Facebook is unquestionably a great social media platform. Tons of users, lots of great features, and even some fun games and other assorted time wasters if that's your thing. One thing that can get tiresome very quickly though, are all the notifications and invitations to try this or that game. Even more frustrating is that Facebook doesn't make it easy to find the place where you can go to deactivate those notifications.

So What's The Secret?

On your Facebook page, there's a Privacy Settings icon. Next to that icon, there's a little downward pointing arrow. You've got to click that arrow to see your other options. One of those options will be the Settings Menu.

Once you're actually in the settings menu, you'll see a section called Blocking, and here's where the magic happens. Note that in this section you can block specific users if you want to, and let's face it, sometimes you want to, especially if you're friends with someone who feels compelled to update their status when they put their left shoe on, then update it again when they put their right shoe on, and so forth.

Where the apps are concerned though, you'll want to scroll all the way to the bottom. At the bottom, you'll see a section labeled “Block Apps” with a text box next to it. Simply type in the name of the app you want to block, select it from the pick list and the deed is done.

While You're Here

While you're blocking users and apps to get rid of unwanted notifications, now is also a good time to make sure your privacy options are up to date and working as you want them to. The essential function of your privacy options is to control who among Facebook's endless stream of users can see what. If you only want your wall to be visible to your friends, you can make that happen.

In looking at the particulars of your privacy settings, you've got four choices for the things you post. You can allow everyone to see them, which is not usually what you want. You can make it so they're only visible to yourself, which seems strange. I'm not even sure why this option exists on a social media site, you can make it so that only friends can see certain things, or you can choose the custom option.

In the custom option, you can drill down to specific users for maximum customization. Note that you can even control who can post to your time line, and what those users can see. Finally, and of particular interest is the section called “Who Can Look Me Up?” This is huge and I'm not sure why Facebook doesn't shout it from the rooftops, given that people are always saying that the company doesn't seem to care about user privacy. With this control, you can actually set up who can find you via your email address or phone number. With tight restrictions, you can make yourself all but invisible on Facebook, except to those who you specifically want to see you.