I started a search in the App Store to find an app to help me out with this process. The first two apps failed to deliver the results I needed. I then tried iLoader for Facebook HD and finally found a way to add those photos in one simple step, even when adding them in a batch.

It just couldn’t get much simpler and easier than this. There are other apps that are this simple, but again, this is the one that delivers. Upon opening the app, it has the dial buttons in the upper left where you can add, organize, and upload photos. But before doing anything with that, I knew I had to sign in to my Facebook account using the link in the upper right.

Once you click the link to connect you to Facebook, it opens up the Settings, which are also available at any time in the menu bar at the bottom. Along with the sign-in information and normal settings, it also includes a listing of the latest updates to the app, which is always useful to know. This is a nice little plus.

Moving back into the main window, you can start the process of adding your photos. Once you click the dial to choose the photos, it allows you to add as many as you want from your Photo Album. Before you upload them you can organize them in the order you want, as well as add captions and tag people right from this screen. This is where I was hooked.

Uploading the photo or photos gives you the choice of whether you want it to add the photos to your main account or one of your groups or pages. It offers you that complete control. Once they are fully uploaded, the app gives you options to alert your Facebook friends that you have added photos or share them on Twitter.

Videos can be added this same way. Simply choose the video you would like to add, title it, and add a description. With videos, you can also choose who sees them, whether it’s just yourself, a certain group of friends, everyone, etc. You can also view your own videos, as well as all those of your friends within this app by choosing the appropriate option in the menu bar at the bottom.

iLoader for Facebook HD allows you the full control of adding media to your Facebook account. Reading the reviews, it mentioned a recent update causing the app to crash, but in all I did here, it never crashed on me once, proving its dependability. The app is available on iTunes for $2.99. A free Lite version is also available, and versions for the iPhone and iPod Touch are available as well.

iLoader for Facebook HD

The short explanation of the Facebook Cover Art is this: when you are out someplace and you take a really great picture, you can create a new Cover picture and upload it right to your Facebook Timeline. Below is the specifics of how it works.

Using Facebook Cover Art for Android

When you open the application, you will be prompted to grant access to your Facebook account. This is important to do because if you don’t grant access, you can’t upload the new Cover art.

Once you have granted access, you are ready to get to making your first Cover picture. To start, you will want to find a picture you have taken. There are a few places you can look for a picture. You can choose from images on your phone, in your Facebook news feed or pictures you have already uploaded in your Facebook albums. These choices are listed across the top of the application’s main screen.

When you have found a picture on your phone that you want to use, press Use Photo in the bottom right of that screen. You will be asked to choose what you want to do with the picture: use it as a profile picture, as cover art or seamless mode.

Using pinch to zoom, you will need to resize and move the picture so it fills the area and looks the way you’d like it to.

When you have the picture the way you want it to be, you will have a preview of how it should look. If all is well, then click on Upload and Share. You should see a popup telling you to head over to m.Facebook.com and select the new picture as your new Cover art.

Other options for Cover art

There is a bunch of pre-made Cover art packaged into Facebook Cover Art for Android. If you don’t have any interesting pictures to use, try one of these.

What works well and what didn’t

The process was pretty easy to figure out and complete but there were a couple things I couldn’t get to work. These issues may have been related to my device specifically so do not let these hinder you from trying out Facebook Cover Art for Android.

When choosing pictures from my device, there were a few pictures that didn’t want to work. I believe they were pictures from a home screen wallpaper application I previously used. The other problem I had was, the end result of the Cover I created was not 100% the same as the end result. It took a little playing around to get the picture in the preview (before uploading) to be centered and look the same as the end result on Facebook.

Conclusion

I really like this application. It makes using your pictures for a Cover really easy. For people who are on the go more than at a computer, this is a great way to change up your profile on the fly.

Share your tips for using Facebook while mobile in the comments below.

Some may see this as adding clutter, others may see it as way to add more personalization. Others yet will see it as another reason to make Facebook their main social hub. Whatever the reason, here is how to add Apps to your Facebook Timeline.

What Timeline apps are available?

For starters, there are about 80 apps at the time of this writing. You can check them out at the about apps page. Many of these you may already be using, either on your smart phone or a web app. Some examples of available apps are UrbanSpoon, Pinterest, TripAdvisor and Rhapsody.

How to add an app to your Timeline

You may already have some apps posting to your timeline. To see if you do, you can follow these steps:

At the top right corner of your Facebook admin page (the page where you can see the feed with all of your friend’s updates), click on the tiny arrow. Now Select Account Settings.

Select the Apps tab from the left sidebar.

These are the apps you have already granted access to post on your Timeline. This is also a good time to clear out any apps you do not want to have access to your Facebook account.

Add new apps to your Timeline

To add new apps, you can go to this page and click on services you already use or would like to use. When you click on the links you will be taken to that site and asked to sign in with your Facebook credentials.

Then you will be asked to grant access to post to your Timeline.

That’s about all there is to it. From that point on, when you use an app like Snooth, it will post to your timeline what wine you are tasting.

Timeline app settings

You can adjust the settings of the applications. If you don’t want the applications posting things on your Public Timeline, you can make the adjustments or even eliminate the app from posting to your Timeline. Here’s how:

In the apps tab, the one where you can see all of the applications you have granted access to, you can click on the application you want to limit. In this tab, you will see an drop down box to set the privacy limitations.

If you look just above the privacy drop down, you will see the option to remove the ability for the application to post to your Timeline.

Conclusion

There are certain things I would want on my Timeline. There are times when it is fun to go back and see what you were saying and interested in a year ago. There are also applications I would not want every single activity or song posted and etched into Facebook history.

