Unless you have nothing better to do than read the 100’s of blogs that record the merry-go-round of changes taking place on Facebook, you may have missed a few things. Here are the 5 things you may have missed.
1. Friend Phonebook — It’s very easy to find the phone number for any friend (that included their phone number in their profile) in Facebook. The other way phone numbers are listed is from contacts imported from your mobile phone. To view your phonebook, go to Accounts > Edit Friends. A link to the phonebook is in the navigation on the left.
If you do not want the numbers listed, you may need to disable the feature on your phone. Facebook does have a page with instructions on how to disable this feature.
2. Secure Facebook Browsing – Hijacking Facebook accounts has become a common occurrence. One way a Facebook account can be compromised is by accessing Facebook in public locations. How many of us have logged into our Facebook account while enjoying our Grande Mocha Latte?
To add a layer of security, Facebook now gives you the option to browse over a secure (https) connection when one is available. By browsing over a secure connection, your data is encrypted and not as easily hijacked.
To activate secure browsing, go to Accounts > Account Settings > Account Security. Check the box there to enable. (As a side note, directly below that is a record of your most recent logins. By reviewing this you can see if someone else has accessed your Facebook account and possibly head off potential nightmares.)
3. Downloading Your Facebook Data — How many of us upload pictures and videos to our Facebook page so we can share it with all our friends? But what happens if you get locked out of your Facebook account? Or it gets hacked like above? All your pictures and videos can be lost forever.
Facebook now gives you the ability to download and backup your Facebook account data. The information you will download is :
- Your profile information (e.g., your contact information, interests, groups)
- Wall posts and content that you and your friends have posted to your profile
- Photos and videos that you have uploaded to your account
- Your friend list
- Notes you have created
- Events to which you have RSVP’d
- Your sent and received messages
- Any comments that you and your friends have made on your Wall posts, photos, and other profile content
Unfortunately you cannot choose what you want to download — you get it all. To download your data, go to Accounts > Account Settings > Download Your Information. There is a download button there as well as instructions and FAQs.
4. Your Profile is Available for All (3rd Party Apps) To See — If you are a Facebook game player (yes you know who you are), then your profile is open for the game developers to see, access, capture and even sell.
The games on Facebook are created by 3rd party companies, not Facebook. These developers pay Facebook for the privilege of offering their game to the 500 million Facebook community. And why would they pay to offer a free game? When you choose to play Farmville or Mafia Wars, you give the game developer permission to access your profile, your likes and interests. They then gather your information and sell it for marketing purposes. (Wonder where all the spam comes from?)
5. Hiding Status Updates from Specific People – You’re taking that dream vacation and can’t wait to post your pictures, but for security, you’re worried about announcing to everyone your not home. If you have your friends categorized into lists, your updates can be made visible only to specified people (or lists). Before you click the share button on an update, click the down arrow beside the lock just to the left of the share button and choose customize. You can make visible or hide the post from specific people. Just type in the person or list you want to select and Voila!
Now you can go impress your friends with these little known gems in Facebook!
Gary Wagnon and 800biz.com specialize in online marketing solutions, including web site design, search engine optimization, social media marketing and mobile text message marketing.