The increasing prevalence of restricted friend lists on Facebook stems from a heightened awareness of online privacy and data security. This action limits the visibility of a user’s connections, preventing others from easily accessing and compiling lists of their acquaintances. This setting alters the default open sharing and reflects an evolving user consciousness regarding the potential consequences of publicly available personal networks.
Restricting friend list visibility offers several benefits. It can reduce the risk of unwanted contact, prevent potential social engineering attacks that exploit network information, and mitigate the impact of data scraping by third parties. Historically, Facebook’s open platform encouraged broad sharing. However, concerns regarding misuse of personal data have led users to adopt more protective strategies.