Overall, I like how easy it is to add an application and how easy it is to limit who sees the updates from these 3rd party applications. Just remember to go back every so often and clean out unused applications.

Do you like the idea of applications posting to your Timeline or do you think it will cause clutter?

Activating Facebook Timeline

You can activate your Timeline by heading here:

Activate Facebook Timeline

You will need to click on the link in the bottom left of the page.

Once you activate the Timeline, your page will refresh. You will need to click on your profile to see the major changes.

Where to start

You may want to take the tour. It will give you a good run-through on the newest features. You will get an idea of how to add new pictures like a Cover.

What is a Cover?

Think of a Cover like a background on Twitter or Myspace. The difference is, the Cover is the header for your page. Your profile picture will appear in the bottom left corner. There are some people who are already crafting some really creative Covers. Here are a couple sites you may want to look at to get you started.

• Facebook Profile Covers
• FB Cover Pix

Here is what a cover looks like pre-download.

Adding a Cover

Depending on if you are using a Cover from a site or your own picture, there may be different steps. In the end, you will just need to click on the Add a Cover link in the top right of your profile header.

You will just need to select a picture, either by uploading one from your computer or your already uploaded photo library.

Once you have the picture ready and selected, you will need to drag it into the correct location. If you are doing something a little more creative, this will make it a bit easier to make a fun Cover.

Using the Timeline

You have probably peeked at your profile page to see what the timeline looks like. It looks different, huh? Well you or your friends can skip through your past updates. Off to the right, you will see a little timeline. You can use this to skip through your Facebook past.

When you click on a month or year, you can see the highlights for that time.

You can also see all of the posts from your past by clicking the Highlights drop-down.

Promoting or hiding old posts

There are always pictures or things in your updates that you don’t want to relive or show off. If you want to hide these posts from the timeline, there is a pencil icon next to each post in your timeline. If you click it, you are given the option to hide it or even change the date.

If you would like to promote an update you are proud of, you can click the star. This will stretch the post across the full length of the timeline. If you click the star again, you will minimize again.

Privacy settings

There is an option in the privacy setting tab to limit what the public and friends of friends can see. You can change this if you are not comfortable with people Facebook stalking you.

Conclusion

Even though the cosmetics greatly changed with the addition of the timeline, the change also brings more usability and room for future improvements. I have to say I like looking back and see what kind of nonsense I posted in the past. Some of the past updates bring back some funny memories. I also thing I am going to have some fun with the Covers.

What do you think of the changes?

While Facebook is addictive, it can be annoying as well. Some of its feature like the news ticker, chat box etc. can be a great distraction and many important news are buried deep in the feed while junk message and spam keep finding their ways to your stream. Luckily, we don’t have to suffer in silence. Here are several browser extensions that you can use to tweak the behavior and theme of Facebook.

1. Social Fixer

Social Fixer is a is a free browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera (sorry, IE is not supported) that improves the Facebook site by eliminating annoyances and adding lots of great enhancements and functionality.

Once installed, Social Fixer will run you through a series of configuration options. You can get it to show a Post Action toolbar at the top of each news feed, a “Control Panel” at the top of the Facebook page, force the news feed to appear in chronological order and hide the “Top stories” entry.

You can sort the news feed into their own tabs, depending on the application that your friends use to update their Facebook status.

It even allows you to fix the chat behavior, by turning off the chat sidebar on the far right and restore the popup chat list, or if you prefer, hide the chat dock completely.

The best thing about Social Fixer is that you can change the theme of your Facebook page so it looks different from others.

Social Fixer

2. FB Purity

FB Purity is available for both Chrome and Firefox browser and it helps you remove application spam and clutter from your Facebook homepage.

Unlike Social Fixer that runs you through a tutorial to configure the options, FB Purity options window is hidden inside Facebook and you will likely miss it unless you make conscious effort to find it.

Once you have installed FB Purity, go to Facebook and click on the “FB Purity” link at the top of the page. This will open up the option window.

From here, you can select which application, messages, notification, stories, event etc. to appear in your news feed. You can also set the font size and create a list of filter to block spam messages from showing up.

In addition, you can hide any of the boxes on the right sidebar. Under the “More Application” section, you can select which boxes can show up in your screen.

If you are capable of whipping up CSS code, FB Purity also allows you to define your own CSS rules to determine the look and feel of your Facebook page. I would appreciate if the developer can provide a set of pre-defined CSS rules so we just need to modify the value rather than having to code from scratch.

FB Purity (Firefox extensions)
FB Purity (Chrome extensions)

3. FaceTweak

Facetweak is a Firefox only extension that have a rather different set of configuration options from Social Fixer and FBPurity. Once installed, you will be able to configure whether to auto-login to Facebook when you visit the site, to make the header fixed so that it doesn’t move when you scroll down the page, to enable bigger photos, better album, Google Calendar integration etc.

Under the Social tab, you can configure whether to auto confirm friends requests (which I strongly discourage you to do), add a reply button to comments, highlight friends birthday on your home page and many more.

Lastly, FaceTweak comes with a number of themes that you can apply to your Facebook page.

FaceTweak

Conclusion

While the above mentioned three extensions allow you to modify the layout and behavior of Facebook, their functionalities are quite different from each other. Personally, I prefer the FaceTweak extension because it comes with auto-login and the fixed header feature which I need it most. Since I am using Firefox most of the time, it doesn’t really bother me of a lack of Chrome extension. However, if you are a die-hard Chrome fan, you probably want to go with Social Fixer or FBPurity. Let us know which one is your favorite, or if you are using any other way to tweak Facebook.

