I originally wrote this in 2015, then updated it last June and linked to the article. It’s always a good idea to remind ourselves of a few things that help us make the FB experience smoother and more fun. For heaven’s sake, we’re here enough. Am I right? No shame … just reality.
Anyway, here a few things that might make you look like you know what you’re doing.
1. Blocking garbage from your feed, Our friends are all quite different in their beliefs and in the ways they see the world. During a normal time of the year, there are times you simply don’t want to see the vile (to your eyes) stuff they post because it makes you think less of them. During this political season? Oh. My. Good. Heavenly. Days. AND, it raises your blood pressure to the point that you want to lash out at them.
A – that’s silly. People have differing belief structures and we shouldn’t have to fight about it.
B – your blood pressure should stay calm and relaxed. We can fix this.
In the image I’m sharing, I am NOT hiding anything from Rebecca B Books. Her posts are amazing, but this is readily available to make my point. I also really like Upworthy, so I won’t hide things from them either. But I could if I wanted to.
See that little arrow (highlighted) in the top right corner of the feed? Click on it and a menu of things will come up. You have choices. I hide things from many FB pages so no matter which of my friends re-posts them, I will never see anything. I breathe better every day by doing this.
Use the tools FB gives you to lower your blood pressure and help keep your friends friendly. I’ve cleared out 90% of the awful garbage that shows up regularly. I’m not nearly as disgusted with the people in my friends’ list as I have been in the past. It makes for a much nicer experience.
2. Tag someone and only use the first name.
Sometimes I swear my mother is calling me out on Facebook. She’s the only person until now who ever used all of my names. And that only happened when I was in trouble.
Nowadays, we can tag people in Facebook posts and comments. It’s pretty cool. I use it to tell my sister (who never seems to catch on to my fun stuff unless I tag her) when there’s something I want her to see.
But I don’t need to call her out by her full name. She knows what it is and so do I. Facebook lets us use their first name only. It takes an extra step, but it’s worth it to make yourself look a little more professional and to stop sounding like their mother, hollering across the neighborhood when they’re late to dinner.
Type the name and hit ‘enter.’ The full name will show up in your post or comment.
Then hit backspace. If they only have two names – like my sister, all it takes it one tap on the backspace key. If they have three names – like I do, it will take two taps to eliminate ‘Muir’ and then ‘Greenwood.’ All you have left is my first name and the tag is still attached to it, telling me that you want me to pay attention to something interesting or important (they aren’t always the same, am I right?). And, you haven’t used all of my names just to get my attention. Ahhh … more happiness.
3. Blocking Game requests. No more complaining and demanding that your friends stop sending them. Sometimes the game sends them out and your friend can only cringe. Your attack makes them feel even worse. Take responsibility for your own FB feed. You can fix a lot of this over time – all by yourself.
When you get a game request, don’t click on it – that doesn’t work. Click on ‘Games’ in the list on the left side of your FB feed. When you get to the next page, click on ‘Activity.’ You’ll find all of the requests there. Block everything from those games. You’ll never see another request show up from any of them, even when the game globally sends things out from your friend. It might take a while to get through all of the games your friends are playing, but pretty soon, like me, you’ll only see requests when a new game hits the Internet. One more run at it and you’re free and clear again. And look, you haven’t made a scene and your friends are safe from your ire.
4. Edit your own posts and comments
Do you ever write a post and then realize that you missed a word, misspelled a word or really didn’t mean what you’ve written? You can fix it. And again, there’s a little arrow in the top right corner of the post that gives you options.
When you click on ‘Edit Post,’ all of a sudden you can go back to what you’ve entered and make any changes needed. This will make you a much better typist … it certainly has helped me!
And if you posted something in the heat of the moment and realize that it might hurt someone else’s feelings or you might have just embarrassed yourself more than need be? Delete the thing and be done with it. Happiness ensues.
OH LOOK! You can ALSO edit your comments any time. Hover over the right side of your comment and a grey pencil will show up. Click on it. Again … you can edit or delete the comment. Make your choice wisely, little one … you can make it better or make it go away.
So, rather than making another comment in hopes of editing your mistakes … just fix it where it happened and nobody will know the difference.
5. Reply within a thread.
This was one of those things that FB really needed to deal with and they did. First on PAGES and finally on regular posts. It’s such an easy thing and your follow-up conversation won’t get lost in a mass of comments.
Say you comment on a post. Instead of typing a new comment when I want to respond to you, I am going to click that little button that says ‘Reply.’ That way, our conversation stays all in one place rather than being scattered through a number of other comments. If you want to enter a conversation initiated by a commenter, you can also hit reply and join that specific conversation.
Carol and I responded to Jamie’s comment, but then notice that Lynne wanted to change the subject. She made a completely different comment. Of course, I responded to that as well, but that’s hidden in this picture.
Take advantage of the fun ways to have conversations on Facebook. It’s much more fun than stubbing your toe.
Bonus Tip.
Tagging a FB page is different than tagging a person. My brother’s FB page is Jamie McFarlane Author. I’d like to be able to tag him by just using his first name, but because it’s a page and not a person, I have to use the whole thing. That’s okay, but because I know him, I still feeling like I’m yelling at him, using all of his names.
Pages and profiles are similar, yet different. It’s kind of fun to learn how to maneuver between them.
So there … a few tips and tricks. I hope they made sense and I hope they help!
Caveat: I know that some of you want to jump right in here and tell me how different it is on your phone or your tablet or whatever. Uh huh. Got it. Some of these might not always work, but don’t be afraid to dig around. FB is always trying to make the experience better for everyone.
Do you have another helpful hint or tip? Tell us in a comment.
