How to find your oldest social media posts and delete them

We’ve been dwelling with social media for a very long time now — Fb opened as much as the general public in 2006 — and meaning a prolonged path of posts stretching again by means of the years. Whereas this does allow you to take a nostalgic journey into the previous with just some clicks, it might probably additionally carry up some embarrassing and awkward reminiscences.

Possibly your Twitter takes from 10 years in the past haven’t aged nicely, or there’s an ex-partner you’d fairly not keep in mind, otherwise you’re heading for a job interview and don’t need your would-be employers to guage who you are actually out of your decades-old social media posts.

Regardless of the cause, yow will discover and delete historic social media posts with out an excessive amount of issue utilizing the online or cell apps. (They are saying that something on the web is endlessly, in fact, however you are able to do your greatest to at the very least considerably mute your errors. Who is aware of? Possibly your potential new boss by no means heard of the Wayback Machine.) We’ve included directions for Fb, X, and Instagram, as these are the locations the place you’re probably to have posted content material you’ve lengthy since forgotten about.

Fb is closing in on 20 years of being out there to anybody with an electronic mail deal with, so let’s begin there. For those who have been round when Fb first arrived, you’ll keep in mind private standing updates have been rather more widespread than they’re now — folks even used to put in writing on one another’s profiles, MySpace-style.

The best method to discover your oldest posts is to load Fb on the internet:

• Choose your title (on the left) to see your profile.
• On the prime of the column along with your posts listed on them (slightly below the What’s in your thoughts? area), search for and click on on the Filters button.
• Use the Go to drop-down menu to seek out the yr you joined Fb. (Don’t keep in mind if you joined? We’ll let you know learn how to discover that data in a second.)
• Click on Executed to see posts from that yr.

You’ll be able to return by means of your posts on cell, too.

• Open your Fb profile within the cell app.
• Scroll all the way down to your posts and search for (and faucet) the Filters hyperlink to the fitting.
• With cell, it’s a bit extra awkward; you’ll be able to’t simply leap to particular years however should faucet by means of a calendar as an alternative.

Don’t keep in mind if you joined Fb? That’s one thing yow will discover out, though the method is a bit difficult:

• Open Fb and click on your profile image.
• Choose Settings & Privateness > Settings.
• Search for the Account Heart on the fitting aspect of your web page. Choose it after which go to Your Data and Permissions > Entry Your Data > Private Data. 
• Your account creation date can be the very first thing underneath Profile info.

• Choose your profile picture within the upper-right nook.
• Go to Settings & Privateness > Settings > Account Heart > Your info and permissions > Entry your info > Private info. 
• As with the online model, if you happen to search for Profile info, you’ll see the date you created your account.

When you have a variety of posts to sift by means of, you should utilize different filters (like month) to slender down the outcomes. For those who see one thing you wish to do away with, simply click on the three dots subsequent to it, then click on Delete submit.

X, which was beforehand generally known as Twitter, can usually be a spot for opinions and takes, and it’s potential — even possible — that a few of them have aged higher than others. If you wish to go down reminiscence lane (and assuming you haven’t already deactivated your account), you will get to your oldest tweets in just a few methods, however utilizing the platform’s built-in search engine is essentially the most easy.

• Sort (from:username) till:yyyy-mm-dd since:yyyy-mm-dd within the search field on the prime of the web page. 
• Change the username to your X deal with, regulate the dates, after which hit Enter.
• Click on the Newest tab on the prime to type the posts chronologically.

To delete a tweet, click on the three dots subsequent to it, then click on Delete.

For those who don’t keep in mind if you first joined, go to your Profile; the date you joined must be beneath your description.

If you wish to use the cell app for X as an alternative, you should utilize the identical search phrases as above to seek out your tweets. Simply faucet the magnifying glass icon on the backside of the display to get to the search field.

Instagram is just a few years behind Fb and X relating to age, showing in public for the primary time in 2010. That’s a variety of years for images and movies to construct up in your public feed, even when a variety of Instagram exercise is concentrated on Tales, which mechanically disappear.

Right here, you’re greatest off utilizing the Instagram app on cell:

• Faucet your profile image (backside proper).
• Faucet on the three horizontal traces (prime proper).
• Select Your exercise > Posts.
• Faucet Latest to oldest and alter it to Oldest to latest.

Your first-ever Instagram posts will then seem on the prime of the display. If you wish to be extra particular in your search, faucet the All dates drop-down menu, which helps you to search for Instagram posts inside a particular date vary.

For those who see one thing you’d fairly not have in your Instagram profile, faucet on the submit, faucet the three dots within the top-right nook, after which select Delete. The identical menu allows you to archive a submit, which suggests you’ll be able to nonetheless see it (and all of the feedback and likes), but it surely’s hidden for everybody else.