Introduction

Feedcal is currently in Public Beta and only works with Facebook and Twitter. The salient features of this web service is that you can simply set it and leave it, as it runs automatically in the background.

Using FeedCal

To start using this service, you just need to sign up on their web site. However, unlike many other web services, the sign up process is not so easy. You will need to fill many fields to get Feedcal working for you. In the very first stage, Feedcal integrates itself with your Google calendar and then it will ask you to authorize it with your social networks, either Facebook, Twitter or both. After connecting your accounts with Feedcal, just click on Sign Up button.

In the last step, it will need some of your basic information such as user name and E-mail address. After successfully integrating it with both calendar and social networks, you’re done. Feedcal will take care of the rest for you. Well, as this service in beta stage, you will not see a user-interface or anything like that but it will automatically filter all the events and sync them with your Google calendar. The service will check for updates on selected social networks after every 5-10 minutes. Just tweet about any event or if any of your friend has tweeted about a social gathering on Twitter or Facebook.

After testing it for a while, we found that the service works as described. Events were added to your existing calendar rather than a new one. It will also automatically update calendar after certain time period and pick up the status update or tweets which mention events. The best part is that we can even update those events just like the normal events created in the Google calendar.

Pricing

There are three plans designed by this web service which varies by social networking services you choose and the duration for checking the updates. Each plan comes with a different price, but the first 1000 users will get any of the account for free. Grab it while it lasts.

Conclusion

After using this web service, we came to a point that it is fairly innovative service to save the time. Because by using this engine, we don’t need to even open our Facebook or Twitter accounts to see the upcoming events. All we need to open the Google calendar and we will have an idea about upcoming or ongoing events. So, what do you think that this web service? Do let us know in the comments below?

Check out Feedcal

Set Up For Twitter

To begin, You must sign into your Twitter account. After you are signed in, point your browser to http://www.twitter.com/devices. Once on the website, enter the required information and click start.

After verification and once your Twitter account is linked with your phone number, create a contact using 40404. When creating the contact, for the full integrated effect, name the contact “Twitter”.

All tweets sent from your iPhone associated with the phone number linked with your Twitter account to 40404 will automatically update your Twitter page.

Alternate Option: At the office or away from your computer, but want to take advantage of this workaround? No problem, there is a computer free way to this “hack”. Simply text “Start” to 40404. You will then be asked a series of setup questions, including your username and password. When complete, add 40404 as a contact (with the name “Twitter” of course) and you’re set!

Set Up For Facebook

For setup on Facebook, go to https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=mobile&t .

Add your country and carrier associated with your iPhone 4S.

To activate the service, text the letter “F” to 32665. From there, you should receive a text message from Facebook containing a confirmation code.

Enter the confirmation code on the page “Activate Facebook Texts (Step 2 of 2)”. Check or deselect the other options available on the page accordingly. Then, click “next”.

Facebook will give you a code that can be used for updating your Facebook through text messaging. Enter this code as a contact and save. Again, saving the contact as Facebook will increase the feeling of integration.

Alternate Option: Same as with Twitter, there is a computer free option to this workaround for Facebook. Send the message “Hello” to 32665. You will then be given a mobile-friendly Facebook link that will allow you to finish the set up process in Safari. Then, add Facebook as a contact and you’re ready to go. Even though this process isn’t completely done in text messaging (you will be pointed to Safari), it is still a good alternate process.

Launch Siri and Update!

Updating Twitter and Facebook with Siri is seamless after this quick setup process. When you feel a creative message coming on, simply launch Siri by pressing your home button until she appears. From there, tell Siri “Send a text message to [Twitter, Facebook] [your message]”. You will then be asked to confirm the message. With your confirmation, the message is then updated on the respective social networking service.

Things to Remember

This is the best workaround yet for updating your social networking website with Siri. Despite this, there are still a couple of experiences that still remind you that it’s not official or integrated.

For example, not saying “text message” in the command “Send a text message to [Twitter, Facebook]” will either give you the error message of “Sorry, I can’t help you with [Twitter or Facebook]” or it will attempt to launch email. This is a minor inconvenience, but using Siri through this method of updating is a lot quicker than updating directly from the website or application.

We must also remember that Siri is currently in a beta phase, this means that all of the problems are still being worked out. In addition, this also means that Siri isn’t available to third party developers. Once Siri is out of this phase, we can assure you that the social networking websites will be the first in line to offer integration with Siri.

Coinciding with the release of iOS 5, a native Facebook app has finally been released. It was worth the wait. It’s beautiful and does nearly everything it should. There are only a few minor things left out, and hopefully these will be eliminated in future revisions.

After signing in to your Facebook profile, it gives you a list in a sidebar with all of the different Facebook destinations. Listed there is your own Profile, News Feed, Messages, Friends, Pages, Groups, Apps, and access to your account.

Of special note here is the Friends list. While you get a quick listing in regular Facebook with a small profile picture next to the name, in the app you get large pictures, allowing you to find your friends by their face instead of their name. When you have an iPad that shows such beautiful graphics, it only makes sense to be able to view everything as large and beautiful as you can. Also of particular interest to many users is the ability to do chat, something not available through Safari on iPad, and only in a few third party apps.

The profile page for yourself, as well as each of the people on your Friends list, is simple and clean. Listed on the left, below the profile picture, is the Wall, Info, Photo, and Friends of the person listed. It’s concise. The wall includes all of the mentions, as well as all the status updates. Info includes most of the information that is in the info on regular Facebook. Missing is that short blurb that appears at the top of the Wall that includes work and education info. One option not included in this mobile app is the ability to remove items from your wall you don’t wish to be included. That has to be done through a browser still. Photo includes full page photos. Tagging, Comments, and Likes are included, but conspicuously missing are the captions for the photos. Along the top of the Wall are quick links to post an update, a photo, or check-in with a location update.

