facebook, facebook tips and tricks

28 Facebook tips and tricks everyone should know

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More than a billion people use Facebook every single day.

It’s the app you likely spend the majority of your time using on your phone or the website you pull up more than you care to admit. Whether you’re finding the latest news or trying to stay in touch with friends, checking Facebook can become an addictive habit.

We’ve collected some of the best tips and tricks you may not know about – from hiding people you don’t want to see on Facebook to manage notifications.

It’s time to start using Facebook like a pro:

See something interesting in your News Feed but don’t have a chance to look at it now? You can save it for later.

See something interesting in your News Feed but don't have time to look at it now? You can save it for later.

Your bookmarked links, videos, photos, places, and more are accessible from the “Saved” page on your Facebook profile. The page is included under the “More” tab in the Facebook mobile app.Perfect for saving all of Business Insider’s fantastic articles for later.

Turn your profile pic into an animated GIF.

Turn your profile pic into an animated GIF.

From the Facebook mobile app, select your profile picture and then “Take a New Profile Video” to upload a short video loop of yourself. The result looks like a mix between an animated GIF and a moving picture straight out of “Harry Potter.”

Stories with this little lightning bolt are displayed in Facebook’s Instant Articles format, which will typically load faster and show fewer ads.

Stories with this little lightning bolt are displayed in Facebook's Instant Articles format, which will will typically load faster and show fewer ads.

Facebook Instant Articles are native to the social network, which means that they load directly in the Facebook iPhone app with a clean, minimal layout. Dozens of media outlets (including Business Insider) are sharing Instant Articles, and Facebook claims that stories published in its format load up to ten times faster.If a story is an Instant Article, you’ll see a little lightning icon in the bottom left of the story thumbnail.

Turn off auto-playing videos in your News Feed.

Turn off auto-playing videos in your News Feed.

If you don’t want videos on Facebook automatically playing when you scroll past them in your News Feed, make sure to turn the setting off.Under the far right tab in the Facebook mobile app, tap Settings and then “Account Settings.” From there select “Videos and Photos.” You can choose to auto-play videos over cellular and Wi-Fi connections, just Wi-Fi, or never.

Unfollow people you don’t want to see in your News Feed but don’t want to unfriend completely.

Unfollow people you don't want to see in your News Feed but don't want to completely unfriend.

If you want to stop seeing someone’s posts in your News Feed but don’t have the guts to unfriend them completely, you can unfollow them to hide their activity.From someone’s profile in the Facebook mobile app, tap on “Following” under their profile picture and then “Unfollow” to get rid of their posts altogether. On the desktop site, click the drop-down arrow to the right of a post to unfollow a person.

See your Facebook activity on the same day from years past.

See your Facebook activity on the same day from years past.

Facebook’s “On This Day” feature shows your activity on its social network on the same day from years past. Think of it as your personal time capsule on Facebook.Only you see you “On This Day” activity, and you can find the feature from the link Facebook.com/onthisday. Facebook also lets you hide certain people from showing up in your past activity, which is helpful for not seeing memories of your ex.

Your Activity Log shows everything you’ve liked, shared and commented on in the past.

Your Activity Log shows everything you've liked, shared, and commented on in the past.

Your Activity Log on Facebook documents all of your activity on the social network. It’s readily available on your profile from both the mobile app and desktop site.

Select profiles and pages you never want to miss updates from in your News Feed.

Select profiles and pages you never want to miss updates from in your News Feed.

If there are certain people or pages you want to see first in your News Feed no matter what, you can select them in the Facebook mobile app.Tap “Settings” under the app’s “More” tab and then “News Feed Preferences” to get started.

People and pages you’ve marked to see first will have a little blue star next to their posts in your feed.

Tell people how to pronounce your name correctly.

Tell people how to pronounce your name correctly.

Sick of people pronouncing your name wrong? You can teach them on Facebook.While editing your profile on the desktop, go to “Details About You” under “About” to get started. You can also add a nickname or maiden name for yourself to display with your profile.

Know the distinction between a “friend” and a “follower” on Facebook.

Know the distinction between a "friend" and a "follower" on Facebook.

There are two ways you can connect with someone on Facebook: by becoming friends with them, and by following them.Being friends means that you and the other person have approved the connection and likely know each other while following an account means that the individual hasn’t added you back as a friend.

When someone follows you, they’ll only see posts you share publicly. You can turn off the ability for people to follow your account at any time from the “Followers” section of your account settings.

When you share a post, you can choose to hide it from specific people.

When you share a post, you can choose to hide it from specific people.

Your Facebook posts can be shared with your friends, friends and friends of friends, or anyone who views your profile.You can select these sharing options on a case-by-case basis from the drop-down menu at the top right of a post. On the mobile app, select “Edit Privacy” and choose one of the options. From the desktop, just click the little friends or globe icon next to a post’s time stamp.

If you want everyone to expect a few people to see a post, you can choose to hide it from specific people by selecting “Friends except…” on the mobile app and “Custom” on the desktop.

See what your profile looks like to people who aren’t your friends.

See what your profile looks like to people who aren't your friends.

This is handy for seeing what on your profile is visible to others, including personal friends you may have hidden certain information from in the past.When you’re logged into Facebook on the desktop website, go to your profile, click the ellipsis and then “View as…”

Hide your list of friends from everyone but you.

