Spread the Word About the "New" Facebook News Feed
The Facebook News Feed, in the center column of the Home page, is where you see the posts of people, pages and groups that you follow on Facebook.
On this drop-down menu, you can even select what sort of content you'd like to view, such as status updates or photos, or view the posts from friends that you have assigned to lists.
Many Facebook users are unaware that there are actually two feeds now, one labeled Top News and one labeled Most Recent. You'll see a link to both feeds on the upper right side of the News Feed.
By default, the Top News screen is visible when you visit your News Feed. This screen shows the "most popular" posts, meaning the ones that are getting the most "likes" and comments.
The Most Recent feed shows the most recent posts from your friends (rather than the most popular ones), but there are actually several options for viewing that feed. If you click on the Most Recent link, then select Edit Options, you will find two choices:
Savvy Tip: If you click on the Most Recent link, you "should" land on that screen the next time you return to your Home page.
What many Facebook users don't realize is that because of these various News Feed options, not all of their friends and followers will be able to see the posts that they make on Facebook. Here are a few ways to increase the odds of your posts getting into the Top News screen and also getting noticed in the News Feed:
- Post your most important messages in the morning, so there's more time for people to like and comment on them during the day.
- Attach images to your posts to make them stand out and increase popularity.
- Post directly onto the Facebook site, rather than flowing posts from other apps and sites.
- Let all of your friends know about the News Feed options.
Of course, the challenge in letting your friends and followers know about the News Feed options is that if you post about it on Facebook, they may not see it! Here are a few ideas for spreading the word:
- Send a direct message to your Facebook friends. This could be tedious if you have a lot of friends.
- Create an Event on Facebook discussing this issue and invite all your Facebook friends.
- Make status updates and tweets about this issue.
- Write about it on your own blog or newsletter.
You're welcome to link back to this article when spreading the word about the News Feed, or to re-produce this article in accordance with my reprint policy. You can also invite your Facebook friends to this Facebook Event that I created to spread the word (link valid through May 15).
To learn more about promoting yourself and your book through Facebook, check out the completely updated new edition of Facebook Guide for Authors.
Dana
These are all great tips. Thank you so much for posting this article my friend. It helped me tremendously.
Ed
Posted by: Edward | May 01, 2011 at 03:27 PM