Viewing the Likes and Comments of a post brings up an attractive sidebar where you can add your own comment in as well. For users who use the iPad as a standalone, it’s all right there for them. However, for those who use a wireless keyboard, or combination keyboard/stand, the Enter key doesn’t work for posting a reply. The keyboard has to be shut off and the iOS keypad brought up in order to find the “Send” button. It’s not a difficult workaround at all, but just something to be added to a “wish list.”

Adding pictures is done easily through the app. You can do it one of two ways. The first is to use the option to add photos at the top of your wall. It allows you to take a photo at that point or choose one from your library. You may then add a caption and/or tags, or choose the appropriate audience. Additionally, you can navigate to the album you want the photo added to, then go through all the same options.

This is a beautiful app and seems to be meant for viewing and quick updates. It’s clean and beautiful, just like the other apps in iOS. That said, if they just tweaked a little, and added those few little items mentioned, it would be the perfect Facebook app instead of just the most perfect.

1. Remove the Facebook Ticker

I was pretty excited about this extension. Most of the upgrades Facebook does, I could really care less about. However, needing to scroll down to get information about events and the ever popular poke? Not cool. This Facebook Chrome extension does away with the ticker that now appears in the top right corner of your screen.

Before

As you can see, there is a load of information that Facebook thinks we will find interesting. It is also repeated other places, so there isn’t really a need for it here, is there?

After

As you can see, there are just the event invites and the ad. All of the other information is gone. This makes for a cleaner look and removes the redundant information. Don’t you think?

2. Social Plus

Social Plus is a really neat Chrome extension you can use to customize the look of the page that you see when you are logged in. This is the most powerful extension I have tested for Chrome. There are a lot of settings you can change to see what you want to see.

Picture preview

This feature is great. The wall posted pictures are enlarged when you hover over the picture so you do not need to click on them. You can only enlarge the pictures in your feed, not the profile or grouped pictures.

You also can choose what you want to see and what you do not want to see on the page. By adjusting what shows up and what doesn’t you may help you enjoy your Facebooking experience again.

Filters

Filters are another great way to hide the things you don’t want to see. Using this feature will free up your wall from a lot of the clutter placed there by friends liking pages or joining groups or going to events. In addition to the premade filters, you can create your own. Adding your own filters will help get rid of even more need-not information in your feed.

Disliking

Many times people have mentioned the need to have a Dislike button. There is a lot of stuff people post that is just plain dumb. If there isn’t a way to let them know it’s not funny or boring, they will keep posting that kind of picture or video or saying.

Conclusion

Being able to remove the majority of things you do not want to see in your feed or admin page will help make Facebook more useful to you. The designers of these types of extensions feed off of what you like and dislike, so reach out to them with comments or suggestions. Who knows, maybe they will add in a feature or filter that you suggest.

What Google Chrome extensions do you use to help you with your Facebooking?

How To Activate Timeline Right Now

Facebook has stated that they intend to launch Timeline to the general public in a few weeks, however if you are eager, TechCrunch has outlined a (slightly complicated) method of activating Timeline right now. Although their method is not strictly a hack as it uses Facebook’s own developer tools, it is a risky process and bugs are expected. Having said that I have not experienced any issues after following their method.

Overview of Timeline – Top Half

Unlike the current profile, the Timeline view is separated into two distinct halves, top and bottom.

The top half features the following items:

1. Your current profile picture which does not change
2. A new “Cover image” which takes up the majority of the top half. This image is intended to serve as a sort of “cover” for the viewers of the your profile.
3. The Timeline scrollbar allows you to jump to any point since you started using Facebook. As my scrollbar indicates, my earliest contact with Facebook was in 2006.
4. The basic personal information remains the same.
5. A collage of all your friends
6. The most recent photo in which you have been tagged
7. Your current location
8. Your “likes”

The top half also features a customisable “favourite apps” section just below the items 5 to 8. Here you can dump whatever apps you wish to have quick access to.

Overview of Timeline – Bottom Half

The bottom half is a two-column interface dedicated to your activity on Facebook with top photos, status updates, wall posts from friends and basically everything you get up to on Facebook.

This half has the following sections:

1. The status update section has been revamped. In addition to adding a status, a photo, or a location, you can also identify the significance of the status itself by clicking on one of the five status indicators: work and education, family and relationships, living, health and wellness, and milestones and experiences. The idea is that in the future you can jump to significant milestones in your life if you indicate them. For example, when I originally set up my profile, I indicated that I had completed my high school in 2006. Scrolling down to 2006, there is a space for me to add a photo of my graduation.

Facebook has done a lot of work to ensure its algorithms pick up on these milestones. In fact, it looks like Facebook intends to become more like a scrapbook collecting your thoughts rather than simply a place for your friends to share wall posts and photos.

2. The recent activity feed shows what you have been up to by tracking everything that you do including the music you listen to, the articles you read, and the videos you watch.

3. Lastly, the main portion of your profile features all your status updates, your friends wall posts, links shared, and photos taken.

Timeline Views

In addition to displaying all the content mentioned above the Timeline also groups together your most important updates.

Events

Friends

Likes

Photo Album

Photos

Other Miscellaneous Features

In addition to the updated profile view, the new Timeline also brings with it a number of new features. These can all be accessed by clicking on one of the shortcuts (including items 5-8) in the top half of the page.

Activity Log

Clicking on the “View Activity” button on the main page takes you to the Activity Log page.

This page features a comprehensive list of everything you have done on Facebook. This list is completely private and not visible to the public or your Friends.

