If there’s anything close to a universal social media language that most of the world is speaking, Facebook is it. Hence why we brought you the best Facebook secrets, hacks, and tips. In spite of how massively popular the social media giant has become, there are still plenty of secrets, tips, tricks, and “hacks” that most users either don’t know about or only have some inkling of. We’re here with 10 of the best, and we promise that they’ll help you to be a better Facebook user in the long run.
For many young people, Facebook possesses that eternal feeling of “having been around forever,” but that hasn’t always been the case! It had small beginnings as a connecting network for college students, which then exploded when the popular service was made available to the entire public at large. It’s led us here, where Facebook has become the single largest social media entity in the world, with far more of the teenage and adult population on Facebook than not.
It’s pretty remarkable, really, and completely unprecedented in human history. There, I said it. I can stop sounding profound, now.
All in all, it remains a pretty cool social media service that has yet to be unseated by any competitors. Google Plus, which once thought to do just that, now exists as something of a “side service” that’s primarily used for networking professional contacts. Twitter ended up being a whole different beast, and Instagram was…purchased by Facebook. Not a bad fate, altogether!
Still, in all of the time that Facebook has been around, there are still plenty of tips and tricks beneath its surface that most average users have not yet taken advantage of. Many don’t even know they exist! On top of that, thanks to Facebook’s constantly evolving platform, new tips and tricks emerge every day.
Deleting Your Facebook Account
Okay, I’ll be the first to admit the irony of making this the first of our Facebook tips, but there’s a reason for it! Hundreds, if not thousands of people ask about this process every day, and each time, those people are led in circles by dozens of different sets of instructions. Let’s lay it out clearly and concisely, so that if the time ever comes that you want to delete your Facebook presence, you can do it!
There are two paths you can pursue–deactivating your account, or deleting your account entirely.
- To deactivate your account, click over to your account settings, and select security. From that menu, select “Deactivate Account.”
- To permanently delete your account, follow this link to the account deletion page. Click “Let Us Know,” and then confirm that you’d like to delete your Facebook account.
Pretty easy stuff, but it should only be used as a last resort! A deactivated account can be retrieved, but a deleted account cannot.
Your Hidden Facebook Inbox
Your Facebook inbox has probably been obvious to you since you started using the service, but do you know about the secret Facebook inbox, where dozens of fresh messages are probably waiting for you? I thought not.
In addition to the inbox where you can read messages from all of your various contacts, you also have a separate place that stores all of your “other” messages. It’s called the “Message Requests” inbox, and it caches all of the messages from people who aren’t registered as contacts on Facebook. Most of the time, people find out that they’ve received tons of phishing requests from names that they’ve never heard of before, but every once in a while, you’ll stumble upon a gem; an old friend from school, a familiar name that you used to work with, a family member who decided to send a message rather than a friend request.
There’s a reason that all of these are kept separate from your main inbox (it’d result in tons of spam), but it’s still very accessible. In the Messages window in Facebook, look at the top of the window, where you can toggle between “Recent” and “Message Requests.” Give it a try, and see what you’ve been missing!
Double-Check Your Account Security
One of the gripes that I hear most often about Facebook concerns its constantly fluctuating security settings, which often leave users out of the loop when new features are made available (or, worse, when old features change.)
Fortunately, Facebook has made some significant changes on this front, and it’s easier than ever to double-check on your account security settings. Click on the small “Lock” icon on the Facebook menu bar (it’s right next to the drop-down for the rest of your settings) and you’ll be given the option to perform a “Privacy Checkup.”
This easy-t0-navigate tool lets you manage who can see your posts and content, all without the need to dive into deep menus and search for obscure settings.
Here’s a nifty feature that many don’t know about, mostly because it’s just not needed all that often. Did you know that you can use Facebook’s embedded messenger to send practically any type of file that you want to?
When you open up a Messenger window with one of your contacts, click on the small gear icon that leads to further messaging options. Select “Add Files…” and you’ll be able to browse your computer for any type of file that isn’t too large to send. This is useful for sharing photos, videos, documents, and anything else that you’d like!
