Muting vs. Blocking on Social Media

When it comes to social media, not everything is going to be your cup-of-tea. Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are making it easier to curate socials to meet users’ needs and specified interests. Among these tools is the ability to stop viewing someone’s posts, but what’s the difference between muting vs. blocking?

Yes, you can unfollow/unfriend someone on your social media threads, but muting can be a better, more discreet alternative way to silence online “trolls” without having to block them. Maybe you don’t want to let your high school bestie (or your sibling, in-laws — you get the idea) know that sharing their political views is not what you want to scroll through on your timeline. Easy solution: mute them.

Blocking is a whole other ballgame. If you don’t mind your followers/friends knowing you don’t want them to see any of your posts or vice-versa, then you block them. Here are the differences you need to know between muting vs. blocking on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Snapchat

Snapchat has made it easier for you to avoid viewing stories and content from friends without letting them know. By holding down their story and selecting the “More” button, you’ll be given an array of options including report, block, remove, and muting their story. The “Mute Story” feature allows you to push their stories to the end of the story list so you no longer have them on your story slideshow.

If you are only trying to mute them for the time being, you can easily unmute them using the same previous steps.

Blocking, on the other hand, lets people know you don’t want them viewing your stories or sending you messages. Blocking will remove this user from your friends list and they will no longer be able to view your content. You won’t be able to view theirs, either.

Want to find out if someone’s blocked you on Snapchat? If you search for their username in the “Add Friends” menu bar on your Snapchat profile and you don’t see their Snap score, it’s safe to say they’ve blocked you.

Twitter

So, you’re tired of your friend’s tweets appearing on your timeline, but you don’t want to lose a follower or a friend. Muting them is the best alternative for you. The muting feature on Twitter has really revolutionized how you can customize your timeline more than just based on who you are following. When you mute someone, they’ll still be able to view your tweets, interact and follow you, and retweet your tweets. Their tweets and retweets, however, will not be visible to you.

On a similar note, Twitter has created advanced muting options for those of you who aren’t interested in seeing certain words, phrases, or hashtags in tweets. However, this only applies to words and hashtags on your Home timeline; this is not the case for tweets via search.

Both of these alternatives to blocking can be accessed in the “Privacy and Safety” setting under the sub-heading “Muted.”

When you block someone on Twitter, they won’t be able to follow you, see your tweets, tweet to you, retweet your tweets or DM you. People will receive an alert informing them that, “You are blocked from following this account” when they go on your profile. If you’ve been blocked, you’ll be faced with this same warning.

Unfortunately, Twitter hasn’t figured out how to stop people from subtweeting you, but that should be their next priority.

Instagram

When Instagram launched the muting option in mid-2018, users could discreetly hide their friends’ posts or stories. By easily going on their profile, selecting the drop-down bar “Following” and opting for the “Mute” option. Muting can avoid any unnecessary confrontation and upset friends on your feed.

Between blocking vs. muting on Instagram, blocking can be really intense. Aside from the user’s inability to view your posts or profile, they can’t look up your username in their search bar. You won’t be coming up in their explore page and if you’re tagged in a mutual friend’s post, they can’t see your tag nor can they see any comments you may have made under the post. This can be especially helpful if you’re encountering Instagram cyberbullies.

Facebook

So, you can’t mute someone on Facebook, but you have other alternatives. You can either “Snooze” them for 30 days or unfollow them. Snoozing them allows you to temporailiy stop seeing their posts for the time being while unfollowing them will enable you to stop seeing their posts on your timeline without having to unfriend them.

Unfriending them, like blocking them let’s them know you know longer wish to see their posts. Blocking someone on Facebook prohibits them from requesting you again and cuts all communications and interactions with them.