Facebook Tips: There's a lot you can do with Facebook. It's the app you likely spend the majority of your time using on your phone, whether it's for finding the latest news or staying in touch with friends. We've collected some of the best tips and tricks you may not know about. It's time to start using Facebook like a pro.
1. See something interesting in your News Feed but don't have time to look at it now? You can save it for later.
Your bookmarked links, videos, photos, places, and more are accessible from the "Saved" page on your Facebook profile. The page is included under the "More" tab in the Facebook mobile app.
See Also:
Perfect for saving all of Tech Insider's amazing articles for later.
2. Never get a request to play Candy Crush again.
There's a way to keep annoying Facebook games like Candy Crush from spamming you with invites.
Under the "More" tab in Facebook's mobile app, select "Settings" then "Account Settings" followed by "Notifications." Go to "Mobile," scroll all the way down, and uncheck "Application Invites."
3. Turn your profile pic into an animated GIF.
From the Facebook mobile app, select your profile picture and then "Take a New Profile Video" to upload a short video loop of yourself. The result looks like a mix between an animated GIF and a moving picture frame straight out of Harry Potter.
4. Stay on top of the hottest news with what's trending on Facebook.
The topics that are currently being talked about the most on Facebook are featured on the Trending list, which is accessible to the right of the News Feed on the desktop and under the search bar in Facebook's mobile app.
5. Articles with this little lightning bolt load natively in Facebook, which typically means they load faster with fewer ads.
Facebook Instant Articles are native to the social network, which means that they load directly in the Facebook iPhone app with a clean, minimal layout. Dozens of media outlets are sharing Instant Articles, and Facebook claims that stories published in its format load up to ten times faster.
If a story is an Instant Article, you'll see a little lightning icon in the top right of its header photo.
6. Turn off auto-playing videos in your News Feed.
If you don't want videos on Facebook automatically playing in your News Feed, make sure to turn the setting off.
Under the "More" tab in the Facebook mobile app, select "Videos and Photos." You can choose to auto-play videos over cellular and Wi-Fi connections, just Wi-Fi, or never.
7. See your Facebook activity on the same day from years past.
Facebook's "On This Day" feature shows your activity on its social network on the same day from years past. Think of it like your personal time capsule on Facebook.
Only you see your "On This Day" activity, and you can find the feature from the link Facebook.com/onthisday. Facebook also lets you hide certain people from showing up in your past activity, which is helpful for not seeing memories of your ex.
8. Your Activity Log shows everything you've liked, shared, and commented on in the past.
Your Activity Log on Facebook documents all of your activity on the social network. It's easily accessible on your profile from both the mobile app and desktop site.
9. Select profiles and pages you never want to miss updates from in your News Feed.
If there are certain people or pages you want to see first in your News Feed no matter what, you can select them in the Facebook mobile app.
Tap "Settings" under the app's "More" tab and then "News Feed Preferences" to get started.
People and pages you've marked to see first will have a little blue star next to their posts in your feed.
10. Know the distinction between a "friend" and a "follower" on Facebook.
There are two ways you can connect with someone on Facebook: by becoming friends with them and by following them.
Being friends means that you and the other person have approved the connection and likely know each other, while following an account means that the person hasn't added you back as a friend.
When someone follows you, they'll only see posts you share publicly. You can turn off the ability for people to follow your account at any time from the "Followers" section of your account settings.
11. See what your profile looks like to the public and individual friends.
This is handy for seeing what on your profile is visible to others, including individual friends you may have hidden certain information from in the past.
When you're logged into Facebook on the desktop website, go to your profile, click the ellipsis and then "View as..."
12. When you share a post, you can choose to hide it from specific people.
Your Facebook posts can be shared with your friends, friends and friends of friends, or anyone who views your profile.
You can select these sharing options on a case-by-case basis from the drop-down menu at the top right of a post. On the mobile app, select "Edit Privacy" and select one of the options. From the desktop, just click the little friends or globe icon next to a post's time stamp.
If you want everyone expect a few people to see a post, you can choose to hide it from specific people by selecting "Friends except..." on the mobile app and "Custom" on the desktop.