Use Facebook Messenger
Okay, so maybe this isn’t a “secret” for most people. Hell, Facebook Messenger is my go-to messaging app on my smartphone and on my computer, and no other competitors even come remotely close to the quality of service I’ve found in it. Still, many don’t realize that Facebook has a standalone messaging service that intricately tied to the Facebook social media platform itself. If that’s you, then take a look at Messenger.
It’s free, and of course, you can just use your Facebook account information to log in. Whether you’re on a computer or a mobile device, Messenger gives you access to text, audio, and video messaging, as well as voice and video calling to any of your contacts. Perhaps the best part is that you don’t need Facebook in order to set up a Messenger account–all that you need is a smartphone number! It’s all presented in a concise interface that’s always fast and always efficient.
Change Your Language Settings
Arrrr matey! Ye be wantin’ Facebook to talk like a scallywag, do ya?!
Okay, ignoring how much I had to cringe while typing that, it should give you an idea of just what you can do with Facebook’s awesome language settings. Whether you truly need to use a different language or you’re just looking for something fun, altering the language features is easy.
Head into your Facebook settings and select “Language” on the left. There are two things you can change: the language that Facebook displays in and your news feed translation preferences. Your display language choices are actually quite varied, but if you’re looking for a bit of fun, try English (Pirate) or English (Upside Down).
Translation settings allow you to dictate how phrases and posts in other languages are translated if you want them translated at all.
Bookmark Posts and Links
Look, we’re all pretty much in agreement that an active Facebook feed can be utterly overwhelming sometimes. It doesn’t matter if you happen to like everything that’s showing up in your feed when it would take an entire 24-hour day to get through all of it. Even worse, most of us are at work for several hours out of every day, meaning that we might risk missing out on some great social media content if we’re not willing to read it when it goes live.
Worry no longer! Any links or content that you want to save for later now have a “Save Link” feature that can be accessed by clicking on the post options at the corner of any Facebook post. Your saved content will be listed in its own timeline, that you can access at your own leisure!
Change Your Advertising Options
Now that Facebook is 100% mainstream, it’s become practically impossible to escape the advertising that’s prolific across everyone’s feeds. You can, however, change the ways that it’s presented, making it more appealing to your own tastes and internet browsing habits.
From the settings menu, select “Ads.” From this menu, you can alter many permissions pertaining to how advertising affects your Facebook experience. Sick of seeing your social actions paired with ads? Turn it off! Feeling a little creeped out by how relevant many ads are to your personal life? Alter the ways that advertising is aimed at you, by changing the visible preferences that Facebook uses to target you with advertising. Want to see more ads based on your browsing and shopping history? You can change that to.
You’ll never be able to turn off advertising on Facebook (unless you someday don’t want Facebook to be free, anymore) but you can change the way that it shows up in your feed.
Embed Public Facebook Posts
Ever wonder how people use public Facebook posts on other parts of the web? Whether you’re cross-linking a relevant post to a friend or doing online research, Facebook has made it easy to take public posts and post them elsewhere.
Click on the drop-down menu of a public post, and at the bottom, you should find the </> embed option. Clicking on this will give you a markup link that you can post to another website or blog. Keep in mind that you can only do this with public posts. If you don’t see the embed option listed, then the post that you’re viewing isn’t public!
Manage Your Gentle Breakup
While Facebook has helped our society to connect more than any other innovation apart from the internet itself, it’s also made the dating and breaking scenes particularly awkward. After all, how are you supposed to gently put down your relationship with your ex, while also hiding them from your status updates and future posts when it’s necessary?
Some might oversimplify it by saying “just be tactful,” but that’s hardly enough, is it? Now, when you make your breakup “Facebook official,” it will give you access to the “Taking a Break” option. This will automatically limit the content that you can see from your ex while simultaneously limiting what they can see from you.
This is only a list of 10 features that most Facebook users don’t know about or take advantage of; the list could go on and on! The best secrets, tips, and “hacks” are going to be the ones that benefit your experience the most, so try these on for size, and let us hear your thoughts in the comments below!