How To Delete Your Facebook Account Permanently

Facebook can be a great tool for staying in touch with friends and family but, for some people, the constant bombardment of updates, messages, likes, pokes and advertisements can all become a bit overwhelming.

If you've had enough and want to get rid of your account, you have two options. You can either deactivate you account, which means your profile disappears from the social network but all the information in your account is saved on Facebook's servers in case you decide yo go back, or you can permanently delete your account, which means all your data is removed and you will not be able to regain access.

Backup your Facebook data

Before saying goodbye to your Facebook life, you should backup your data in case you need it at a later point in time.

1. Go to Settings.

2. While in the General tab. Click Download a copy of your Facebook data.

3. Click Start My Archive.

4. Enter your Facebook account password. Click Submit

5. Click Start My Archive in the Request My Download box.

Facebook will then gather all your data and send the copy to your registered email address.

How to deactivate your account

Deactivating your account temporarily means you have the option to return to Facebook whenever you want. If you deactivate your account your profile won’t be visible to other people on Facebook and people won’t be able to search for you, but some information, such as messages you sent to friends, may still be visible to others.

Here are the steps to deactivate your Facebook account:

1. Go to Settings.

2. Click Security in the left pane.

3. Click Deactivate your account.

If decide you'd like to go back to Facebook, you can reactivate your account at any time by logging in with your email and password. Your profile will be restored in its entirety.

How to permanently delete your account

If you don't think you'll use Facebook again, you can request to have your account permanently deleted. However, after an account has been deleted it won't be possible to reactivate your account or retrieve anything you've shared on your profile.

For this, follow the steps:

1. Log into your Facebook account.

2. Visit this link, https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account

3. Click Delete My Account