Do you ever feel like Facebook chat is a bother and you’d love to turn it off so people won’t bother you? If so, I’m with you. I love chatting with friends, however, I often have Facebook open while I’m working on clients’ Facebook Fan Pages (well, I keep it open to check notifications and to engage with customers too) and the chat is a distraction if I really want to get work done. Here’s how to turn off the Facebook chat so no one can tell you’re online. You can even hide the sidebar altogether. And when you’re ready, you can turn the chat back on again.
1. First, click the little gear icon on the bottom right of the browser:
2. Next, select “Go Offline”.
3. If you’d like the whole sidebar to go away, click the icon furthest to the right, “Hide Sidebar” and voila, it goes away.
That’s all there is to it. When you’re ready to chat again, follow these steps:
1. Click “Chat (Offline” and it will pop up the chat.
2. To get the notifications back, it looks like there’s a glitch. Just click to your profile page or another Facebook link like your wall and they will appear.
If you have questions, please comment below. I’d love to hear them.
