Facebook is full of fancy features, many of which you may be unaware. Here are five little-known functions that may help improve your social media experience.
1. Bolster your account security
Another security tool in Facebook’s arsenal is the ‘security check up’, which is ideal for making your Facebook account more secure. The checklist of options available to you include the ability to automatically log you out of web browsers on public computers, and alerts you can receive if someone unfamiliar tries to log into your Facebook account. Currently this feature is only available on the desktop version of Facebook, but mobile app functionality may be just around the corner. To use it, go to https://www.facebook.com/help/securitycheckup.
If you’re using a public computer and you’re not too comfortable about logging into Facebook, why not try the one-time password security? All you have to do is text ‘OTP’ to 019832665 or visit this page to see which is the appropriate number for your mobile carrier. Once you’ve done this, you’ll get an eight-character passcode that lasts for 20 minutes, so your password will be secure whilst you use public wifi to access your Facebook account.
2. How to unsubscribe
Constantly receiving notifications of ‘John Richards and four others also commented on such-and-such’s post’ can get a bit annoying, well, very annoying, especially if you just aren’t interested about the comments. To turn off these notifications, simply click on the globe icon at the top right hand side of your Facebook page and click on the ‘X’ next to the notification you want to end. If you’re using your mobile, click the arrow at the top right hand corner of the original post from which you wish to unsubscribe. Once you’ve done this, you’ll see an option to turn off notifications.
3. Using a pronunciation guide
Over half the world’s internet users have a Facebook account, so it goes without saying that many of them speak English as a second language – or not at all. Making friends and getting to know them on a first name basis is nice, but pronouncing some names can be tricky, especially for a name such as Ngaire. That’s when Facebook’s pronunciation guide comes in handy.
To use the pronunciation guide, go to the ‘about’ section of your profile and click ‘details about you’, (or ‘more about you’ if you’re using your smartphone), then click on ‘name pronunciation’. Here you can listen to Facebook’s suggestions for how to pronounce your name or you can type in how you pronounce it by using the phonetic speller.
4. Announcing your relationship status, or not
Announcing your new ‘beau’ or an impending engagement or marriage on Facebook is a quick and handy way to let the world know of your relationship status, but what happens when 500 of your friends, who knew you were in a relationship, see your status change to “it’s complicated”? Well fear not Facebook friends, because you can do so without notifying everyone.
Head to the ‘about’ section in your profile and click on ‘family and relationships’. Where it says ‘relationship’, you’ll notice a grey icon that may say ‘friends’ or ‘public’. Change this to ‘only me’. Now you can change your relationship status in secret. You can turn this feature back on again when you are ready to inform the world of your new relationship.
5. Making your pictures a little perkier
Facebook allows you to perk up your pictures with a little-known feature available on iPhones (Android coming soon). To use it, choose a photograph you want to upload then click the magic wand icon. From here you can add quirky clip art and stickers, as well as text overlays, to really spice up your images.
Do you know of any other Facebook features that our members may find useful? Why not share them?
