If you don’t view your Facebook home page using “LIVE FEED”, you are missing out on much of the Facebook experience.  At the top of your home page you will see one of the following and you can toggle back and forth between News Feed and Live Feed.

If this is what you see…you are looking at the News Feed view of your home page:

If this is what you see…you are looking at the Live Feed view:

Below is an overview of some of the “views” you have available to you and why I prefer the LIVE FEED:

NEWS FEED View:  A Limited View Based on a Facebook Algorithm
If you only look at the News Feed view of your home page, you will see what Facebook thinks is most popular from your friends and pages that you are a fan of.  Facebook uses an algorithm to figure out what is most popular or interesting and frankly I don’t like their algorithm and have heard from many people that don’t!

Posts made by Pages you are a Fan of will only appear in your News Feed if Facebook thinks the post is interesting.  Therefore you will miss most, if not all, of the posts from Fan Pages that you actually want to follow.  You will also miss a lot of what your friends share on Facebook!

The items in your News Feed are NOT in chronological order which seems very bazaar to me!

LIVE FEED View:  A Real-Time, Up-to-Date View of What Your Friends & Pages Are Sharing
If you toggle over to the Live Feed view, you will see everything that is posted by your friends and Pages you are a Fan of.  (The LIVE FEED is most similar to what you used to see on your home page prior to the recent Facebook changes.)  In the Live Feed view, you will also see info that used to be in the highlights section on the right side of your screen.  Plus, a few other things which you may or may not want to see.

Remember, if you don’t use the Live Feed view you will miss out on a lot of the posts that are made by your friends and Pages you are a Fan of!

STATUS UPDATES View:  Extremely Limited View…You Are Missing A LOT!
If you click on the filter that says “Status Updates” on the left side of your home page…your view of the home page will temporarily change so that you see only Status Updates from your friends.  You will NOT see any links, photos or videos that your friends share. You also will NOT see Status Updates or posts from Pages you are a Fan of.

Other Available Views:
There are also filters on the left side of your home page that you can use to view only photos or links or videos or pages, etc…  I personally only use these filters, and the Status Updates filter, if I am trying to find something that I saw a few hours or a day or so ago.

My Conclusion/Decision:
I prefer the home page view I saw before Facebook made their recent changes.  However, since I have to adjust to the changes, I use the LIVE FEED view so that I can see everything I truly want to see from my friends and Pages I am a Fan of.  I just scroll quickly past things that I don’t care as much about like games, who commented on what, who became friends with who or who got tagged in a photo.  (Most of the time I even “block” game & quiz applications so I can get through my Live Feed faster.)

In actuality, the new home page resembles the home page that existed prior to March of 2009.  Many of its features were brought back because Facebook members didn’t like the changes they made in March.  I think there must be a happy medium somewhere!  What do you think?

Please “share” this blog post if you are on Facebook or retweet it in Twitter, etc…to help spread this info about filters and home page viewing options!

Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow

Become a Fan of my Facebook Fan Page and feel free to join the conversation

Did you know that you can use basic html in the Facebook Notes application?  I accidentally stumbled onto this info in Facebook a while ago and saved it.  I have absolutely no idea where I found it…LOL!

Try using some of the following html commands to format your Notes text for greater interest and impact!



Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow

Become a Fan at http://www.facebook.com/SocialNetworking4Biz

News Feed
When you log into Facebook, you’ll see the most interesting things that happened in the last day in the “News Feed” view. News Feed picks stories that we think you’ll enjoy based on a variety of factors including how many friends have liked and commented on it and how likely you are to interact with that story.

Live Feed
Once you’ve caught up on what you missed, you can click through to “Live Feed” to see what’s happening right now. As long as you remain logged into Facebook, you’ll continue to see posts and activity from your friends in real-time. You can edit what appears in this view by clicking “Edit Options” at the bottom of the home page.

Facebook decided to make changes to the home page after getting feedback on the home page changes they made in March.  With this latest change, Facebook is moving what you used to see in the Highlights section on the right hand side of your screen back into the News Feed.  The following will also, once again, be noted in the News Feed:

• when your friends are tagged in photos
• when your friends become a Fan of a Page
• when they RSVP for an event
• when they join groups
• when they make new friends

Facebook has also made birthdays and events easier to spot in the right column of the home page.

Facebook says the following about these changes:

We put a lot of thought into all the changes we make to the site and do a lot of testing before releasing anything. As we design new products, we gather feedback by reading emails from users like you and testing ideas with small groups of users. After every change we make, we continue to gather feedback and iterate. Please take some time to play around with this new design, and check out our Help Center if you have any questions.

When someone sees that their friend became a Fan of a Page, RSVP’d for an event or joined a group, they are more likely to click on the page/event/group link to check it out.  This should increase the viral growth of these items AND be good for businesses with Fan Pages or Groups! But remember, if you want your content classified as ‘most interesting’ and placed in the News Feed…it will be very important to provide great content that engages your readers and makes them click the comment or like buttons.

Here’s to change…again!

Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow

I can’t even begin to count how many Facebook friend invites I’ve gotten that are from people I don’t know.  What bothers me about these invites is that 99.9% of them are not personalized!  And guess what happens when I get this type of invite from a stranger?  I ignore it.  I actually have a “Friends Policy” posted on the info tab of my profile and it reads:

RE: FACEBOOK FRIEND REQUESTS…

Effective social networking is all about building relationships. Therefore, I only accept friend requests from people I already know or people who take the first step in developing a relationship by adding a personal message to their friend invite. It only takes a few seconds to write how you found my profile or why you want to be FB friends or how you think we could help each other.

