by essentially tagging them. You can’t add anyone who has blocked your profile though.

Similarly, you can’t invite anyone who has blocked you to join or like pages.

Try to Block Someone Who May Have Blocked You

block users on Facebook

This isn’t a case of seeking revenge. By checking whether you can block someone, you’re also checking whether they’ve deactivated their Facebook. Think of this as like tagging—you can only tag people you’re not blocked from following. And so you can only block people who haven’t blocked you.

Sign in and click on the down arrow to the top-right of your feed. Go to Settings > Blocking and enter a name under Block users. After clicking enter or Block, a list of profiles will appear, giving you the option to block them. If that person isn’t listed, they’ve either deactivated/ deleted their account or have blocked you first.

Can I See Who Blocked Me on Facebook?

The only way you can be 100 percent certain whether you have been blocked is to ask the person directly. You probably won’t want to do that (and it’s cringeworthy too). It’s better to find sneaky alternatives and infer the truth.

If you follow them on other social media apps, visit their profiles there. If they’ve blocked you elsewhere, something’s wrong. Otherwise, there might be another reason you can’t find them on Facebook. In the case of the latter, you could contact the person via direct messages on Instagram or Twitter.

Don’t challenge them head-on: you could tell them you’re worried there’s an issue with their Facebook. Be caring, not confrontational.

You could also involve someone else, although you need to tread carefully here. A mutual friend can at least tell you whether your contact’s profile has been deactivated or deleted.

What to Do If You’ve Been Blocked on Facebook

Facebook Twitter social media likes dislikes neon sign

If it turns out someone has blocked you on Facebook, you’ll feel frustrated and angry, especially if you feel you’ve done nothing wrong.

Nevertheless, in most cases, it’s simply not worth worrying about. It could be something small, like a simple misunderstanding. Or it could just be a clash of personalities. The point is, it’s largely out of your hands.

Ask yourself whether it’s worth losing sleep over. Spoiler alert: it isn’t. It’s only Facebook.

Yes, you could find the person in question and ask why they’ve blocked you. You could find another route to talk to them, and tell them how you feel. Or you could just let it go. After all, why cause further friction over something ultimately trivial?

Should You Be Worried About Being Blocked?

Social media is a wonderful thing, giving you access to people you’d otherwise drift away from. It keeps the world connected. However, it can also be a major cause for concern by feeding your worst fears.

That’s why it’s important you remember that everyone has something going on in their lives that they don’t want to share. Something that keeps them busy or distracted. It doesn’t always mean that they’ve forgotten about you or actively dislike you.

You might get to this stage too. If so, you’ll be pleased to hear you don’t have to entirely cut everyone out of your online life. Instead, try using Messenger without Facebook to keep in touch.

Read the full article: How Can I Find Out Who Blocked Me on Facebook?



from MakeUseOf https://ift.tt/2RQA9K4

No comments:

Post a Comment