Respond Wall Post | Devon Hopkins

In my last post on Facebook for the Over 40, I showed you how to change your privacy settings to keep your profile safe. Now that you are protected, let’s talk about interacting with friends and family. Here are a few tips for getting the most out of your connections.

Part 2: Interacting with Friends and Family

1. Don’t be offended when your family members don’t friend you back.

Either you have already experienced this or you will. You friend your favorite nephew and, oh no!, they don’t accept your friend request. Do not take this personally. They probably have not cleaned up their online reputation yet.

Many facebook users, especially younger users, have their entire lives on facebook (they shouldn’t). Instead of feeling rejected, why don’t you point your family member to “How to Create an Exclusive Friends List”. That way, they can friend you and keep their profile private.

2. When responding to a wall post, respond on the other person’s wall.

So, someone wrote on your wall! Great! Now, how do you respond? Maybe this tip seems obvious to you, but I’ve seen a surprising number of people respond to a wall post by writing on their own wall. This is like receiving a letter and addressing your responding letter to yourself. They will be looking on their wall for a response, not on yours.

When you receive a wall post, click “See Wall to Wall” in the bottom right corner of the box. This shows you the conversation between you and your friend. Now you can type in the response box and the comment will go directly to their wall.

3. Control your feed so you can hear from people you actually care about.

Most people don’t know that the main feed on the facebook homepage is fully customizable. Unless you really want to see everything your 40 random high school friends from 1970 are doing, let me show you how to customize your feed to show you the activity of the friends you really what to hear from.

Create an exclusive friends list with the people who’s activity you want to see.
Go to your Facebook Homepage and click “More” under the left column.
Drag the exclusive list that you just created to the top of the column.

Now, when you login, your feed will be populated with activity from the people in your exclusive friends list, saving you time sifting through random updates from people you don’t really care about.

Quick Tip: Look at Friend Suggestions to find people you might want to connect with. Facebook suggests friends you might know on the right side of your homepage. Click “See All” to find people who share the same friends as you.

4. Create a facebook group for your family.

Facebook groups, while often used to idolize Britney Spears, are also a great tool for families looking for a communal space online. Create a group for your family and start sharing pictures, videos, links, stories, or anything else your family would find interesting.

These tips will help you be more efficient in your Facebook usage. Three weeks ago, I left the United States to study abroad in Spain for the semester. It has been an extremely exhausting and wonderful experience thus far. One of the things that has helped me adjust is the ability to keep in contact with people from home through social media and online services like Skype. The possibilities for increased connectivity are endless, so I urge you to explore, connect, and let me know how it goes!