Facebook

Facebook redesigns profiles, adds ‘timeline’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks about Timeline during the f/8 conference in San Francisco, on Thursday.

Facebook is dramatically redesigning its users’ profile pages to create what CEO Mark Zuckerberg says is a “new way to express who you are.”

Mr. Zuckerberg introduced the Facebook “timeline” on Thursday in San Francisco at the company’s f8 conference for some 2,000 entrepreneurs, developers and journalists. The event is also being broadcast to more than 100,000 online viewers.

The timeline is reminiscent of an online scrapbook, with the most important photos and text that users have shared on Facebook over the years. It’s Facebook’s attempt at growing from an online hangout to a homestead, where people express their real selves and merge their online and offline lives. The timeline can go back to include years before Facebook even existed, so users can add photos and events from, say 1995 when they got married or 1970 when they were born.

Mr. Zuckerberg took the stage after a humorous skit, in which actor Andy Samberg impersonated him. The real Mark Zuckerberg looked considerably more playful and at ease than he has in past events, suggesting he is growing into his role as the public face of Facebook.

But he quickly got down to business as he introduced the timeline as “the story of your life all your stories, all your apps and a new way to express who you are.”

Expanding on its ubiquitous “like” buttons, Mr. Zuckerberg said Facebook will now let users connect to things even if they don’t want to “like” them.

“We are making it so you can connect to anything you want. Now you don’t have to like a book, you can just read a book,” he said. “You don’t have to like a movie; you can just watch a movie.”

Facebook’s new ‘Subscribe’ button finally gives users control

Facebook's new subscribe button gives users more control, but doesn't solve privacy problems.

If you’ve ever found yourself overwhelmed by the constant flow of updates from random acquaintances and colleagues you felt obliged to friend, help is now at hand. Facebook is rolling out a new ‘subscribe’ option which allows you to follow the public updates from people you haven’t friended and unsubscribe from friends whose updates you don’t want to see in your stream. You can also opt-in to allow non-friends to subscribe to your own public updates.

It is a simple but powerful feature. The idea that maybe you don’t want to see everything that everyone in your network does is one that came baked in to tools like Twitter and Flickr from the very beginning. The knowledge that our real-world social networks are asymmetrical, that we know of people who don’t know us, or that we might know more about some people than they know about us, is essential to understanding the dynamics of online social interactions.

It is quite shocking, therefore, that it has taken Facebook seven years to work it out. Now that they have, they have implemented it quite nicely. You don’t have to make an ‘all or nothing’ decision but can choose to follow all, most or only important updates from friends. You can also filter updates by type, so if you never want to see another Farmville update again, you can untick “Games” from the list and bingo, and it’s as if Farmville didn’t exist.

To allow people to subscribe to your public posts, you need to visit your Facebook Subscriptions page. For an introduction to the new setting, PCWorld has a detailed guide.

It’s a canny move by Facebook as it allows famous people to be followed by more fans — at the moment there’s a limit of 5,000 friends — without having to set up a Page. But it’s also useful for the average user who isn’t concerned about fans but needs to control the firehose of updates which can feel somewhat overwhelming. Giving people more control may lure some of the less active users back as it allows them to reduce to manageable levels the attention demanded by their stream. Although Facebook now has 750 million active users, only 50 percent of them log in on any given day. Facebook doesn’t define ‘active’, nor does it say how many lapsed users there are — it is likely to be roughly the same people that return regularly.

Even though Facebook has given users a way to decide what they see in their activity stream, it doesn’t address the privacy concerns that many people still have. Although Facebook revamped its privacy options in August, there’s still an underlying push to encourage people to be more open than perhaps they want to be or than is wise. Indeed, with the introduction of an option to let people follow your public status updates, there’s an additional motivation to post more stuff openly.

As with all social networks, the advice has to be: Be careful what you say. It’s important not to be fooled into thinking that just because you can’t see other people, that they can’t see you. Unsubscribing from your boss’s updates doesn’t mean that he then cannot see yours.

