Facebook Tips

Facebook is a necessary evil, in my opinion. It's hard to avoid having an account and while Facebook suggests it's really simple to use there are lots of nuances that can make you not feel totally comfortable with it.

In the US every person you meet wants to be your 'Friend'. But once they are in your Friends List how do you still have an online chat with just your oldest, and real, friends? Facebook is great for staying in touch with family and friends who are spread across the world and for sharing what's happening in your life and important milestones with your family (starting school, graduating, moving home, exciting travels, getting married, etc) but sometimes you just want to share a silly moment and don't want 'John in Accounts' or anyone from work to be a part of that.

Restrict What Some Friends Can See

1. From the Facebook homepage, click on 'Edit Profile' or your name in the top left of the page.
2. Click on 'Friends' (one of the tabs along the top).
3. From here you can see everyone you are connected with and the word 'Friends' with a tick next to each avatar and name.
4. Hover your mouse over the word 'Friends' and a drop-down menu appears.
5. Here's where you can change the access for each person.
6. Click on 'Add to another list' and then choose 'Restricted' or any other list you require – you can create new ones for school friends, work colleagues, etc.

Now, when you add a Status update the status can be seen by your 'Friends' but not those on the 'Restricted' list.

So now you can feel more comfortable being 'Friends' with 'John in Accounts' or when your mother's next door neighbour sends you a Friend Request as your mother had told her how much you've grown. (Yeah, they still have these conversations even when you've moved out.)

Reduce the Rubbish in Your Timeline
Some Friends update their status far too much – especially those YouTube video links late at night.

It's the same first steps as above:

1. From the Facebook homepage, click on 'Edit Profile' or your name in the top left of the page.
2. Click on 'Friends' (one of the tabs at the top).
3. From here you can see everyone you are connected with and the word 'Friends' with a tick next to each avatar and name.
4. Hover your mouse over the word 'Friends' and a drop-down menu appears.
5. Click on 'Show in News Feed' to see something from this Friend or you could remove the tick and see nothing they say.
6. Click on 'Settings'.
7. From here you can choose how much you really want to see from each person. I like to take away 'Music & Videos' and 'Games' pretty quickly and then decide about each person whether I want to see 'All Updates' or 'Only Important'.

Online Chat
When you log into Facebook do you really want mum's next door neighbour to start sending you instant messages asking why you didn't visit your mum this week? Seriously, switch that off.

I've found even though I switch online chat off every time I log in it still reappears the next day. So the work-around is to choose one person who you know will never actually try and send you an instant message when they see you are online and choose settings that leave you unavailable to everyone else.

From the Facebook homepage, click on the settings icon for Online Chat in the bottom right of the page. Choose 'Advance Settings'.

Choose 'Turn on chat for only some friends' and then name that 'Friend' who won't bother you. Someone who doesn't log on very often.

Clive 'Save' and you are then hidden from all of your 'Friends' who are online at the same time as you which means you can just pop in and have a look at your school friend's wedding photos or your brother's holiday snaps without having to start any conversations that waste more of your time.

Make Facebook work for you and it can be a more comfortable social network. What tips would you add to these?