I’m sure you’ve noticed all the many little changes in Facebook recently. Well, hold on to your iPads and smartphones; the new Timeline look is radically different. Some users are already experiencing their new Facebook profile, which looks like their own personal blog site, reflecting their life events over the years. (I’m sure I won’t be interested in the new feature of sharing music so I can hear what a friend is listening to in real time. Maybe you will.)
Your News Feed
The news feed now has “top stories” with a news ticker feed of posts from all your friends in the right sidebar. I think that’s fine for me because my friend list is 500+ and I don’t want to spend a lot of time on Facebook.
To control who is in your feed and how often:
- Find the little box with an arrow to the right of your friend’s news feed. Click on the arrow and then choose from one of three options. The default is “most updates.” but you can choose a higher or lower setting for specific people. This controls the percentage of updates you’ll see from various friends.
- Take a little time to put your friends in lists. These will appear in the left sidebar so you can look at news of specific groups, such as family, instead of wading through your entire news feed.
Your Profile
Personally, I think the new look is more attractive, but I’m actually more interested in function, so I don’t know what I think about using it yet. Is the profile really “for me” or for those who visit my site? Will the timeline really pick up what I consider important milestones? Will casual visitors to my site want to know so many intimate details of what I do, read, or attend? (Some people may even need to spend time “cleaning up their act” by deleting different movies they’ve watched or books they’ve read.)
Will more people be driven to use Google Plus or other social media? If so, Facebook may lose its enormous popularity (making it currently the world’s third largest “country” when compared to global populations).
Will we adjust to this and be comfortable with the new site three weeks from now? Does the whole dynamic change for you? If you’re ready to jump ship:
- Look at how Facebook and Google+ compare to each other.
- RockMelt or Bing Social may be other options for you. You would keep your Facebook and Twitter accounts, but use either of these as your browser with Facebook and Twitter interfaces.
MORE FOR YOU:
- Where to complain to Facebook about their changes, if you want to.
- How to Enable the New Facebook Timeline NOW by Mashable
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What’s Trending?
A great photo attracts readers to read your blog post, but how do you get them to come visit you and engage in conversation in the first place?
One of the best ways to find readers is to write on the subjects that everyone is talking about currently.
What’s trending?
As I write this post, popular topics are related to Hurricane Irene, the U. S. Open, and Gadhafi. (As you know, an earthquake and a hurricane hit the East Coast this past week. Did you turn this topic into a spiritual conversation on your blog, on Facebook, or on Twitter?)
If you don’t know what topics are popular, go to:
Posting
Start a discussion. If you’re having writer’s block, your search for trends may be just the spark you need for a post idea for your blog, Facebook status, or Tweet. (Bloggers, see this post for important tips.)
Commenting
Join in! After you know what words are “trending,” then search for those words and you’ll find blogs and YouTube or Twitter accounts with those same words. You might want to join in on a topic in chat rooms. EveryStudent.com has great articles you can use for most hot topics you’ll find.
What are you doing to join in conversations and shed some Truth and Light in cyberspace?
Related Posts:
Image: This billboard was photographed after the three hurricanes that went through Orlando in 2004.
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