Facebook’s looking to make it easier for users to manage what people can find out about them via their Facebook profiles with an updated, simplified ‘Manage Activity’ process, which enables bulk archiving or deletion of those questionable updates and images from your past.

As you can see here, the new process is built into your ‘Activity Log’ settings, where you’ll now be able to use a basic tick box process to hide or erase your posts.

As explained by Facebook:

“Whether you’re entering the job market after college or moving on from an old relationship, we know things change in people’s lives, and we want to make it easy for you to curate your presence on Facebook to more accurately reflect who you are today. That’s why we’re launching Manage Activity to help you archive or trash old posts, all in one place.”

Archiving posts will hide them from your profile, but keep them around, in case there are private things you’d prefer to keep on file. Alternatively, you can just delete those cringe-worthy updates from your edgy teen years, blasting them into oblivion, where they probably belong anyway.

“Posts sent to the trash will stay there for 30 days before being deleted unless you choose to manually delete or restore them before then. This gives you some wiggle room in case you change your mind about deleting old posts.”

Users have always been able to delete older posts and updates, but the main addition here is the capacity for bulk actions. Now, you can tick a heap of posts all at once, then shift them to the relevant archive or trash folders in one click. 

Facebook’s also added new filters to help sort your updates by post type, date range or people included within them. No more memories of that failed relationship with that girl you met at that party one time.

The need to manage your digital presence is becoming increasingly important, with more and more people now having lived out the entirety of their teen life online, and having posted the evidence of their in-progress development for all to see, for all time. That can lead to embarassing, even limiting situations in future. Some 90% of recruiters now look up people’s social media profiles when assessing them for a role, while as we’ve seen with various Hollywood celebrities, your past comments can come back to haunt you, particularly if you end up in a public-facing role.

Many people have held flawed opinions at some stage, or done things that they later regret. In the past, you could move on from these, but in the social media era, where everything is recorded, uploaded and shared, that has become increasingly difficult.

As such, the addition of this new, simplified, improved process is a welcome addition, and should help many people ensure that they’re putting their best foot forward, without their past-selves setting unfortunate potholes along their road to progress. 

The new Manage Activity process is rolling out now on mobile devices, with desktop and Facebook Lite to follow.