Nobody likes being hassled on social media. That’s where learning how to mute people on social media, rather than block them, comes in handy. You can eliminate unwanted content without flagging to the offending user that they’ve annoyed you.
The trouble is, muting someone isn’t always as straightforward as blocking them. Each social media network also has its own set of rules and methods for muting or blocking someone online, so it’s all about learning what works best, and where.
Here’s how you can mute someone on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and more.
How to Mute Someone on Instagram
Instagram introduced a Mute button to quieten profiles, posts, and stories. Although not everyone has access to this feed-based mute option yet – Instagram is still rolling it out across iOS and Android – it’ll soon be available to all users, so you might as well learn how to make use of it.
How to Mute Instagram Posts
- On every post, you’ll see the ellipsis (…) button, tap it.
- You’re now presented with various options, tap on Mute.
- Select either Mute Posts or Mute Posts and Story. This option is also available via user profiles, again by pressing the ellipsis button.
How to Mute Instagram Stories
- To mute Instagram’s user-generated Stories, long-press the person’s Story icon at the top of the page.
- This brings up the option to mute the user and all those stories you never wanted to see in the first place.
The other users’ Stories will appear at the end of your feed where you can choose to watch them or unmute them if you’d like. Do keep in mind that users can see who views their Instagram Stories. If someone notices you haven’t watched their content in a while, they may ask you about it.
How to Mute Someone on Instagram
Aside from muting someone’s posts or Stories, you can mute all of their activity by following these steps:
- Tap on the three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner of one of their posts.
- Tap Hide.
- Tap Mute [Username].
You can also mute all of the users’ activity by visiting the profile, tapping on Following, and tapping on Mute. To unmute, follow the same steps in reverse.
How to Mute Someone on Facebook
Is your Facebook news feed is packed with over-sharers, game invitations, and angry rants? Thankfully there are multiple ways to silence these nuisances, and it’s really quite easy to boot.
- Visit a profile or page and click Following (on Facebook’s website) or tap More (in the Facebook app).
- Select Unfollow.
- You can also unfollow users in your news feed by clicking the three-dot menu on a post and choosing Hide post. Snooze for 30 days or Unfollow.
You can also unfollow someone or snooze them for 30 days right from your timeline. Because it can be difficult to remember all who are annoying you, this option makes it simpler to mute people as you’re scrolling through your News Feed.
- Simply tap on the three-dot menu icon on their post and select one of the many options available.
Once done, the post along with the original poster will disappear from your timeline.
How to Bulk Unfollow People and Pages from Your Feed
To bulk-manage your feed; locate the down arrow on the blue banner, or tap the three-line menu on mobile.
- On mobile, scroll to Settings & Privacy and then select Settings.
- On both web and mobile, select News Feed Preferences.
- Now select Unfollow people to hide their posts.
- Scroll down and tap on the people and accounts you’d like to remove from your newsfeed.
How to Block Photo Albums from Your Feed
You can also block albums from coming into your feed, be they baby photos, holiday snaps, or wedding-season selfies.
- Click the offending photo album’s three-dot menu.
- Choose Unfollow album.
- Voila.
How to Mute Someone on Facebook Messenger
As with its social network, Facebook makes it similarly easy to hush annoying people on Messenger.
Mute Messenger Chats on Desktop
- Open a message from your garrulous friend.
- Click on their name at the top of the pop-out window and pick whether to Ignore messages or Mute conversation.
Mute Messenger Chats on Mobile
- Tap the “i” information button in a conversation if you’re using an Android device. iOS users will need to tap the users’ name at the top of the conversation.
- Tap on the Mute option.
- Make the selection that fulfills your needs and tap Ok.
How to Mute Someone on Twitter
There are two methods for eradicating bothersome Twitter users from your timeline. One method involves visiting their profile and wholesale blocking them, the other is accessible from any one of their tweets and lets you remove certain types of content instead – perfect for blocking annoying branded messages.
How to Mute Accounts on Twitter
- Visit the user’s profile page and click the three-dot menu button next to their name.
- In the menu that appears, click on Mute.
- Confirm the action in the popup window.
