10 Tips to Make You a Facebook Master
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Facebook has woven its way into the fabric of everyday personal and business life. And the social network has had to adapt in response to challenges from a variety of upstarts. Foursquare, Google+, Groupon, and Twitter are all trying to give Facebook a run for its money. But the service shows no signs of slowing down, with Facebook recently surpassing 750 million users. Mark Zuckerberg and friends are constantly rolling out new features, from Skype video calling to a new landing page for businesses.
Given Facebook’s rapid pace of innovation, chances are that you don’t know about all of the sites features. Use this guide to become a power user overnight.
Facebook for Play
If you’re an average Facebook user, you have 130 friends; log into the social network every other day; are connected to 80 pages, groups, and events; and add 90 pieces of content (photos, vidoes, comments, links) to the site each month. Use these tips and tricks for making the most of your social network.
Messaging
No feature embodies the essence of Facebook better than messaging. While there’s no way to unsend something (yet), the social network is constantly enhancing the messaging aspect of its service. Here’s how to take advantage.
1. Make Video Calls
With this new feature, Facebook and Skype really have made video calling a mainstream activity. To talk face to face:
- From your Facebook Friends window on the right side of your screen, click on a friend with a green circle next to his or her name.
- Click the video camera button at the top of the pop-up screen.
- Click “Save” in the new pop-up window to download an applet called Facebook VideoCallSetup.
- Run the downloaded file.
- Your video call will start as soon as your recipient repeats a similar process and accepts the call. If your friend does not answer, you’ll be given the option to leave a video message.
2. Claim your Facebook E-mail Address
With a Facebook e-mail address, people can send you messages through traditional e-mail and the information will be delivered to your Facebook Messages. That means you can receive Facebook Messages from contacts not yet on the social-networking bandwagon. When you send an e-mail to an external address, it will appear as a regular Facebook message with your name, your profile picture, and your message.
To claim your address, go to the Messages tab and click the “Claim your Facebook email” link. Your address will match your public username (www.facebook.com/username = [email protected]). If you don’t have a username yet, you can chooose one when you create your e-mail address.
3. Reply to a Comment Through E-mail
When you receive an e-mail alerting you to a comment someone has made on Facebook, you can add your own comment by replying to the e-mail notification. Your reply will then show up automatically posted after that person’s comment.
Groups
Groups (similar to Google+ Circles) are an easy way to communicate with a specific set of people, instead of sharing everything with everyone all the time.
4. Create a Group
It really is as simple as clicking Create Group in the left column of the Facebook homepage. Doing this will cause a pop-up box to appear, which will ask you to give your group a name, add members, and select the privacy setting for that group. Click Create Group when you are finished.
Once a group is created, you can click Edit Group at the top right of that page to add a description, set up a group e-mail address, and add a photo.
5. Chat with a Group
Once you have joined or created a group, you can communicate directly with group members. All members of a group can interact in group chat, regardless of whether they are your friends on Facebook. You can only chat with group members who are online at the time. To start, go to the group and click Chat With Group on the upper-right corner of the page.
6. Share Documents with a Group
Similar to Google Docs, Facebook Docs allows members of a group to write and edit content through the social network. To create a doc, go to your group and click Create Doc on the right. This opens a clean new text-input window with a few simple formatting tools at the top of the page. Select Create Doc, and Facebook will publish the doc to your group. To edit or delete it later, simply click on the document.
7. Poll Members of a Group
In exactly the same way that you create a poll for all Facebook users, you can ask a question to members of a group. Click on the Question icon above your Status window. This will bring up a window where you can ask your question. Then click Add Poll Options to fill in the possible answers. To prevent people from adding their own answers, uncheck the “Allow Anyone to Add Options” box. Then click Ask Question to publicize it to the group.
8. Control Who Can Join a Group
Administrators of a group can personally approve any member who has been added to the group.
- Click Edit Group on the right.
- Check “Only admins can approve requests to join.”
- Click Save Changes.
To remove a member of the group:
- Select Edit Group on the right.
- Click the Members tab on the left.
- Search for a specific person.
- Click the X next to their name. Removed members can be re-added later.
- Check the box for Ban Permanently to remove them forever.
Credits
Facebook Credits can be used to buy virtual goods, such as a virtual greenhouse in Farmville or clothes in Pet Society. You can buy Credits with your credit card, PayPal, and mobile phone. It’s easy to check your balance in the Payments tab under Account Settings.
9. New Ways to Get Facebook Credits
- Watch Ads: By viewing ads embedded in Facebook apps by CrowdStar, Digital Chocolate, Zynga, and others, you can earn one Credits (one Credit per ad).
- Receive a gift card: Go to Facebook.com/FacebookCredits, click on Gift Cards, and use the store locator to find where you can buy gift cards (stores include GameStop and Walmart).
- Exchange gift cards: Turn unwanted or partially used gift cards into credits by going to apps.facebook.com/plasticjungle. Once you connect to the app, it will ask for your gift card information and offer a prepaid mailing label. After the company receives your card, credits are added to your account. The exchange rate equals up to 92 percent of a card’s balance. You get 10 Facebook Credits for every dollar in trade-in value.
- Cash in Kickbucks: First visit www.shopkick.com/download to download the free iPhone app. Then when you walk into a participating retailer, such as Best Buy, Macy’s, or Target, the app connects to the in-store transmitter to record your check-in. You then earn Kickbucks that can be converted to Credits from within the app. 25 Kickbucks equals one Credit.
10. Use Facebook Credits to Watch Movies or TV Shows
For those who prefer to watch longer-form video, Warner Bros. offers 48-hour rentals of several movies on Facebook. The first option was Batman: The Dark Knight at www.facebook.com/darkknight. In the middle of that page, you’ll find a big Watch Now button. Clicking that sends a request for permission for the app to have access to your basic information. Selecting Allow takes you to a new page where you can spend 30 Credits ($3) to start playing. Other movies currently available include Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Inception, Life as We Know It, and Yogi Bear.
By liking the Doctor Who page on Facebook, you are presented with a variety of epsides available for 48-hour rental through BBC Worldwide. When you click on a specific episode, you’re sending a request for permission to let Doctor Who/Video On Demand access your information and post to your wall. Once connected, you can spend the $1.50 (15 Credits) to watch.
This story was provided by Laptopmag, sister site to IT TechNewsDaily.
