Facebook. Where else can you keep up with friends and family, play games, learn which of your favorite restaurants are having specials, have great discussions, and so much more – all in one place? If you’ve been there awhile, you know that as you add friends and “like” business pages, there will be that much more information appearing in your news feed to manage. As these numbers continue to grow, how can you keep up with it all easily and effectively?
I’ve found one particular feature very helpful, and recommend those of you not using it already to try it: Lists. Here’s a how-to, along with ways I use it to my benefit myself and others:
- On your Home Page in the left hand column, click ‘Friends’. A list will appear with all your friends’ profiles and your Fan pages.
- To the upper right, there is a tab ‘Create List.’
- When you click this option, a box opens which enables you to give your list a title, and then add friends and/or fan pages there to each list you create.
I have several lists to fit my needs and interests: Among my titles: Fav local restaurants, Web/IT, High school friends, Social Media/PR, Business I follow, Non-Profits, News, Political orgs, Charleston sites etc. Once your lists are made, the name of each group will appear under your friends tab when you click it. A quick click of the list title shows all the recent updates from members of that list. Now, either daily or a couple of times weekly (depending on the topic) I can get news, the latest development in my field, and even choose where I may want to go for lunch that day. I create new lists and edit new list members as needed. Think about your areas of need or interest, and start with just few areas initially to get your feet wet.
New to Facebook? Great! You can begin now to customize quickly instead of going back to do so like I did over 400 friends later. For you Facebook veterans, yes, this was time consuming, but well worth it in the long run.
For me, this one tool has taken Facebook beyond a means of keeping in touch with some friends to being a valuable and necessary portal to the world.
We’d love your feedback on this or any other features that are helping you manage information on your Facebook page. Our advice? Tame this monster early and often!
Guest post by Liz DeLoach of the Social Strategies. Please be sure to check out her company and website at http://socialmediawiz.biz. You can also find her on Twitter at @SocialStrateg and, of course, on FaceBook.