How to Find My Facebook ID

Find a Facebook ID

Facebook is website created to connect people and allow them to share information, interests, events and photos. There are many features on Facebook that allow for privacy and security. When creating a Facebook account, the system automatically assigns the user an identification number, known as the Facebook ID. In an update done in the spring of 2009, a user’s Facebook ID number was replaced with a “vanity” user name of the Facebook member’s choice. Finding the former Facebook ID number is still possible.

Instructions

Things You’ll Need
Facebook account
Finding Your Former Facebook ID

• Go to “Facebook.com” and enter your email address and password to log in to your account

• Click on the word “Profile” that can be found at the top left of the page. This will bring you to your personal profile page. Several tabs including “Wall,” “Photos,” “Info” and “Boxes” appear under your name.

• Click on the tab “Photos” just below your name. Your photo albums will be visible once the page loads.

• Click any one of the photos in your album. Once the photo loads move your mouse to the URL bar in your browser. This is where you would normally type in a web address.

• Move the cursor to the end of the URL, if needed. Some URLs are short enough that the number will be visible immediately. Look for a series of numbers. There may be more than one series of numbers in the URL. Find the set that follows “id=”. This is your Facebook ID.

How to Add Photos to Facebook Photo Album

Add Photos to Facebook Photo Album

You’ve just created a Facebook photo album and it looks great, but you forgot to add that hysterical photo of cousin Cindy drinking from a coconut. Don’t worry — adding photos to an existing online photo album is even easier than creating the original album. Follow the simple steps below to learn how to add photos to Facebook album.

Instructions

Things You’ll Need
Facebook account
Photos
Existing Facebook album
Share Photos on Facebook

• Since many people’s friends are on Facebook, it has become a one of the most used photo share websites. Sharing photos is quick and the online photo albums are easy for people to see.

• First thing’s first, find the photos you want to add to your Facebook album. Put them into a new folder, on your desktop or somewhere you can easily find them.

• Open your Internet browser and log into your Facebook account.

• Visit the Facebook “Profile” by clicking on the word “Profile” on the top right of the page.

• Click on the “Photos” on Facebook Profile page from the tabs which appears below your profile name.

• Select the album in which you want to add photos. Click on the album and a page will load where you will see all of the existing photos in the album, which you can edit if would like. To add photos, click on the “Add More Photos” tab on the top left of the page.

• In order to add photos to a Facebook album, you need to click on the drive that appears when the Java upload box appears with a display of all your folders on the left side of the box. Click on your drive and then the folder that contains the photos you want to upload. Once you click on the folder all the photos of the folder will appear on a screen with a selection box on the top left corner of each photo.

• Select the photos you want to upload. If you want to select all photos in the folder click on “Select All” button that is available on the top of the photo uploading box.

• Click on “Upload” button. Once you click on “Upload,” a small pop-up box will appear showing the upload in progress. Once the upload is complete another pop-up box will appear with a message conveying successful uploading of images.

• Click on “OK” and another page will load where you can apply captions and tag your friends. with this step you have successfully uploaded your photo to an existing album.

• Click on the link below that states “Try The Simple Uploader” if you come across any difficulty in this process. Clicking on the link will take you to a page where you will get several “Choose File” buttons. Click on a button to upload the photo you want to upload. Select the photos from the folder and click on “Open”. Select as many photos as you want and click on the Upload button below. Provide captions if you’d like and tag your friends. Now you know how to add photos to Facebook album!

Tips & Warnings

Facebook albums can only contain 200 photos. If you have more, you must create a new album.

How to Close Facebook on an Android Phone

After closing Facebook, the home screen is displayed on your Android phone.

The Facebook application on an Android phone gives you access to your account from any location where there is an active data connection. You can close the application on your phone so that anyone using your phone cannot access the account without your log-in information. When you close the account on the phone, you do not cancel the account or alter the settings in any way.

Instructions

• Tap “Home” on the Android phone, then tap “Menu” to view the expanded home screen.

• Tap “Facebook,” then tap the “facebook” logo at the top of the screen.

