How to Vastly Improve Your Facebook Experience with Filters and Lists

The sheer number of friends I have, in the real world and on the internet, who use Facebook ultimately led me to capitulate and start using it a little.  I’m not a huge fan by any means, but I will admit that I enjoy seeing what my friends are up to.

But like every other social application, you have to work a little to keep the experience efficient and rewarding.

Filters Make Good News Feeds

The most useful Facebook feature I have ever stumbled across is the ability to filter out certain content.  This has allowed me to banish from my sight all things Farmville, as well as most other games and gift apps (you know, where someone sends you a hug, or whatnot).  If you want to filter something, hover over an entry, click the “Hide” button that appears and choose to hide the application.

Presto, no more screen clutter.

Doing this vastly improved my Facebook experience.

If you later decide you can’t live without the content you have filtered out, go to the bottom of your Top News page (not your Most Recent page), and click on Edit Options.  From there you can add any exiles back to your news feed.

The Circle is Large

Another thing that can really enhance your Facebook experience is the use of lists.  Here’s how you make a list, why you should and what lists allow you to do.

I have a very eclectic group of Facebbook friends.  Some from my hometown (Cheraw, SC), some from college (Wake Forest), some from Texas, and some that I know through years of tech blogging.  There are a couple of things I’d like to be able to do.

1. Have the option to read content from only one group at a time.

2. Share some things with one group, but not others.

Make a List and Check it Twice

The first step is to create Friends lists.  Take the time to decide on the best way to divide your Friends.  I decided to divide my as follows: Cheraw, WFU, Texas and Tech.  I may add more later.

Start by clicking Friends on the left side of your Home page.

Then click the Create a List button near the top right of the next page.

Name your list, and click on the applicable photos to add your friends to that list.  Friends can be on multiple lists.  When you save it, the newly created list will appear under Friends in the left hand column, when you click on the Friends link.

Now, if you want to see content from only people on one of your lists, all you have to do is click on that list.

Quick Note: Deleting a Facebook List

Facebook has probably the most unintuitive terminology and navigation structure in the history of the world.  You can see above that I originally had a Personal list, which I decided not to use.  To delete a list, Click on Account (near the top right of the page) and select Edit Friends.  You’ll see your lists in the left hand column.  To delete a list, click on it and select Delete List at the top.

So that’s the way to set up lists that you can filter for content, and to delete ones you no longer want.

Protecting Your Info

Another thing lists allow you do do is decide what portions of your personal information and content can be seen by each group.  I haven’t done a lot of this yet, but here’s how you do it.

Click on Account and then Privacy Settings.  From here, you can customize the way lots of information is distributed.

Let’s say you want to control who can see your mobile phone number.  First, click on the Contact Information link.  Then click on the button beside Mobile Phone.

From the pop-up menu, click Customize.  In the box beside “These people” select Specific People.

From this page, you can elect to make this information available to only specific lists and/or to hide it from specific lists.

You Can Also Customize Posts

Once you have lists set up, you can also share content with only certain lists.  Let’s say I want to share an article about the Wake Forest basketball team’s latest clinic in under-achieving with only my WFU list.

After inserting and attaching the link, click on the lock icon near the bottom of the box.

Again, select Specific People in the box beside “These people,” and type the applicable list in the box.

This will share the link with people in my WFU list, but not with people in other lists, who didn’t go to Wake Forest and can be spared from the frustration that comes with being a Deacon fan.

It’s Hard, But Manageable

Facebook is burdened by a byzantine navigation structure that harkens back to its origins.  It is a lot harder to configure and navigate around Facebook that it ought to be.  But it can, and should, be done if you want to get as much out of Facebook as possible.