Ever wish you could focus on just the news feed posts of some Facebook friends and less on the posts of others? There is a way: Facebook Lists.
These lists are part of the Friends section that you see in the left column on your Home page.
What are Facebook Lists?
To access them, just click on the word FRIENDS. What you see now are the generic lists that Facebook has automatically created for you. They include everywhere your profile says you went to school, each place you said you worked, close friends, and family. If any of these is appropriate, go ahead and put Facebook friends into one or more of the lists. In addition, you might want to create one or more custom lists.
Here’s how: click on “Create List.” Give your new list a name and add at least one of your Facebook friends to it. You can add as many more as you want now or later, and you can put the same people on more than one list.
Next, in order to make it easier to find a particular list, make it a “favorite” by clicking on the cog wheel to the right of the name of the list. This moves that particular list up your list of lists, which remains in the column on the left side of your home page.
And remember, no one but you can see these lists so you can call them whatever you like and include whoever you want in them.
Some Types of Lists to Consider
- Folks with shared hobbies, such as bicycling, scrap booking, etc.
- People who are members of the same entities, which could include your place of worship, your service club, your garden group, etc. Some of these lists could overlap with the first list; the difference being that these lists are more oriented to the entity than the hobby.
- If you tend to use Facebook for business purposes as well as for personal matters, you might to create lists of professionals in your field, clients/customers who use your services and/or purchase your products, and/or referral partners who recommend your services/products to others.
Some Ways to Use Facebook Lists
- Click on a list to see what the people you have on it are posting on Facebook. For example, let’s say that you are looking for ideas for where to go on your weekend bicycling outing. Most likely, the other folks you know who are cyclists will be posting about places they have been cycling lately.
- Or you want to be more up-to-date about people you will be seeing soon, such as your extended family members or the members of your monthly book club. Spend a few minutes a day or so before you are scheduled to see them by clicking on the appropriate list. Now you can see the posts of just the folks in that list – for example, you know who’s become a new grandmother or who’s just gotten a promotion at work.
- Customize the audience for one of your Facebook posts by clicking on the arrow to the right of the default audience you currently have in the box next to the blue Post button. You might need to click on “More Options” to review all the lists you have created. Select the list for which your new post is intended and click on the Post button. Now your post will go only to the news feeds on the home pages of the people on that list, rather than to everyone who’s your Friend on Facebook.
How About You?
Did you know about Facebook’s List feature? How have you used it? What kinds of specialized lists have you created?
About Joyce
Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.
She works with business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit organizations, job seekers, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.
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