Note: Some information in this post may be outdated. Please use this post as a guide only, not step-by-step instructions.

Earlier this year, I went through my Facebook Profile and read all the status updates and comments I have posted way back in 2006 when I first joined Facebook. Reading back 4+ years, I was really embarrassed in what some of the things I said. I wanted it gone and removed. I started deleting some things, but found it near impossible to delete all this information, so I asked myself “how do i delete my Facebook?”. From that point, I decided I should delete my Facebook account and start again from scratch. In doing so, their are a few things that you need watch out for to make the process clean and easy as Facebook makes it somewhat difficult to delete your profile. To help you out, I have put together this brief tutorial on how you can delete your Facebook account and start again.

By following this tutorial, you will be able to use your same email address, Facebook username, and password, but you will lose everything such as status updates, posts, comments, pictures and friends.

So how do you delete your Facebook account: Before You Begin

Before you being, I must stress, that you will lose all your friends you have and everyone will need to re-add you or re-confirm your friendship. Some people may or may not want to re-add you back as a friend on Facebook, so just be careful. I would also take note of all your friends you have to make it easier to remember who to add.

I would also tell your friends that you are deleting your account, so if they get another friend request from you, they will know it’s not a fake. Or they may ask you questions why you deleted them in the first place.

Update: If your account is the administrator of any groups, or pages, it is highly recommended that you assign someone else as an administrator of that page of group so when you delete your account, there will be someone that can reassign you as an admin (and so your page doesn’t get deleted). If you are the only admin for your page or group, get someone you trust to become an administrator temporarily.

I must also warn you that you complete these steps at your own risk, because you may lose important information such as your applications and games, ad’s, credits, and other important account information that is not covered in the scope of this tutorial. If you do run into trouble, contact me and I will try my best to help you out.

WARNING: FOLLOWING THESE STEPS WILL COMPLETELY WIPE YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT DELETING ALL YOUR FRIENDS, POSTS, COMMENTS, APPS, GAME PROGRESS, FACEBOOK CREDITS. THERE IS NO WAY TO UNDO THIS ACTION!

Note: This method is only for deleting personal Facebook accounts. If you delete a page, it will be deleted straight away.

Step 1: Know The Difference Between Delete And Deactivate

It’s important to note the difference between the two, and I have previously written a post about the difference and how you go about the deleting and deactivating your account. In this tutorial, you are going to delete your account – but don’t do it just yet, just read and understand the difference.

Step 2: Backup Your Facebook Account

When I deleted my Facebook account, I didn’t have the option to backup and download my Facebook information. So before you delete your account (where everything you publish on Facebook will be lost forever), you are first going to backup your data. To do this, click on “learn more” in your Account Settings next to “Download your information”. You can access your Account Settings by visiting https://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php

You will then be presented a number of steps and security measures before you can download your profile.

Once you have downloaded your information, continue to Step 3.

Step 3: Change Your Email Address, Password, And Username

This is a crucial step, because if you don’t do this, you won’t be able to use Facebook for at least two weeks using the same login details. Back in your Account Settings, first of all, change your email address to another email address that you have. We are doing this, so you will be able to instantly signup with your same email address later on in Step 5. Also change your password and username. It is also important to do these so you can keep your original Facebook username (I.e. www.facebook.com/yourprofileusername) (See update below) and to stop other devices such as your mobile phone or laptop accidently logging in to your account and stopping the deletion process. Once you have done all this, continue to Step 4.

Update: A commenter mentioned, that there is a Facebook FAQ stating that usernames cannot be transferred between accounts, so the changing your username step may no longer work, so try this at your own risk.

Step 4: Delete Your Account

Now that you have backed up your profile, have changed your email address, password, username, and told your friends you are deleting your account, you can now finally go through the deletion process.

To delete your account, click on https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account and follow the process. I won’t explain it step by step because I don’t want to delete my Facebook account. But it will take at least 2 weeks for it to be fully deleted. Do make sure you read each step carefully.

Step 5: Sign Back Up To Facebook

Now it’s time to sign back up to Facebook. You should be able to simply register your account using your original email address and password because we changed it in Step 3. Once you have confirmed your account, you can follow Facebook’s basic instructions, re-add the information to your Wall and Profile and re-add all your friends.

Just a tip, you may not be able to register your username straight away. It took me a couple of weeks before I could re-register my old username.

Step 6: You’re Done

So once you have added all your friends again, you have now successfully started your Facebook account from scratch. You may have thought the question “how to delete my Facebook account” isn’t so hard after all. All you had to do is follow the right procedure to crate a new Facebook account. For some further reading, you may want to read how I protect my personal and online identity so people like future employers don’t read the naughty things you get up to. Another thing I regularly do is delete any status updates and comments I post, so I don’t have to do this again in another 4 years. If I maintain it now, it makes it easier later on.

If you need some assistance on how do you delete your facebook account, I am happy to help you out. Just leave your message in the comments.

Sponsored Resources

• How to secure your Facebook Profile
• You can Facebook! The A-Z Guide