Facebook is constantly evolving. You can tell by the rants on the site and other social media outlets. Every time Facebook makes a change, users cry foul and want the application returned to its previous state. Reasons usually range from confusion about new layouts or privacy settings, but despite these irritations, there ARE some features that might prove useful that users haven’t discovered yet.
One feature that is actually fun is the “View Friendship” feature. You may have Facebook friends that you have been “friends” with for a long time. How long? And what has that friendship been like? Find out by heading to their profile page, clicking the down arrow on the right, choose “See Friendship” and you will be able to view what appears to be a shared timeline. It shows mutual friends and posts in which you have mentioned each other or sent to each other. It also tells you the date your friendship began.
You have Messages that you didn’t even know about. When that little envelope has a number next to it, you know you have a private message, right? Well, did you ever notice that when you click on the envelope, there is an “Other” inbox next to your Inbox?
In this box are a bunch of other messages you didn’t know about. Facebook has deemed them unimportant and kindly put them in what equates to a spam folder in email. I just discovered mine and I feel really badly about not responding to some of them!
Speaking of Messages, did you know that you can message someone on Facebook from your email account? Just use their Facebook email address. We all have one when we open our FB account. It’s username@facebook.com. Messages go straight to the Private Messages folder.
Do you dislike being randomly tagged in someone else’s photos and have them show up on your timeline? Especially ones that are not especially flattering or that you kind of wish you hadn’t been in? Well, click on the arrow at the top right of a Facebook page and click “Account Settings”. From there, click Timeline and Tagging in the left list. Look for “Who can add things to my timeline?” and click “Edit” for “Review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline”. This way you have to give permission before the photos can appear on your page. Unfortunately, this only controls what appears on YOUR timeline. Posts that have you tagged will still appear in that lovely search feature as well as news feeds. From this same settings page, you can control who can see things on your timeline and how to manage tags that people add.
Good luck and keep poking around Facebook… it feels like finding Easter eggs on video games!