If you are primarily interested in reading the tips I post on using social networking sites for business, you have the option of “Becoming a Fan” of my Business Fan Page at: http://facebook.com/SocialNetworking4Biz. Fans receive blog posts & status updates in their News Feed as well as “Fans Only” specials.

I checked with a few of my Facebook friends to see how they handle “non-personalized” friend invites from people they don’t know:

• One friend said she will only accept a friend invite from a stranger if they are already connected on Facebook to one of her family members.
• Another said she “ignores” this type of invite.
• Another said she “ignores” this type of invite AND that she posted a Friends Policy similar to mine after reading my Facebook For Business e-book.

The bottom-line is if you truly want to connect with someone on Facebook, you stand a much better chance of having your friend invite accepted IF you send the other person a personalized message AND have a legitimate reason for wanting to be Facebook friends.

Do you have a Friends Policy?  How do you handle non-personalized invites from strangers?

Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow

How To Use Facebook Search

Below is a screen shot showing “posts by friends” for the search term Facebook Fan Box Widget.  Notice that the search result shown is actually from a Fan Page (my own) that I am a Fan of.  If any of my friends, or pages I am a fan of, had used this very specific term in a status update, it would’ve been shown in the results.

Facebook Search: Posts by Friends



Not sure what the big deal is about Facebook search?

Try these “8 Ways to Use Facebook Search for Business” and see if you change your opinion:

1. Inspiration: Search on terms that are specific to your business or industry.  Look at “posts by friends” and “posts by everyone” to see who is commenting on or asking questions about your search term.  Their questions or comments may inspire you to write a blog post or a Facebook note for your Fan Page.
2. Prospecting: If a Facebook user has asked a question about your search term, or expressed a need, send them an answer or a link to resource info.  This “helpful” gesture could result in an inquiry or a new customer for you.
3. Information Gathering &  Education: Search on a term that you would like to know more about.  Then look at the Pages and Groups that come up in the search results.  Become a Fan of the Fan Pages that interest you or join active Groups that relate to your search term.
4. Connecting & Building Your Network: Send a message or invite to Facebook users that are posting about your search term.  Depending on the situation you could send them a friend invite or ask if they have a Fan Page you can become a Fan of.
5. Collaboration: Search on words that pertain to your industry or an industry that complements it.  Pursue possible collaboration with people posting about your search term.
6. Finding Guest Bloggers: Do you have a blog?  Are there topics you would like to provide info on but don’t feel qualified?  Look for people on Facebook who might be interested in writing a guest post for your blog.
7. Keeping An Eye On Your Competition: Search on the business name or product names of your competitors to see what they are posting or what is being said about them by others.
8. Listening To What People Are Saying About You or Your Company: Search on your name and the name of your business and products to see what is being said about you.  Respond to questions, comments and even complaints to build trust and goodwill.

At first glance you may think that Facebook Search isn’t a big deal.  But, after reading this post I hope you will try out some of the ideas above and experience for yourself how they can help your business.

If you’ve used Facebook Search for business, feel free to share your story in the comments below.

Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow

Facebook Fan Page:  Social Networking 4 Biz

Based on what I’ve heard and seen in forums and Facebook help sections, many people want to know how to remove themselves as a Fan Page Administrator so that the Fan Page is unlinked from their personal profile.

There are several reasons that someone might want to do this:

• they no longer have the same job role within the company and someone else will be administering the Fan Page
• they no longer work for the company whose Fan Page their profile is linked to
• they set up a Fan Page for a client assuming they could turn the Fan Page over to their client once it was set up
• other…

The bottom line is that it makes sense that people might want to unlink their personal profile from a Fan Page that they created.  Unfortunately, Facebook does NOT allow this at this time!  I have personally tried to find a way to do this so I could provide you with instructions via this blog.  All I found was the following on the Facebook website:

How can I transfer Page admin rights?
There is currently no way to take away admin status from the creator of a Page.  However, Page admins can add or remove other admins by following these steps:

1. Click the “Edit Page” link below the Page’s photo. .
2. On the right hand side, click the “Add” link in the Admin section.
3. Select the friend you would like to add as an admin.

In my mind, these are the alternatives you have if you already set up a Fan Page that you will no longer administer.

If you are still with the company or are on good terms with them:

• Add one or more admins to the Fan Page so they can take over the day-to-day upkeep of the page.
• Have the person now responsible for the company marketing set up a new Facebook account (using a generic email address like marketing@yourcompany.com) and then set up a new Fan Page.  Invite the current Fans to become a fan of the new page.  Once most of the Fans have migrated to the new Fan Page…you can delete the original Fan Page.

If you are no longer with the company and are not on good terms with them:

• Delete the Fan Page.

If you set up a Fan Page for a client using your own personal account:

• Start over.  You will need to set up an account for your client using a generic login such as marketing@theircompany.com.  (Using a generic login will enable anyone authorized to administer the Fan Page to log in in the future.)  Set up a new Fan Page.  Once the page is set up, your client can log in and maintain their own Fan Page.

Hopefully in the future Facebook will see that there is a need to unlink Fan Pages from personal profiles and they will make it easy to do.  Until then, you will need to use one of the above suggested alternatives or come up with your own creative solution.

If you have dealt with this issue, please leave a comment below and let us all know how you handled it.

Your Facebook Informant,
Kimberly Yow

Facebook Fan Page:  Social Networking 4 Biz, become a fan today!