How to Mute a Tweet
- On an individual tweet, click the arrow on the top right of the tweet
- This lets you select Mute @username and another option: ‘I don’t like this Tweet’
- Selecting this acts as a ‘dislike’ button, instructing Twitter’s algorithms to block similar posts in future
How to See Muted Twitter accounts
- To see all the accounts you’ve silenced, visit Settings and privacy, then click Privacy and safety.
- Scroll to the Safety section and select Muted accounts.
- Here you can also Unmute people via their profile.
How to Mute Certain Words, Phrases, and Hashtags
If you want to ban certain words from your timeline visit Settings and privacy – or, on mobile, go to your Notifications tab and tap the cog icon – and click Muted words. Now add the words you never want to see again.
How to Mute Someone on WhatsApp
Are you fed up with rowdy WhatsApp group chats and private messages pinging at all hours of the day? There’s a way to silence them, you can thank us later.
- Scroll to any message or group chat, then press and hold the message and click the blocked-out speaker at the top of the screen.
- Choose your Mute Notifications for option and click OK
- iOS users can long-press the chat and tap Mute in the pop-up window.
You can also mute notifications from within a message, just click the three-dot menu at the top of the screen and select Mute notifications.
How to Mute Someone on Snapchat
Snapchat’s version of mute is called Do Not Disturb, which blocks notifications from any user or group chat you choose to silence.
How to Mute Someone’s Snapchat Stories
- Tap on your feed, then press and hold your friend’s Bitmoji or profile picture.
- When the pop-up box appears, click Settings.
- Then click Do Not Disturb. The option will change to Turn on Notifications to signify you’ve been successful.
How to Mute from a Snapchat Message
- Click on your friend’s messages and press the three-line menu button.
- Now toggle the Do Not Disturb switch to On.
How to Mute Snapchat Stories from Your Feed
- Click on your friend’s messages and press the three-line menu button.
- Select Mute Story.
How to Prevent Specific Users from Seeing Your Snapchat Stories
- Click the cog icon on your profile page and scroll to the section titled Who Can.
- Then click View My Story.
- Choose Custom and decide who can see your Snapchat Stories
How to Mute Comments on YouTube
The YouTube community has a poor reputation. Thankfully, the Toggle YouTube Comments extension for Chrome shields you from the inane and often offensive babble that defines the comments section of almost every video.
This very welcome add-on automatically hides all comments on YouTube videos, replacing them with the option to Show Comments. Best of all, it doesn’t track you and seamlessly fits in with the YouTube design.
How to Mute People on Quora
Quora – the internet’s Q&A section – is a fountain of knowledge. But if you’re sick of hearing from know-it-all loudmouthed users, muting them is easy.
- Click the person’s name by their picture.
- Once on their profile, press the ellipsis (…) button and choose Mute.
- You can also remove stories from your topic feed by clicking the X in the right-hand corner of the Q&A box.
Doing so hides the story and offers greater control over what you see, letting you unfollow question-askers and answer-givers, as well as showing fewer related links.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’ve covered a lot of information in this article, but you may still have questions. In this section, you’ll find more information about how to make social media a more enjoyable place.
How will I know if someone unfollowed me?
Instagram users have it easy, your Profile page will show who is actively following you so if the person of interest is not on that list, you know you’ve been unfollowed. You won’t, however, know that you’ve been muted.
Facebook makes things a little more difficult.
1. Click to open your Facebook profile, then click on Followers. This option will not appear unless your account is Public.
2. Scroll through the list of those who are following you and compare it to your friends’ list.
Will someone know they’ve been muted?
All of these sites have some sort of muting option, yet not one of them lets the user know they’ve been muted, and for good reason. There are some in-app behaviors that may make someone think they’ve been muted (such as you no longer comment or react to their posts) but really no way to confirm without asking you.
Should I mute or block someone?
The answer to this question depends heavily on the situation and the relationship you have with the offender. When you block someone on nearly any platform, they can’t see anything you post, your profile, or send you messages (and vice versa).
When you mute someone, you’re hiding their online activity, but they can still see everything you post.
If you want to hide what you’re doing, then use the blocking feature. If you want to hide their activities but don’t mind them seeing yours, mute them.
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