The main feature of the Activity Log, aside from being able to view all your activity, is the ability to tweak whether a particular item is viewable on the Timeline or not. To make this change simply select the drop-down arrow on the right of the corresponding activity.

You can either hide or allow the item or you can “feature” the item on the Timeline. When you “feature” an item on the Timeline it takes prominence by removing the two-column view and displaying only that item.

Update Info

To change your personal information, simply hit “Update Info” on the main page.

Your information stays the same, however it is much easier to amend it as it is all viewable on one single page.

Friends’ List

The friends’ list has been completely revamped to display a never-ending scrollable list of all your friends.

Photos and Videos

The photos and videos page functions the same as before but looks completely different. The extraneous whitespace from the earlier profile view has been removed and it is now much faster to scroll through all your photos and videos as it is all on one page.

Map

The map is an interesting feature that displays a geographical history of all the places you have visited. So, whenever you tag a status or photo with a geographical indicator, it will show up on the map. If you use this feature a lot, the map will eventually fill up and show you all the places you have visited throughout your life (or at least since you started using Facebook).

Notes

Like the other updated pages, the new notes page is a single scrollable list of notes with an index of all your notes on the right side.

Likes

The “Likes” page displays icons of all the different pages you like, categorised according to the type of things they are (e.g. music, books, movies, television, games, etc).

The “Likes” page also displays the pages you have liked on a yearly basis:

Subscribers

The new Facebook subscribe feature allows an asynchronous method of following users who do not “friend you”. Essentially, your public posts are viewable by anyone who “subscribes” to them, there is no need for you to approve these subscribers.

Conclusion

Facebook has updated a lot of its features but two things really stand out. Firstly, the Timeline view is probably the biggest change to the profile since Facebook originally launched. The view is much more dynamic and it acts like a time capsule all the way back to when you first joined. The second major change is that a lot of the pages which were cumbersome to navigate have been streamlined into long scrollable lists making it much easier to view your content.

What’s your views on the Facebook’s Timeline?

What is Smart Lists

One of Google+ main selling points, separating itself from Facebook, is the “Circles” feature, which allows the user to create “Circles”, or groups, of people to share content with. Unlike Facebook where you add a “friend” and then you are given the option of adding them to a “list” (which no-one ever does), Google+ requires you from the get-go to add the person to one or more “Circles”. Facebook’s top brass has realised that its users are unlikely to add people to lists, so they have solved the problem by developing an algorithm that automatically groups friends into “smart lists”. These lists will be automatically created and updated based on your profile and your friend’s profile. For example, Facebook will look at a variety of indicators, including the people in your family, your relationship status, your location, your place of study, and your place of work, in populating these “smart lists”.

How Smart Lists Works

Initially, your friends will be grouped into the following four “smart lists”:

• Work – your place of employment
• School – your place of study
• Family – your family members
• City – your location which you can customise by demarcating a particular radius

There’s basically nothing that you need to do. Later on, it is likely that Facebook will expand the lists based on other factors, such as common interests. For example, you may want to share a photo of a concert with all your friends who are fans of the band in question.

Facebook will also give you the option of adding and removing friends from the “smart lists” manually to ensure they remain accurate.

Why the Close Friends and Acquaintances Lists Can Keep Your News Feed Clean?

Facebook’s News Feed is an efficient method of keeping track of what your friends are up to. However, if you have a lot of friends, then the feed can become very busy and you may miss important updates from close friends. To solve this problem, Facebook allows you to add your closest friends to a “Close Friends list”. All updates from everyone in this list will appear on your Facebook News Feed and you can even receive notifications when new updates appear.

Conversely, you may have a group of friends, such as old classmates and business contacts, who you do not really keep in touch with and wish to see less of in the News Feed. You can add this group of individuals to the “Acquaintances list” and Facebook will filter out most of their updates, leaving only the important ones.

Finally, you can also create a “Restricted list” for people who you do not want seeing your posts. This is ideal for individuals who you have friended but do not really wish to share your content with, for example your boss. You can still continue sending messages to them and tagging them posts and photos.

Note, unlike the “smart lists”, the “Close Friends list”, the “Acquaintances list”, and the “Restricted list” are all manually created by the user.

List Suggestions

Since the user probably knows the most appropriate list for a particular person, Facebook will provide better suggestions as to which list a potential friend should be added to and allow the user to make the choice.

List News Feed

Every list you have, whether automatically generated or otherwise, will have its own dedicated News Feed enabling you to view only the updates from particular friends.

Conclusion

Facebook should be applauded in taking a proactive approach (thanks to Google+) on creating the new Friend Lists features. It is very difficult in drawing a balance between ensuring users share content amongst their friends and ensuring that the said content remains private. However, there are a number of issues with the Friend Lists feature. Firstly it may be impossible to identify which group a particular friend belongs to. Unless you and your friend have provided accurate information in your profile, the “smart lists” will not work.

Secondly, sharing content is dynamic in nature and it is likely that a majority of it will be shared amongst multiple groups of friends, not limited to one particular group. This will make using lists difficult, especially if content has to be posted twice to two different lists. Finally, the fact a member of a list will know all the other members in that list may cause users some alarm and hinder adoption.

In any event, it is important to mention that Facebook is not shoving the Friends List down your throats, and all the features mentioned above are entirely optional

What is your thoughts on the new Facebook Friend Lists features?

Obtaining Private URL

First, head over to Facebook and find your “Events” section. On your Facebook homepage, this is usually one of the items on the left-hand column.

On the “Events” page, you should see all your events listed. On this page, you should also see an “Export” link.

If you click on “Export”, a popup will open with a webcal URL.

