Useful Facebook Features

Facebook, which started as a social network just for colleges and universities, has quickly become the star of social networking. Now open to everyone over 13 years of age, Facebook has become the largest web application in the world, with 50% of all Americans claiming their own accounts. World wide, people spend 700 billion minutes every month sharing photos, links, videos and more.

Despite Facebook's popularity, many of its useful features are rarely used because people don't know about them, or the steps required to use them are counter-intuitive.

One of the features we really like is the ability to download all of your Facebook information, including photos, likes, and messages. Many people have invested a lot of time in making their Facebook profiles and if you're someone who doesn't trust leaving it all in the online cloud, downloading your data is a great practice to start.

How to Download Your Facebook Data:

Step 1: To download your information go to the Account drop down menu in the upper right and click on Account Settings.

Step 2: Once on your Account Settings page, click Learn More to the right of Download Your Information, read the page that comes up and click Download. Facebook will compile your data and send you an email with a download link. Depending on how much data you have on Facebook it may take 24 hours before you get the email.

Step 3: Once you download your information store it in a secure place. You may even want to encrypt the file depending on what type of information it contains.

To learn more tips, come to our next Coffee Hour:
12 Tips for Using Facebook: A How-To Workshop
May 10, 2011 | 8:30 - 10:00am | Stevens 470
register today >

Information referenced from:
LAPTOP Magazine, February 2011. “101 Social Networking Tips.” by LAPTOP Magazine Staff