Whether you’ve been using Facebook for year or are a relative newcomer, there are multiple features that anyone can take advantage of. Check out the list below for eight things you didn’t know you could do on Facebook – from making the most out of your photos, searching for posts or using groups to buy and sell items.
1. Teach people how to pronounce your name
Have a difficult-to-pronounce name? Try adding your name pronunciation to your Profile. Simply visit your Profile and select the About tab. From there, you can click “Details About You” and then “How do you say your name?” You can preview and select Facebook's guesses at the pronunciation, or write your own. The feature is currently available on mobile and web in the US.
2. Search For That One Post
Facebook Search has been updated to make it easier for people to find posts that have been shared with you. You can look back on posts you've seen before and help you tap into the experiences and perspectives of your friends by typing a few words into the search bar. For example:
- Your friend posted asking for pediatrician recommendations where people commented with lots of ideas and suggestions. Now that you have a baby, you want to get back to those recommendations. You can simply search for your friend's name along with the word “pediatrician” and any other words you remember from the post.
- You're thinking about seeing a movie that just came out but want to know what your friends thought of it before you go. Search for the movie's title to see what they posted about the movie.
- You're planning a trip to Bohol and want to see what your friends who have visited did when they were there. Type “Bohol” into the search bar to see your friends' posts and photos that mention Bohol.
- You recall seeing your friend post a foolproof brownie recipe; now you want to make it yourself. Search for “brownie recipe” to find that post again.
You can search for posts that have been shared with you on Facebook for iOS, Android, desktop and mobile web.
3. Up Your Photo Game
Facebook now offers even more options to customize photos with fun new editing tools. The features now available for the majority of iPhone users and testing on Android allow people to swipe between filters, overlay multiple lines of text, add their favorite emojis, and choose from a variety of stickers to create fully customized photos.
Download the Birthday Party sticker pack and add them to your party photos. Try on a new look with a crazy hairstyle and glasses from the Undercover pack. With the possibility to embed text and add doodles on photos, try creating a special message for your next Throwback Thursday photo or give your photo a funny title instead of writing a caption.
When you click on the Photo button to add a photo, and then choose your photos, you can swipe left and right to preview filters or click the magic wand icon to open up other tools including text, stickers, cropping or tagging.
4. Avoid Creating Yet Another Password
Facebook Login is a fast, convenient way to sign into apps that you want to use on your phone — like Airbnb, Nike+, Pinterest and many more. So you can forget re-typing your email address or creating a new password for every new app you want to use. With Login, you can get in and start using an app with just a few taps. We recently updated Facebook Login so that it's more transparent about what you share: Now, you can click “Edit the info you provide” when logging in to see exactly what you’ll be sharing with the app, and choose what info you want to share. You can also choose whether or not you’d like to allow an app to post to Facebook on your behalf — the new Facebook Login does not let apps post to Facebook without your permission.
Start the holiday party planning by using Facebook Login to sign into Pinterest or Etsy to create your inspiration boards more quickly. Use Facebook to Login into Uber to hail a ride to the mall in seconds. Connect to Spotify with Facebook to bring some fresh new jams to the party.
Facebook Login can be found in more than 80% of the top apps on iOS and Android, and people all around the world use Facebook Login to log into apps millions of times each day. Look for it in the next new app you try!
5. Sell Your Stuff
Millions of people around the world participate in For Sale Groups, creating communities organized around local or interest based buying and selling. Southeast Asia and Latin America are examples of many places around the world with significant buying and selling activity on Facebook.
People join For Sale Groups because of the emotional and social value of feeling connected to a community, as well as the practical value of searching for good deals. Most popular categories of items sold in For Sale Groups include cars, clothes, books, crafts, and sports equipment.
In Florida, Lisa Duncan-Thayer created Made By Mama Buy/Sell/Trade to sell her crochet work and give other local artisans a place to sell their handmade items. Now with more than 4,500 members in or near Pinellas County, Florida, the group has helped many women turn their hobbies into businesses.
Professional guitarist Kadu Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro created a Facebook Group to help musicians in Brazil buy and sell instruments. In nearly three years, the group has grown to more than 34,000 members. Not only has the group enabled Kadu to personally buy, sell and trade musical instruments, it has raised his profile and awareness for his band, Swell.
In May 2013, 17 year old Paula Felix created and invited 30 friends to the secret Facebook group HIPSTRECHÓ to sell some of her old clothes to earn extra cash for her semester in the U.S. Paula considered putting the clothes up for sale on a blog but decided against it because setting it up would be too much work. She opted for Facebook because its layout was much simpler. The group has over 28,000 members dedicated to buying and selling clothes that allows women across Rio de Janeiro to complement their income and change their styles for low prices.
6. Bookmark Content To Read Later
The Save function helps you follow through on the awesome stuff you want to get back to. When you save things like links, videos, events and places, they'll get sent to a private Saved folder that only you can see. Soon, you'll be able to save specific posts from friends, groups and Pages too!
If a friend posts a great recipe, checks in at a new restaurant you've been wanting to try, or uploads a video you don't have time to watch right now, you save that link, place or video to view later.
Tap on the chevron arrow next to any link, video, event or place to send it to a Saved folder. To access your Saved items, go to Saved in the left column of your News Feed (web) in the More tab (mobile). Available on mobile and web globally.
7. Make Sure You Don't Miss An Event
Subscribe to your favorite musician, band, or venue events from their Page, and never miss an event they're hosting near you again.
If you're someone who wants to be one of the first to know when your favorite artist is hosting a concert or show near you, easily subscribe to their events and be notified when they're coming to a city near you. You can easily buy tickets from the event and also see if the event is sold out.
Go to the Events section of your favorite artist's Page and find the “Subscribe” button at the top right.
8. Control Who You See First in News Feed
Last year Facebook announced some new ways to control what you see in News Feed. This year they added even better tools for you to actively shape and improve the experience. It has redefined and expanded News Feed Preferences to give you more control.
You can now select which friends and Pages you would like to see at the top of your News Feed to help prioritize stories and make sure you don't miss posts from your best friends and favorite Pages.
Within News Feed Preferences, you can simply tap on a friend's profile picture to see their posts first. You will then see any new stories they've shared since your last visit to Facebook at the top of News Feed, with a star in the top right of their post so you know why they're at the top. You can scroll down to see the rest of your News Feed normally.