This URL exports all your events on Facebook as and when they are added by you. The URL by itself is sufficient to view all your Facebook events on any other external calendar (e.g. Apple iCal, Microsoft Outlook, and Google Calendar). Even if the event is changed or updated on Facebook, those changes and updates will be reflected on your external calendar automatically. So, for example, if you accept an invitation to a friend’s birthday party, your external calendar will automatically become populated with the new event and subsequent changes will be reflected on your external calendar.

Although this URL is sufficient to view your Facebook events, there is a bug in Google Calendar that hides events marked as “private”. So, if a friend invites a select group of people to a birthday party and makes the event “private”, this event will be marked “private” by Google Calendar. Unfortunately, all events marked “private” in Google Calendar are displayed as “busy”.

This is an odd bug as you should be allowed to view your own events. Fortunately, an enterprising user has developed a workaround for this bug.

I have tested this workaround and it works. However it does involve sending your private webcal URL to a third-party and it entails you using the third-party’s auto-generated link. If you are comfortable doing this, then continue reading this guide.

Converting Private URL to Display Events

Once you have obtained the webcal URL from Facebook, head over to http://eventbusyfix.info/ and paste the URL into the available box.

Hit the “Generate your new event url” button. This will generate a custom URL for you to use in Google Calendar.

Inputting Link into Google Calendar

Once you have created the custom URL, add it to your Google Calendar.

Head over to Google Calendar and select the “Add” menu which appears under the “Other calendars” list. This will reveal a drop-down menu with a number of options. Select “Add by URL”.

Then simply paste in the custom URL you obtained from the eventbusyfix website.

That’s it! All the Facebook events you are attending will now show up in your Google Calendar!

Image credit: Joe Lanman

Installing and using the Chrome Extension

Firstly, head over to the Move Your Photos extension page and install it.

Once the extension is installed, you will notice a small Picasa icon to the right of the Chrome address bar, near the wrench. Click on this icon and you will be presented with a link to login to your Facebook account. This will grant the extension access to the photos on your Facebook account.

After you have logged in, the extension will start fetching all your Facebook photos. If you have any empty albums on Picasa, the extension will also notify you of this and allow you to delete them.

Once the pictures have been fetched, you can select which albums or individual photos to upload to your Picasa account.

Note the guide used to indicate which photos have been uploaded (green border), which photos are in the queue (yellow border), which photos are not to be uploaded (grey border) and which images are altogether unavailable (red border).

Unfortunately, the extension appears to be limited to fetching the photos you have uploaded within specific albums. So, all your albums, mobile uploads, profile pictures, and wall photos are included. However, tagged photos are not included.

Once you have decided which photos to upload, select “Upload” from the bottom of the page. You may have to scroll down if you have a lot of photos.

The upload process will take some time depending on the number of photos you have selected.

Once all the photos have been uploaded, they will appear in segregated albums on your Web Picasa account.

The album is set to private by default and only those with a link to the album will be able to view the photos.

You can now choose which of your circles to share the photos with.

Conclusion

This app is useful if all your photos are stored on Facebook but you feel like switching your allegiance to Google+. It would be a lot more useful, however, if it was possible to upload all your photos (including tagged images) from Facebook to Google+. It is likely, that there are privacy settings that is blocking this type of functionality.

1. Enable HTTPS

Using HTTPS instead of simple HTTP means that you are securing your communication between the server and your computer. No one will be able to hack between your computer and the server so you can be sure that all the information delivered to and from your computer is completely safe. Modern browsers can highlight the secure URLs with the information about the certificate issuing authority. Here is a screenshot of secure Facebook open in Firefox:

To enable HTTPS, you can login to your Facebook account and go to “Account -> Account Settings“.

Select Account Security under Settings tab and check the box beside Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible

2. Use Facebook two- step authentication (Login Approvals)

Like Google, Facebook has also introduced two-step authentication service called Login Approvals. This service lets you login to your Facebook account by using your password plus a security authentication code sent to your mobile device. By enabling this service, you will no longer be able to login to Facebook by only using your password. You will always be required to use the password and security code sent to your mobile device.

3. Check for Facebook email phishing attacks and scams

While you are in Facebook, you should never click on suspicious links even if the messages were sent from your friends. Most Facebook scams spread by posting messages to walls of all friends of the infected user. The best place to get updated news about Facebook scams is Facecrooks.com. This site will give you details about all the recent scams and other threats spreading on Facebook. Visit Facecrooks.com frequently to find out more about Facebook threats.

You should also take extra care when reading a message from Facebook. Always double-check the email address of the sender before taking any action or clicking on any link in the email. All the emails sent from Facebook will originate from facebookmail.com domain. Emails from any other domain claiming to be from Facebook will be scam and not legitimate.

4. Enable login notifications

Enabling login notifications in Facebook will notify you when someone logs in from a suspicious location or computer. This is important if you always use your Facebook from the same computer and same Internet connection, Facebook will know your location and will trust the computer you’re working on. If you or someone else logs in from another location, you’ll get a notification from Facebook about the suspicious account activity.

To enable login notification, go to “Account -> Account Settings“.

Under settings tab expand “Account security -> Login notification“, check the following two boxes:

• Send me an email
• Send me a text message

You should also check Facebook Login history regularly and see if any suspicious person has logged into your Facebook account. Facebook history will tell you the recent IP addresses and devices used to login to your Facebook account.

5. Use Facebook one-time password service on public computers

Like Hotmail, Facebook also provides the facility of one-time password. One-time password is a temporary password which can only be used once and expires within 20 minutes of creation. To enable this service, you’ll need to activate a phone number so that Facebook can send messages to your mobile. To register and activate a phone number you can go to “Account -> Account settings”.