• Tap “Menu” on the Android, then tap “Logout.” The Facebook log-in page is displayed when the account is logged out.

• Tap “Home” to exit to the phone’s home screen.

How to Get a New Facebook Header

Your current Facebook header is composed of five pictures at the top of your profile page, which are your most recently added photos. You have the option to make this area more decorative by inserting a series of related images so that they form a banner. To do this, you can use a Facebook application that provides you with various ready-made designs and automatically uploads the images to your profile. Use the application of your choice to get a new Facebook header for your page.

Instructions

• 
  Type “header” in the search field at the top of your Facebook home screen and then click the “See More Results for Header” link that appears at the end of the drop-down list.

• Click the “Apps” link on the left and review the applications that make a new banner at the top of your Facebook profile. For instance, the My Banner option provides headers in categories such as friendship and love while myFBBanners offers design options in categories such as cars, music and movies.

• Click the “View App” button next to the desired title to go to the application page. Click the “Add to My Page” link on the left side and follow the instructions to install the application.

• Use the menus that appear to select and apply your new Facebook header. Using myFBBanners, for example, click a category on the left and then click the “Make My Facebook Banner” button underneath the banner you want. Each application may vary, depending on the one you use.

Tips & Warnings

• Facebook applications are provided by third-party developers and not Facebook. If you need help using your application, click the “Home” link on the right, click the “Apps” link on the left and then click the application name in the list that appears to go directly to this page.

How to Make an Album Private on Facebook in a New Profile

Keep an album private on your new Facebook profile.

Facebook consistently throws novice and veteran users alike through a loop with various website upgrades. For instance, Facebook introduced a major privacy settings change with an update introduced in August 2011, which changed many of the locations of various options. Learn to navigate your new profile privacy options to keep one of your photo albums off the radar, making it only viewable to you.

Instructions

• Select “Profile” on your Facebook home screen. Your profile page opens.

• Click “Photos” from the left column. A list of your albums appears.

• Click the album you want to make private. The album’s photos appear.

• Click “Edit Album” below the album’s title at the top.

• Click the “Privacy” button and click “Custom.”

• Click the “These People” box and choose “Only Me” from the list of options.

• Click “Save Changes.”

How to Keep a Facebook Page Private Until Launch

Facebook pages must be created by the official representative of an organization.

Facebook pages are a way to promote your business, celebrity client or community organization on the social networking site. Once a page is published, any Facebook user can find it and click “Like” to become a fan. If you want your page to be private while you fill out its information and add photographs, keep it in unpublished status until you are ready for its launch. A published page may also be returned to unpublished status at any time.

Instructions

1. Create a new page by typing “Pages” into the search bar at the top of any Facebook screen and choosing “Facebook Pages” in the “Facebook” section. Click the gray “Create Page” icon in the top right corner of the screen. Choose a category for your new page and agree to Facebook’s terms. Click “Get Started” to create the page.

2. Refrain from clicking the red “Publish This Page” link at the top of the screen. As long as your page is unpublished, it remains private from the Facebook community at large. Unpublished pages are only visible to administrators.

3. Change an already published page to an unpublished one by clicking the “Edit Page” button at the top of the page. Go to the “Manage Permissions” tab and check the box next to “Only Admins Can See This Page.” Click the blue “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the screen.

4. Launch the page to published status by returning to the “Edit Page” menu and unchecking the box next to “Only Admins Can See This Page.” If your page is brand new and has never been published, click the red “Publish This Page” link at the top of your page.

How to Transfer a WordPress Blog to a New Web Host

The life of a blogger sometimes entails having to transfer a WordPress blog to a new host. Compared to transferring an entire website, transferring a WordPress blog is quick, simple and easy–as long as you perform the right steps in proper order.

Instructions

How to Import Your Blog To Facebook

If you already keep a blog of your own, you definitely don’t want to repeat yourself on every social networking Web site you join. Facebook lets you import your own external blog as notes on your profile, so you can keep your friends up-to-date without repeating yourself.