13. Hide your list of friends from everyone but you.
If for some reason you don't want people seeing who you're friends with, you can hide the list entirely.
From your friends list on the desktop, click the "Manage" pen icon on the right and then "Edit Privacy." Then you can change who can see your friends list, the people you follow, and your followers.
14. Hide your relationship-status change from your friends.
It could be potentially disastrous for your Facebook friends to see your relationship-status change. The good news is that you can prevent relationship changes from being seen by anyone except you. This means the change won't show up in your friends' News Feeds.
While editing your profile under "Family and Relationships," change the privacy filter to "Only Me."
15. Hide specific photo albums and events on your timeline.
If you have certain photo albums you don't want people seeing, but don't feel like deleting them completely, you can hide them so only you can see them on Facebook. The same goes for events in your life, whether they be relationship changes, new jobs, etc.
Just take note of the little gray icon next to a photo album or post. Two little people mean that it can only be seen by your friends, a globe means it's public, and a padlock means only you can see it.
16. Block people from being able to contact you.
If someone is spamming you with messages or you just want to make sure they can't see your profile, go to their profile page and click on the three dots to the far right. Select "Block."
17. See everywhere you're logged into Facebook and remotely log out.
From the Facebook mobile app, tap the More tab then Settings, Account Settings, Security, and finally Active Sessions. Tap the "X" to remotely log out of any device or Facebook app you're logged into.
From your Security Settings on Facebook's desktop site, the "Where You're Logged In" menu shows active logins and lets you end them.
18. Get alerted every time a log-in attempt is made for your account, and approve or deny it.
Facebook Login Alerts and Login Approvals can be enabled under Security Settings in the mobile app and desktop site.
You can choose to get a Facebook notification or email whenever a log-in is made. Login Approvals mean that you'll have to enter a secondary code sent to your phone before you can log-in to Facebook on a new device.
19. Adjust the number of notifications you get.
You can customize exactly what kinds of notifications you get from Facebook, all the way down to updates for an event you've joined.
It gets better: Notifications you want can be customized on the desktop and your phone separately. Go to the "Notifications" section of your account settings on the desktop and tweak away.
20. Turn off birthday notifications.
If you're sick of Facebook notifying you about friends' birthdays every day, you can turn the notifications off.
Go to the notifications tab in your account settings and turn the birthdays option 0ff.
21. Get a notification every time a specific person posts something.
If you want to keep tabs on someone's Facebook activity, you can get alerted every time they share something. Just click the "Friends" drop-down menu from their profile on Facebook's desktop site and select "Get Notifications."
22. Search for posts and photos liked or commented on by a specific person.
This takes stalking to the next level: You can search for posts liked or commented on by one of your friends.
23. Search for specific keywords and topics, not just profiles and pages.
Facebook lets you search for a lot more than just other peoples' profiles. Everything that's publicly shared on the social network is searchable, which means that if you search for something like "James Bond" or "iPhone 6s," you'll see related posts from news sources, friends, and other pages.
24. Tell people how to pronounce your name correctly.
Sick of people pronouncing your name wrong? You can teach them on Facebook.
While editing your profile on the desktop, go to "Details About You" to get started. You can also add a nickname or maiden name for yourself to display with your profile.
25. Unfollow people you don't want to see in your News Feed but don't want to completely unfriend.
If you want to stop seeing someone's posts in your News Feed but don't have the guts to completely unfriend them, you can unfollow them to hide their activity.
From someone's profile in the Facebook mobile app, tap on "Following" under their profile picture and then "Unfollow" to get rid of their posts completely. On the desktop site, click the drop-down arrow to the right of a post to unfollow a person.
26. Tell Facebook what you don't like seeing in your News Feed to improve its recommendations.
Your News Feed isn't a chronological list of activity. It's a mix of posts Facebook determines you may be interested in based on how you interact on the social network.
If you see a post you don't like, tap the drop-down arrow to the right and select "I don't like this post" to let Facebook know it should show you less of that kind of content.