Under Mobile tab, you can activate your phone to use Facebook one-time password service. The temporary password will be sent to your mobile and you’ll be able to login to Facebook once using that password.

6. Check Allowed Applications Frequently

You should always keep an eye on which application you have allowed and what that application is doing. You should never install an app that looks suspicious. Always search the Internet for its reviews and install the app only if it has good rating.

I hope following all these points will give you a better and secure experience with Facebook. Last of all I would like you to attempt a security quiz from Facebook. In this quiz you’ll be asked questions about security and you can see how informed you are regarding Facebook security. You may also take a look at managing Facebook privacy options.

Introduction

KeepMeOut is an excellent online service which prevents users to visit a specific website according to defined time interval. Using KeepMeOut, you can specify a website which you want to restrict and make a bookmark for it. Using the bookmark will prevent users from visiting the specified website too often, usually according to a set time interval. If you visit the website too much, it will show you a warning message regarding the website.

Usage

KeepMeOut is really simple and easy to use. All you have to do is specify the website, define the time limit (after which you will receive the warning) and click Submit.

You can click on Advanced Settings as well to further customize your preferences and include specific days and timings for applying restrictions.  Set the warning to either everyday or weekdays and define the time frame in which the restrictions will be applied. Click on Submit when you are satisfied with the settings.

After you click Submit, it will redirect you to a page where you will be given a URL to bookmark. You can save it in your browser and use it when you want to visit the specified website.

Now, open Facebook or any other specified website using the bookmark link provided by KeepMeOut and it will show you the warning that you have visited the website once in the time specified. It will also show you the time after which you can open the website again along with  general statistics like average daily visits and past months visits to that website along with the time when it was visited.

If you want to change the settings, click on the Change Settings button.

Conclusion

KeepMeOut is a must try utility especially for those who want to restrict the amount of time spent on specific website. However, there is one drawback, it will only work with the bookmark URL specified by KeepMeOut. Otherwise, if you directly go to the website it will not show any warning. But still, this service can help you become a bit organized and focus on your tasks rather than wasting time on different websites.

KeepMeOut

Introduction

Login Approvals is a security feature that requires two-factor authentication from the user before access is permitted. This is a type of security feature which requires two separate steps to identify a user. In short, instead of just using a password, the user must input some other information. In this case that other information is a code sent to an authenticated mobile phone.

Set-Up Two-Factor Authentication

To set-up two-factor authentication, you have to enable the option in Facebook.

Once you have logged into Facebook, click the Account link at the top of the page and select Account Settings.

This will open up your general Facebook Account Settings page. Here, click the “change” link next to the “Account Security” option.

This will open up a drop-down below the “Account Security” section.

Firstly, you have the option to enable “Secure Browsing” which automatically switches your Facebook session over to a secure HTTPS connection.

Secondly, you can enable “Login Notifications” which notifies you via email and text messages whenever someone logs in to your Facebook account.

Finally, you have the option to enable “Login Approvals“. Check the box next to “Require me to enter a security code sent to my phone” to activate this feature.

After you do so, a pop-up will open which will guide you through the process of enabling this security option.

After selecting Next you should receive a text message on your phone which will be in the following format:

“Please use the code 12345 to confirm access to your phone for login approvals.”

Keep the code in mind and enter it into the box to confirm your phone.

If the phone number displayed is incorrect, select “Change my phone” to enter the mobile number you wish to associate with your Facebook account.

You have to confirm this number through a text message. Once you have added your number, you are directed back to the original page to continue setting up the two-factor authentication.

Once you have confirmed access to your phone, you will have to name your computer to add it to a list of recognized devices. Essentially, this computer will not require authentication after it is “recognized”.

That’s it! Two-factor authentication is now enabled for your Facebook account.

Logging In With Two-Factor Authentication

When logging into your Facebook account from a new device, a code will be sent to your phone which you will have to enter before you are granted access to your Facebook Account.

Once you enter the code, you will have to name your new device and add it to the list of “recognized devices”.

If you don’t have your phone, you will not be able to login to your Facebook account from a new computer. However, you can still login to your account from a computer that has already been authorised.

Conclusion

The two-step login verification function is a useful feature implemented by Facebook. However, it can become a problem if your phone is lost or for some reason you are not able to see the code on it. For example, if you travel to an area with no mobile reception, you will not be able to receive the code that allows you access to your Facebook account. On one hand this feature is useful if you are abroad and you want to ensure that your account is protected. On the other hand, you would not be able to use the two-step verification because your phone may not have roaming enabled. Although mobile phones are generally within easy reach, there will be plenty of times when login may become impossible simply because your mobile phone is not at hand. Hence, we suggest considering whether the benefits outweigh the difficulties of using the service.

This is how you disable it:

1. Login to your Facebook account and go to the Privacy Settings. (Located under the Account link at the top right hand corner)

2. Select the Custom tab on the left sidebar and click the “Customize Settings” link.

3. Scroll down the list until you see the entry “Suggest photos of me to friends”. Click the “Edit Settings” button.

4. Change the “Enabled” to “Disabled” and click Okay.

That’s it.

It is almost a must to check Facebook privacy settings regularly because you never know when Facebook will enable a feature without your knowledge. One thing is for sure, your privacy can never be taken for granted in Facebook.

What do you think, do you like Facebook to auto-suggest photos of you to friends?

While you can change privacy settings and limit who can find your children on some social sites, you never really know what they are doing or who they are talking to and about what. Recently a co-worker told me about a way she helps shelter her kids while still letting them use Facebook. She uses a site called Togetherville.

