Facebook for Older Adults: A Plain-English Guide to Getting Started Safely

Plenty of grandparents join Facebook for one simple reason: that's where the family photos are. It's also how many people keep up with old classmates, church groups, neighbors and hobby clubs. Facebook can be genuinely good for staying connected, but it's also crowded with ads, confusing menus and, sadly, scammers who target older users.

This guide is written for older adults who are new to Facebook, and for adult children or grandchildren helping them set it up. No jargon, no rush.

Getting set up

Create the account carefully

Sign up at facebook.com or in the Facebook app with:

• Your real name, so family can find you.
• An email address or mobile number you actually check, because Facebook sends security codes there.
• A password you don't use anywhere else. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe at home, or let a trusted family member help you set up a password manager.

Add a profile photo

A clear photo of your face helps family and old friends recognize you when they search. You don't need to fill in every profile detail. Leave out your birth year, phone number and home address; they're useful to scammers and unnecessary for friends.

Find your people

Search for family members by name, or ask them to send you a friend request. Accept requests only from people you actually know. More on that below.

The basics, in plain words

• Feed: the main scrolling page of posts from friends, groups and pages, plus suggested posts and ads.
• Friend: someone you've connected with. Friends can usually see more of what you share.
• Post: anything you share, such as a photo, a few words, or a link.
• Comment and react: a reply under someone's post, or a quick reaction like Like or Love.
• Messenger: Facebook's private messaging and video calling, which may open in a separate app on phones.
• Groups: communities around a shared interest, from gardening to your hometown.
• Friends tab: a section showing posts, stories and birthdays from your actual friends, which Facebook has been expanding since 2025. If your Feed feels full of strangers, try this tab.

Privacy settings worth five minutes

Ask a family member to sit with you while you run Facebook's Privacy Checkup (menu, then Settings & privacy, then Privacy Checkup). It walks through the important choices one screen at a time. We explain it fully in our 5-minute Facebook Privacy Checkup. Good starting choices:

1. Who can see your future posts: Friends.
2. Who can see your phone number and email: Only me.
3. Who can send you friend requests: Friends of friends.
4. Two-factor authentication: on. Facebook will ask for a code the first time you log in on a new phone or computer. It's a small hassle that stops most account takeovers.

Spotting scams on Facebook

Scammers know that many older adults are kind, trusting and polite, and they use that. Watch for these common patterns:

Cloned friend accounts

You get a friend request from someone you're already friends with. It's almost always a copy made with their name and photos. Don't accept. Call or text the real person, then report the fake profile.

"Is this you in this video?"

A message from a friend's account with a link and an urgent question. Their account has probably been hacked. Don't click. Our guide to protecting your Facebook account from hackers explains what to do if it happens to you.

Romance and friendship scams

A stranger, often claiming to be a widower, soldier, doctor or engineer overseas, becomes very attentive very quickly, then eventually needs money for an emergency, a plane ticket or customs fees. Real friends don't ask for gift cards, wire transfers or cryptocurrency.

Investment and prize offers

Posts or messages promising guaranteed returns, government grants or lottery wins you never entered. These are scams, even if they appear to come from a friend or a celebrity.

Marketplace tricks

When buying or selling, stay on Facebook to communicate, meet in public places, and be wary of buyers who "overpay" and ask for a refund, or who want you to share a verification code sent to your phone.

The golden rule: never share a code that Facebook or your bank texts you, and never send money to someone you haven't met in person. When in doubt, call a family member before replying.

Making Facebook easier to use

• Bigger text: On a phone, raise the text size in your phone's Display or Accessibility settings; Facebook follows it. On a computer, zoom in with Ctrl and + (Windows) or Command and + (Mac).
• Fewer notifications: Facebook can be noisy. You can turn off notifications you don't want, such as group suggestions and game invites. See our guide to Facebook notification settings.
• Favorites: Mark close family members as Favorites so their posts show up more prominently.
• Video calls: In Messenger, open a chat with a family member and tap the camera icon to start a video call.

Sharing photos of grandchildren

It's natural to want to show off grandchildren. Before you post, a few kind habits keep everyone comfortable:

• Ask the parents first. Some families prefer not to post children's photos at all, or only to a small group.
• Keep the audience to Friends, not Public.
• Avoid details like the child's full name, school, or where they are right now.
• Don't tag the children unless the parents are happy with it.

Many families find a private family group or a shared photo album is a better home for kids' photos than a public timeline.

A checklist for the helper

If you're the adult child or grandchild setting things up:

• Use a unique password and turn on two-factor authentication.
• Set posts to Friends, contact details to Only me, friend requests to Friends of friends.
• Remove unneeded profile details such as birth year and address.
• Turn off noisy notifications.
• Explain cloned accounts and the "never share a code, never send money" rule.
• Agree on a way to check with you when something feels off, and make it clear there's no such thing as a silly question.