27. Make lists to separate groups of people you're friends with, like school friends and work colleagues.
Designating groups within your list of friends can be useful to filter between what everyone is talking about in your News Feed. For instance, you may want to see what everyone from your hometown is sharing or just your friends from college.
Facebook creates list of friends by default based on common affiliation, whether it be the same hometown, school, etc. On Facebook's desktop site you can see all of your friend lists from this page and add people to them. This creates individual News Feeds within Facebook for you to browse.
28. Give yourself a short bio.
Facebook lets you create a short bio for yourself that sits above your other profile information, such as city, work, and relationship status.
You can edit it at any time from your profile on the desktop site and mobile app.
Pro tip: Make your bio completely out of emojis.
29. Unsubscribe from notifications for posts you've commented on.
We've all probably commented on a post and regretted it later because of the onslaught of notifications that followed from other people commenting.
You may not know that you can unsubscribe from activity on any post, which could be a godsend next time you decide to comment on a friend's politically charged opinion.
When you get a notification for a comment or like on a post on Facebook's desktop site, click the "X" to the right of the notification and then "Turn off."
The reverse is also true. You can turn on notifications for activity on any post from the right drop-down arrow.
30. Edit a post or comment.
Your Facebook comments and posts are thankfully not set in stone. Not only can you delete them at any time, but you can also edit them.
Tap the drop-down arrow to the right of one of your posts on the desktop and then hit "Edit Post." When viewing one of your comments, tap the little pencil icon to the right to edit or delete.
To edit or delete a comment from the Facebook mobile app, tap and hold on the comment.
31. Swipe on a photo in the Facebook mobile app to apply a filter before sharing it.
While uploading photos in Facebook's iPhone app, swipe on the photo to apply some built-in, Instagram-like filters. You can also add text and stickers over a photo, similar to the way Snapchat works.
32. Create a shared photo album with friends.
If you want to let other people contribute to one of your photo albums, tap "Edit" in the top right of Facebook's mobile app while viewing the album. Then select "Allow Contributors."
From the desktop, click the same edit button to add people as contributors.
33. Saying goodbye to Facebook? Download all your data.
Related Posts:
1. See something interesting in your News Feed but don't have time to look at it now? You can save it for later.
Your bookmarked links, videos, photos, places, and more are accessible from the "Saved" page on your Facebook profile. The page is included under the "More" tab in the Facebook mobile app.
See Also:
- Look Up Deleted Facebook Messages
- How Can You Change Your Name On Facebook:
- Facebook Password Hacker Free Download
Perfect for saving all of Tech Insider's amazing articles for later.
2. Never get a request to play Candy Crush again.
There's a way to keep annoying Facebook games like Candy Crush from spamming you with invites.
Under the "More" tab in Facebook's mobile app, select "Settings" then "Account Settings" followed by "Notifications." Go to "Mobile," scroll all the way down, and uncheck "Application Invites."
3. Turn your profile pic into an animated GIF.
From the Facebook mobile app, select your profile picture and then "Take a New Profile Video" to upload a short video loop of yourself. The result looks like a mix between an animated GIF and a moving picture frame straight out of Harry Potter.
4. Stay on top of the hottest news with what's trending on Facebook.
The topics that are currently being talked about the most on Facebook are featured on the Trending list, which is accessible to the right of the News Feed on the desktop and under the search bar in Facebook's mobile app.
5. Articles with this little lightning bolt load natively in Facebook, which typically means they load faster with fewer ads.
Facebook Instant Articles are native to the social network, which means that they load directly in the Facebook iPhone app with a clean, minimal layout. Dozens of media outlets are sharing Instant Articles, and Facebook claims that stories published in its format load up to ten times faster.
If a story is an Instant Article, you'll see a little lightning icon in the top right of its header photo.
6. Turn off auto-playing videos in your News Feed.
If you don't want videos on Facebook automatically playing in your News Feed, make sure to turn the setting off.
Under the "More" tab in the Facebook mobile app, select "Videos and Photos." You can choose to auto-play videos over cellular and Wi-Fi connections, just Wi-Fi, or never.