Getting started

You will need a Facebook account of your own to start. You will need to grant Togetherville access to your Facebook account as an application.

The next step is to create an account for your child. This is only a few steps; first name, username and password.

Once you have an account setup for the both of you, its time to add some information about your child. You can add in what school they go to, their gender, birthday, add a picture and a few other things.

If you choose to, you can send invites to people you know and are okay with your kids talking to.

How your child is protected

The first and foremost reason is that your child isn’t even actually on Facebook. Togetherville is a very Facebook-like experience, but geared towards kids.

The grown-up who set up the account can see everything their child does. The people they talk to, the games they play and much more. You are essentially seeing the same thing the child does.

Togetherville moderates the messages the child sends. If your child swears, for example, the “Quip” will not be approved.

If you choose to, you can receive an email with the “any activity updates”.

Why kids would use Togetherville

There are is a lot for the kids to do and ways they can interact with their parents. There are lots of videos to watch and games to play.

The videos are clips from Youtube, Disney, Pixar and some educational choices are only some of the choices. Just like on Facebook, they can “Like” or “Heart” a video or share it with a grownup or other friends you have.

Just like those of you who spend countless hours playing Farmville or Mafia Wars, your kids have a bunch of options to keep them occupied. The games are very age appropriate and they can play you, the grownup, by sending you a Dare. A dare is basically a challenge to beat their score.

Kids also like art. There is a section of the site where they can create different pictures and share those with your world.

Adding friends

If your child wants to add a friend, there is a Secret Friending Code that is unique to each child. The child requesting the friendship needs to have this code or they cannot send a friend request. As you can imagine, this really cuts down on the random people sending your child friend requests and limits it to their friends and other people you approve.

Conclusion

If you are introducing your children to the web and social sites, this is a fantastic site. It will give you control over what they can and can’t do, while also allowing you to interact with them in a new way via the dares and sending gifts and such.

What are your tips for protecting your kids when they are online?

What the difference between LIKE and SEND button?

When you click on the LIKE button, it will be posted to your wall and publicly announce that you LIKE a particular piece of content, be it your friend’s status update, an article, a fan page, or even a site.

When you click on the SEND button, a dialog box will appear and you can enter your Facebook friends’ names and type a personal message. The content will then be sent to your friend’s Facebook Inbox.

Adding the SEND button to your WordPress site

In order to add the SEND button, you must be using the Facebook’s XFBML code in your site. The iFrame version does not work at all. If you have not added the XFBML code, follow the instruction here to implement it to your site.

Next, copy the following code and paste it to your theme file (must be within the loop) where you want the SEND button to appear:

<div id="fb-root"></div><script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:send href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" font="arial"></fb:send>

To get the SEND button to show up beside the LIKE button, replace the existing LIKE button code with this code:

<div id="fb-root"></div><script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=12345678&amp;xfbml=1"></script><fb:like href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" send="true" width="450" show_faces="false" font="arial"></fb:like>

Remember to replace appId=12345678 with your own Facebook appID.

Alternative method: via plugins

If you have difficulty understanding the method above, the best way to implement the Facebook SEND button is via a plugin.

1. Install the Facebook Send Button WordPress Plugin.

2. Activate the plugin

That’s it. This is a simple plugin that automatically add the SEND button to your single post/page. No configuration required.

Other plugins you can use include: Facebook Like Button for Dummies, Facebook Send Button By Teknoblogo.com, Facebook Like and Send (2 in 1)

What’s your view on the Facebook’s SEND button? Is it adding more value to your site?

Having your contact list be the central social hub for your Android phone is what Phonebook 2.0 is all about. You will be able to see things like social network updates, birthdays, how many times you call contacts and even recent activity with people in your contact list.

Phonebook 2.0 is a replacement for your contacts application. Your contacts and other information will automatically be imported into Phonebook 2.0. You will be able to initiate an email, SMS, see contact call history, contact groups, social network updates, birthdays and a lot more.

Social Stuff

Most applications come with some sort of connection to your social network accounts. Phonebook 2.0 is not exception. You can sign into several of the most popular social sites with more site options on the way.

Right now you can see Twitter feeds, Facebook updates, Myspace and LinkedIn. You may already have a mobile application with access to these sites. However, this application’s uniqueness is – only the feeds from your phone contacts show up. Not all of your Facebook friends. You may follow 20,000 on Twitter, but talk to 3 people in your everyday life. These 3 feeds will be displayed.

Activity

While your phone will track your incoming, outgoing and misses calls. Your phone won’t display messaging, email and social media updates all in the same window. The activity window reminds me of the Messages folder on a Blackberry.

If you are looking at the activity list, you will see a list of everyone you have communicated with. The social feeds don’t erase when you clear the activity log.

Birthdays

Some applications populate your calendar with birth dates for your contacts. Phonebook 2.0 gives you a tab dedicated to birthdays. You will see all of your contacts with birthdays coming up in order of closest birthday first.

Individual contacts

While you are viewing each individual contact, you have several options of information to view. You can see the contact information like you would be able to in the factory installed Android contact application.

When you choose a contact from you list, you will see a screen with options to contact that person. I think it is laid out much nicer than the pre-installed contacts application. You will also now have access to is any recent activity you have had with them and their most recent social media update.

Conclusion

I have been using Phonebook 2.0 for about 2 weeks now. I am really liking the all-in-one approach they took. Many applications that are add-ons to the factory applications aren’t always worth the space they take up.

It took a little bit of retraining myself to use this as a replacement for the Android contact application. Once I got in the habit, I saw how useful it was. I was not checking Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to see what my close friends are up to.

What applications do you use to manage your contacts?