#DeleteFacebook is trending: Here's how to delete your Facebook account

As someone who recently deactivated his Facebook account, I can attest to how quickly this process goes — it's just a few minutes. I also liked the peace of mind of being able to recover my Facebook information should I ever choose to re-join the service.

That said, beware: Deactivating your Facebook account does not delete your information from Facebook's servers. It's hidden from other users, unavailable to the public, but it continues to live on in Facebook's vast digital storage vaults. If you're ever interested in re-visiting the photos you posted to Facebook way back when, or getting back in touch with that long-lost friend, you may want to deactivate your Facebook page instead of outright deleting it.

That said: If you're trying to make sure your data doesn't get scraped in the future, the best way to ensure that is to request that Facebook delete it.

Facebook will put together all of your Facebook information and give it to you as a download if you request as much. It's an archive request, basically.

There's a simple process for requesting this data that must be done prior to deletion:

1. Log in to your Facebook account.

2. Click the top right of your account and select the Settings option.

3. In Settings, click the "Download a copy of your Facebook data" option in the General Account Settings area.

4. Await your archive via email.

That's it!

Ready to do this thing?

The process is relatively simple:

1. Log in to Facebook.

2. Go to your settings.

3. Click "Edit" next to "Manage account."

4. Click "Request account deletion."

3. Follow the instructions.

And that's it! You've deleted Facebook.

(You can also do it by just clicking here, on Facebook's "Delete My Account" page.)

As a reminder: You still have a few days to undo the process, and up to 90 days before your information is permanently removed from Facebook's servers.