Hide your list of friends from everyone but you.

If for some reason you don’t want people seeing who you’re friends with, you can hide the list entirely.From your friend’s list on the desktop, click the “Manage” pen icon on the right and then “Edit Privacy.” Then you can change who can see your friends list, the people you follow, and your followers.

Hide your relationship status change from your buddies.

Hide your relationship-status change from your friends.

It could be potentially disastrous for your Facebook friends to see your relationship status change. The good news is that you can prevent relationship changes from being seen by anyone except you. This means the change won’t show up in your friends’ News Feeds.While editing your profile under “Family and Relationships,” change the privacy filter to “Only Me.”

Hide specific photo albums and events on your timeline.

Hide specific photo albums and events on your timeline.

If you have individual photo albums you don’t want people seeing, but don’t feel like deleting them altogether, you can hide them so only you can see them on Facebook. The same goes for events in your life, whether they be relationship changes, new jobs, or whatever.Just take note of the little gray icon next to a photo album or post. Two small people mean that your friends can only see it, a globe means it’s public, and a padlock means only you can see it.

Block people from being able to contact you.

Block people from being able to contact you.

If someone is spamming you with messages or you just want to make sure they can’t see your profile, go to their profile page and click on the three dots to the far right. Select “Block.”

See everywhere you’re logged into Facebook and remotely log out.

See everywhere you're logged into Facebook and remotely log out.

From the Facebook mobile app, tap the far right More tab then Settings, Account Settings, Security, and finally “Where You’re Logged In.” Tap the “X” to log out of any device or Facebook app remotely you’re logged into.From your Security Settings on Facebook’s desktop site, the “Where You’re Logged In” menu shows active logins and lets you end them.

Get alerted every time a log-in attempt is made to your account.

Get alerted every time a log-in attempt is made for your account.

Facebook Login Alerts and Login Approvals can be enabled under Security Settings in the mobile app and desktop site.You can choose to get a Facebook notification or email whenever a log-in is made. Login Approvals mean that you’ll have to enter a secondary code sent to your phone before you can log-in to Facebook on a new device.

Too many notifications?

Too many notifications?

You can customize exactly what kinds of notifications you get from Facebook, all the way down to updates for an event you’ve joined.It gets better: Notifications you want can be customized on the desktop and your phone separately. Go to the “Notifications” section of your account settings on the desktop and tweak away.

Unsubscribe from notifications for posts you’ve commented on.

Unsubscribe from notifications for posts you've commented on.

We’ve all probably commented on a post and regretted it later because of the onslaught of announcements that followed from other people saying.You may not know that you can unsubscribe from activity on any post, which could be a godsend next time you decide to comment on a friend’s politically charged opinion.

When you get a notification for a comment or like a post on Facebook’s desktop site, click the “X” to the right of the notification and then “Turn off.”

The reverse is also true. You can turn on notifications for activity on any post from the right drop-down arrow.

Turn off birthday reminder notifications.

Turn off birthday reminder notifications.

If you’re sick of Facebook notifying you about friends’ birthdays every day, you can turn the notifications off.Go to the Notifications tab to your account settings and set the birthday’s option 0ff.

Get a notification every time a specific person posts something.

Get a notification every time a specific person posts something.

If you want to keep tabs on someone’s Facebook activity, you can get alerted every time they share something. Just click the “Friends” drop-down menu from their profile on Facebook’s desktop site and select “Get Notifications.”

Search for posts and photos liked or commented on by a particular person.

Search for posts and photos liked or commented on by a specific person.

This takes stalking to the next level: You can find posts liked or commented on by one of your friends.

Search for specific keywords and topics, not just profiles and pages.

Search for specific keywords and topics, not just profiles and pages.

Facebook lets you search for a lot more than just other peoples’ profiles.Everything that’s publicly shared on the social network is searchable, which means that if you search for something like “James Bond” or “iPhone 8,” you’ll see related posts from news sources, friends, and other pages.

Make lists to separate groups of people you’re friends with, like school friends and work colleagues.

Make lists to separate groups of people you're friends with, like school friends and work colleagues.

Designating groups within your list of friends can be useful to filter between what everyone is talking about in your News Feed. For instance, you may want to see what everyone from your hometown is sharing or just your friends from college.Facebook creates a list of friends by default based on current affiliation, whether it be the same hometown, school, etc. On Facebook’s desktop site you can see all of your friend lists from this page and add people to them. This creates individual News Feeds within Facebook for you to browse.

Give yourself a short bio.

Give yourself a short bio.

Facebook lets you create a short bio for yourself that sits above your other profile information, such as city, work, and relationship status.You can edit it at any time from your profile on the desktop site and mobile app.

Pro tip: Make your bio completely out of emojis.

Edit a post or comment.

Edit a post or comment.

Your Facebook comments and posts are thankfully not set in stone. Not only can you delete them at any time, but you can also edit them.Tap the drop-down arrow to the right of one of your posts on the desktop and then hit “Edit Post.” When viewing one of your comments, tap the little pencil icon to the right to edit or delete.

To edit or remove a comment from the Facebook mobile app, tap and hold on the comment.

Saying goodbye to Facebook? Download all your data.

Saying goodbye to Facebook? Download all your data.

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