Ticker, Subscriptions, and Lists are three new Facebook features that may have you a bit puzzled and apprehensive. Read on for an explanation of how to use them.
Ticker – this new feature appears in the upper right of your News Feed. This is a real-time stream of updates made by your Friends and Business Pages you Like. If you hover over an item it will expand to show the entire post. You can also make a comment on the expanded post.
Subscriptions – your Friends are already Subscribed to your postings, so you don’t have to take any action. However you can receive Public posts from someone you are not Friends with by Subscribing to that person, if they have chosen to allow Subscription to Public updates. Go to their Profile and click on Subscribe (upper right) if available. While on a Friend’s Profile, if you hover over the new Subscribed button on the top right of their Profile you can manage which updates you receive from that person (you can also do nothing and accept the default settings shown). If you want to allow Subscribers to your Public updates, click on Subscriptions in the left column of your Profile.
Lists – this is the one I like. You can create a List, give it a name, and add Friends and/or Pages to it. You can then filter your News Feed by any of your Lists. Also when you post you can restrict the posting visibility to one of your Lists (click on the drop down to the left of the Post button). Perhaps you want your post to be seen only by Family, or Work Friends, or Book Club Friends (if you’ve made such lists) you can now do this.
I am never quite sure that my Facebook News Feed is showing all the updates by my Friends and Pages, so I’ve taken control over this by putting Friends and Pages into Lists. Create a List by clicking on More next to Lists (left of your News Feed). Alternatively when you are on a Friend’s Profile, you can click on the Friends button (top right of their Profile) to add them to a current List or create a new List.
Facebook has created some Lists for you already. These Lists may already contain Friends based upon Profile information that you and your Friends have added to Facebook (for example schools, employers, family members).
What do you think of these new Facebook changes? Get ready, as Timeline (the Profile replacement) is coming soon!
Jeri Usbay 