Blog Post

Facebook: Out With the Old And In With the New


For Facebook fans and users everywhere, the last week has been a rocky road.  We all get comfortable when we know the “tricks of the trade” and quickly lose patience when that CHANGE word appears.  In our industry; however, change is good!
After much squawking online from Facebook friends, after reviewing the interpretations of all those changes from the online social media talking heads, after spending some time using and testing the new uses within Facebook, and after attending hours upon hours of webinars, we want to share some highlights of our new favorites for the new Facebook.  Yes, we said FAVORITES!  Change can be good…really, it can be.
The Ticker:
To begin, I actually like the “real time” news feed Ticker. I know, I said it!  The Ticker feels like Twitter and Twitter was my first favorite social media tool, so I appreciate seeing all those updates and activities continuously scrolling on my screen.  Now, if the Ticker isn’t for you and you surf the web in Chrome, this fix will work in Chrome only.
While I do like the Ticker, there are some parts of the Ticker everyone needs to be aware of:  PRIVACY!  That has changed and the Ticker is showing so much more of your Facebook activities than ever before.  You can easily remove friends’ “activities” from your Ticker by hovering over their name, clicking the “subscribed” button, and selecting “comments and likes” and “other activity.”  This will remove that person’s Facebook “activities” from your Ticker.
Further, if you’re concerned with your postings in your friends’ Tickers, be sure to manage your privacy settings.  This article goes into great detail about that process and why it is important to update your settings.
The new and improved:  News Feed
You can no longer toggle between “Most Recent” and “Top News.”  The top part of your home page will include the Top Stories that Facebook thinks you would like to read and/or know about based upon your actions within Facebook.  Not to worry, when you scroll down, you see the “Most Recent” stories just like the “Most Recent” of the past.  So everything in Facebook isn’t entirely new.
Now, if you’re a Facebook regular, you won’t see much difference as there will not be as many posts in your “Top News” because you are visiting often.  Whew…this was a major relief to Facebook superusers (like the MJ2 team!), so it made our favorites list.
Smart Friend Lists:
In the past few months, Google+ has gained momentum in attracting those 500 million Facebook users with their new social circles community.  Of course, Twitter already offered the ability to list or categorize your friends and followers.  In response, Facebook created lists for you based upon your comments, conversations and messages with your Facebook friends.  This article provides in depth descriptions of each group and includes instructions on merging and adding to your lists.
Now, Facebook always had the ability to have lists, but now they have created them for you.  All you have to do is decide which Facebook “friend” belongs in “Close Friends” or “Acquaintances.”  Hmm, good luck with that.
Futher, you can share your postings privately with one of the groups or publicly to all your friends.  GREAT NEWS for semi-private sharing.  This part of Facebook lists feels very Google+ like.
For us, Facebook is such a fantastic social marketing tool and we were not surprised to see change in response to the competition.  We say – embrace it, learn from it, and carry on!
Lisa Moore is the Manager, Social Marketing for MJ2 Marketing.