7. See your Facebook activity on the same day from years past.
Facebook's "On This Day" feature shows your activity on its social network on the same day from years past. Think of it like your personal time capsule on Facebook.
Only you see your "On This Day" activity, and you can find the feature from the link Facebook.com/onthisday. Facebook also lets you hide certain people from showing up in your past activity, which is helpful for not seeing memories of your ex.
8. Your Activity Log shows everything you've liked, shared, and commented on in the past.
Your Activity Log on Facebook documents all of your activity on the social network. It's easily accessible on your profile from both the mobile app and desktop site.
9. Select profiles and pages you never want to miss updates from in your News Feed.
If there are certain people or pages you want to see first in your News Feed no matter what, you can select them in the Facebook mobile app.
Tap "Settings" under the app's "More" tab and then "News Feed Preferences" to get started.
People and pages you've marked to see first will have a little blue star next to their posts in your feed.
10. Know the distinction between a "friend" and a "follower" on Facebook.
There are two ways you can connect with someone on Facebook: by becoming friends with them and by following them.
Being friends means that you and the other person have approved the connection and likely know each other, while following an account means that the person hasn't added you back as a friend.
When someone follows you, they'll only see posts you share publicly. You can turn off the ability for people to follow your account at any time from the "Followers" section of your account settings.
11. See what your profile looks like to the public and individual friends.
This is handy for seeing what on your profile is visible to others, including individual friends you may have hidden certain information from in the past.
When you're logged into Facebook on the desktop website, go to your profile, click the ellipsis and then "View as..."
12. When you share a post, you can choose to hide it from specific people.
Your Facebook posts can be shared with your friends, friends and friends of friends, or anyone who views your profile.
You can select these sharing options on a case-by-case basis from the drop-down menu at the top right of a post. On the mobile app, select "Edit Privacy" and select one of the options. From the desktop, just click the little friends or globe icon next to a post's time stamp.
If you want everyone expect a few people to see a post, you can choose to hide it from specific people by selecting "Friends except..." on the mobile app and "Custom" on the desktop.
13. Hide your list of friends from everyone but you.
If for some reason you don't want people seeing who you're friends with, you can hide the list entirely.
From your friends list on the desktop, click the "Manage" pen icon on the right and then "Edit Privacy." Then you can change who can see your friends list, the people you follow, and your followers.
14. Hide your relationship-status change from your friends.
It could be potentially disastrous for your Facebook friends to see your relationship-status change. The good news is that you can prevent relationship changes from being seen by anyone except you. This means the change won't show up in your friends' News Feeds.
While editing your profile under "Family and Relationships," change the privacy filter to "Only Me."
15. Hide specific photo albums and events on your timeline.
If you have certain photo albums you don't want people seeing, but don't feel like deleting them completely, you can hide them so only you can see them on Facebook. The same goes for events in your life, whether they be relationship changes, new jobs, etc.
Just take note of the little gray icon next to a photo album or post. Two little people mean that it can only be seen by your friends, a globe means it's public, and a padlock means only you can see it.
16. Block people from being able to contact you.
If someone is spamming you with messages or you just want to make sure they can't see your profile, go to their profile page and click on the three dots to the far right. Select "Block."
17. See everywhere you're logged into Facebook and remotely log out.
From the Facebook mobile app, tap the More tab then Settings, Account Settings, Security, and finally Active Sessions. Tap the "X" to remotely log out of any device or Facebook app you're logged into.
From your Security Settings on Facebook's desktop site, the "Where You're Logged In" menu shows active logins and lets you end them.
18. Get alerted every time a log-in attempt is made for your account, and approve or deny it.
Facebook Login Alerts and Login Approvals can be enabled under Security Settings in the mobile app and desktop site.
You can choose to get a Facebook notification or email whenever a log-in is made. Login Approvals mean that you'll have to enter a secondary code sent to your phone before you can log-in to Facebook on a new device.
19. Adjust the number of notifications you get.
You can customize exactly what kinds of notifications you get from Facebook, all the way down to updates for an event you've joined.
It gets better: Notifications you want can be customized on the desktop and your phone separately. Go to the "Notifications" section of your account settings on the desktop and tweak away.
20. Turn off birthday notifications.
If you're sick of Facebook notifying you about friends' birthdays every day, you can turn the notifications off.
Go to the notifications tab in your account settings and turn the birthdays option 0ff.
21. Get a notification every time a specific person posts something.
If you want to keep tabs on someone's Facebook activity, you can get alerted every time they share something. Just click the "Friends" drop-down menu from their profile on Facebook's desktop site and select "Get Notifications."
22. Search for posts and photos liked or commented on by a specific person.
This takes stalking to the next level: You can search for posts liked or commented on by one of your friends.
23. Search for specific keywords and topics, not just profiles and pages.
Facebook lets you search for a lot more than just other peoples' profiles. Everything that's publicly shared on the social network is searchable, which means that if you search for something like "James Bond" or "iPhone 6s," you'll see related posts from news sources, friends, and other pages.
24. Tell people how to pronounce your name correctly.
Sick of people pronouncing your name wrong? You can teach them on Facebook.
While editing your profile on the desktop, go to "Details About You" to get started. You can also add a nickname or maiden name for yourself to display with your profile.
25. Unfollow people you don't want to see in your News Feed but don't want to completely unfriend.
If you want to stop seeing someone's posts in your News Feed but don't have the guts to completely unfriend them, you can unfollow them to hide their activity.
From someone's profile in the Facebook mobile app, tap on "Following" under their profile picture and then "Unfollow" to get rid of their posts completely. On the desktop site, click the drop-down arrow to the right of a post to unfollow a person.
26. Tell Facebook what you don't like seeing in your News Feed to improve its recommendations.
Your News Feed isn't a chronological list of activity. It's a mix of posts Facebook determines you may be interested in based on how you interact on the social network.
If you see a post you don't like, tap the drop-down arrow to the right and select "I don't like this post" to let Facebook know it should show you less of that kind of content.
27. Make lists to separate groups of people you're friends with, like school friends and work colleagues.
Designating groups within your list of friends can be useful to filter between what everyone is talking about in your News Feed. For instance, you may want to see what everyone from your hometown is sharing or just your friends from college.
Facebook creates list of friends by default based on common affiliation, whether it be the same hometown, school, etc. On Facebook's desktop site you can see all of your friend lists from this page and add people to them. This creates individual News Feeds within Facebook for you to browse.
28. Give yourself a short bio.
Facebook lets you create a short bio for yourself that sits above your other profile information, such as city, work, and relationship status.
You can edit it at any time from your profile on the desktop site and mobile app.
Pro tip: Make your bio completely out of emojis.
29. Unsubscribe from notifications for posts you've commented on.
We've all probably commented on a post and regretted it later because of the onslaught of notifications that followed from other people commenting.
You may not know that you can unsubscribe from activity on any post, which could be a godsend next time you decide to comment on a friend's politically charged opinion.
When you get a notification for a comment or like on a post on Facebook's desktop site, click the "X" to the right of the notification and then "Turn off."
The reverse is also true. You can turn on notifications for activity on any post from the right drop-down arrow.
30. Edit a post or comment.
Your Facebook comments and posts are thankfully not set in stone. Not only can you delete them at any time, but you can also edit them.
Tap the drop-down arrow to the right of one of your posts on the desktop and then hit "Edit Post." When viewing one of your comments, tap the little pencil icon to the right to edit or delete.
To edit or delete a comment from the Facebook mobile app, tap and hold on the comment.
31. Swipe on a photo in the Facebook mobile app to apply a filter before sharing it.
While uploading photos in Facebook's iPhone app, swipe on the photo to apply some built-in, Instagram-like filters. You can also add text and stickers over a photo, similar to the way Snapchat works.
32. Create a shared photo album with friends.
If you want to let other people contribute to one of your photo albums, tap "Edit" in the top right of Facebook's mobile app while viewing the album. Then select "Allow Contributors."
From the desktop, click the same edit button to add people as contributors.
33. Saying goodbye to Facebook? Download all your data.
Related Posts:
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