Social Media Monday—Can I Set what Shows up in My Facebook News Feed?

Plug the words Facebook Frustrations into a search engine and you’ll come up with pages of complaints. I’ll be the first one to agree that Facebook has issues, but a lot of what frustrates people comes from ignorance not idiocy. The number one question I get is whether or not it's possible to set what shows up in the Facebook News Feed. Today and tomorrow I want to clear up the myths about what shows up in your news feed, and help you use Facebook more effectively.

Myth—Facebook decides which posts I see—True or False

Both. Facebook does decide—if you don’t. Here’s what I mean.

Personal Profiles

Let's begin with the personal profile. Facebook gives the user a lot of options when it comes to categorizing friends. That’s great, if you’re accepting a new friend. But if you’ve been on as long as me, it’s problematic because we have to go back and categorize our connection with each friend. If I do nothing, Facebook sets the designation for me. This is how to make any changes you want to Facebook's default.

On your personal timeline, hover over the person’s Facebook name with your curser. You’ll see a window pop up and it tells you how your connection is listed. 

In the screenshot above you’ll see that Ane and I are listed as Friends.

Now, if I move my curser over the Friends designation another window pops up. This one gives me the option of changing our connection to either Close Friends or Acquaintances.  With the Friends designation, I’ll see most of her Facebook posts. With Close Friends, I’ll see all of them. With Acquaintances, I’ll see fewer. 

You can see the example of this in the screenshot above.

There is another option in this window, Show in News Feed. You’ll notice I have this clicked. You can tell because there is a check mark there. If I didn’t want to see any of her Facebook posts, I’d uncheck that. This takes the place of the Hide option that’s no longer available.

Hide is now an option for each individual post, but not for a person. 

The screenshot above shows how that option works. To find this hidden menu, hover your curser on the small arrow in the upper right-hand corner of a Facebook post.

Tomorrow, instead of having a general writing post, I'll finish this info about Facebook. But in the meantime, please post any questions you have in the comments section below.

And, as always, don't forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie