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Thursday, May 12, 2016

11 things you didn't know you could do on Facebook

Most of us use Facebook every day, and yet there are always little things you forget you can do, just because they’re not that relevant to your everyday life. Some protect your privacy, or your security, while others just make Facebook more fun to play with — or even useful!

Here are a bunch of Facebook tricks and tools that most people forget are available to them. Check out if you know all of these or any...

Finding your extra secret inbox

Do you trust Facebook to deliver you only the important messages and just hide the rest? Well, too bad, because that’s what they’re doing.

Most people know there’s a regular Facebook messenger inbox, and a separate section for “Other” messages from strangers, also known as “Message Requests”. This makes sense, as you don’t want to be bombarded with messages from weirdos all the time.

But most people don’t realize that even these messages have been filtered further by Facebook, so you might not be seeing all of your messages. If you didn’t know this was here, it’s time for you to take a look in the vault.

Head to your messages on the Facebook website, then click Message Requests > See Filtered Requests. You’ll suddenly be faced with all the messages Facebook decided you didn’t need to see. Many, many messages get sucked into this black hole, so it’s worth checking occasionally.

Downloading albums

There used to be half a dozen tools to download albums on Facebook, but now it’s really easy. Just head to the album and click on the drop-down menu in the corner. Facebook lets you save it to your hard drive in one click from there. Couldn’t be easier.

Calling an Uber

Facebook messenger is full of hidden tricks, as it’s about to become the primary connection to all your most important apps. One of the best Facebook chat tricks is that you can order an Uber from within the messenger app itself.

It does take an initial setup to connect your Uber account, but from there you can click on the car icon or message the Uber bot and ask for a car to come get you. It’ll respond with approximate times and costs, and let you know when it’s arrived.

It’s a total game changer.

Blocking game requests

I’ll bet most of you get hundreds of requests to play the latest stupid Farmville replacement or to try some dumb quiz or other. I don’t, because I blocked all that annoying stuff years ago.

You have two options: You can block all invitations from the app you’re not interested in; or you can block all invitations from the people who invite you to every damn app on Facebook.

Also, you can set things up so app invites don’t appear in your notifications.

And then you can breathe.

Getting notifications on login

Protect your account by adding another layer of security. Many of you will already have set up two-factor authentication for your account. If not, do this in Settings > Security.

Another new trick available in Settings > Security is to get login alerts whenever someone logs in to your account. These alerts can be sent via your browser and devices, or to your registered email addresses.

It could save you from needing to recover your Facebook account, so set it up!

Using advanced chat settings

Are there a few people you just don’t want to chat to on Messenger? Maybe an ex, or chatty co-workers? Well, you can adjust Facebook Messenger so these people never see you online as available to chat.

When on Facebook, you’ll see the Messenger docked into the lower right-hand side. At the bottom of this is a settings cog that says “Options” when you hover over it. Click here and you can fine-tune exactly who sees you online and can chat to you.

Also, you can now do group calls to up to 50 people in Facebook Messenger, which is pretty awesome.

Choosing who sees your 'Likes'

For many of us, liking pages is just something we do every now and then, with no real thought as to who might see that we’ve liked the page and what that might mean to them.

But think about it. Do you want your boss seeing all the video games you love? Or your grandmother seeing your taste in movies?

It’s worth taking a look at all your Facebook Likes and adjusting who can see what. It’s really easy to permanently adjust these settings if you’re in the habit of keeping your Facebook friends lists in order.

Head to http://Facebook.com/{YourName}/likes, click on the edit pencil and choose manage privacy. The settings for each genre of “Likes” will be visible and able to be managed using the same privacy options available to you elsewhere on the site.

Turning your Facebook profile into a page

If you’re one of many businesses who didn’t understand Facebook when you first got an account, and happened to create a personal profile for your business, you should know you are actually in danger of having your account deleted by Facebook.

But, it’s not all doom and gloom, as you can convert your personal profile to a Facebook page and even bring along all of your contacts as fans of the new page.

If you’re ready to get started, begin the Facebook profile to page migration process.

Facebook Live Video

Facebook Live Video is Facebook’s answer to Snapchat and Periscope, combining some of the best features of each into a tool any Facebook user can use. It’s just rolled out to most accounts, groups and pages worldwide and is a whole lot of fun to try.

You might like to use it to show your distant family what’s going on at your birthday party, or to make your friends jealous of the festival you’re at. Business people might show off some new products or do a behind-the-scenes introduction to staff.

If you’re shy, watching live video is still a fun activity. Facebook lets you add emotive responses and comments to the post, and future viewers can follow the activity as it went down, along with joining in with the conversation below as per any Facebook post.

Businesses are also being encouraged to use more video and to even use a custom tool to develop a business story as a video. See yourbusinessstory.fb.com.

Adding a legacy contact

When you die, Facebook generally will accept a death certificate from your next-of-kin and allowing your page to be memorialized. But what if you want more control?

Well, you can decide in advance who will have access to your account by adding a legacy contact. Just head into Facebook Settings > Security and add your favorite person as your legacy contact.

If the whole idea of a memorialized page makes you cringe, you can instead choose to delete your account after your death. As soon as Facebook receives your death certificate these changes will go into effect.

Source:-The Times of India


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