How to Navigate Facebook: 9 Tips for Beginners

There are several things you should know when it comes to using Facebook. You can click here to learn more about how to navigate Facebook.

If you aren’t already part of the billions of active users on Facebook, then it’s probably time to make an account. It can be confusing to use if you’re not too familiar with it. It’s not only for connecting with loved ones but it’s also a good platform for businesses.

Don’t know how to navigate Facebook?

Don’t fret, we can help. Check out these following 9 Facebook tips to get acquainted with the biggest social media platform in the world.

 

1. Personalizing Your Profile

Once you’ve signed up for Facebook and made your own account, the first thing that you need to do is set up your profile. The information you update on your profile is what your Facebook friends will know about you.

You can fill out things like your profile picture, cover photo, personal information, likes, and dislikes. You don’t have to fill out everything on your profile if you don’t want to. You can choose what to upload and what to keep to yourself.

To start updating your account, go to your profile tab. You can do this by clicking the circle on the upper right with your name and profile pic. It’ll be a gray default icon if you haven’t uploaded anything yet.

When you have your profile open, look for the “Edit Profile” button. This will open a dialog box where you can edit the basics of your profile, like your name, pictures, and bio. If you want to edit things in more detail, scroll down and click on “Edit Your About Info.”

 

2. Changing Your Privacy Settings

If you don’t want the information and content you upload to be available to everyone, you can change your privacy settings and control who sees your profile.

First, click on the downwards facing arrow on the far upper right. This will open a drop-box below it; go down to the “Settings and Privacy” option.

Then, click on “Privacy Checkup,” which opens a tab with the different privacy settings that you can change. You can then edit things from “Who can see what you share” to “Your ad preferences on Facebook.”

 

3. Uploading Content

A big part of your activity on Facebook will stem from the content that you upload. Whether it’s posting a new picture or status, uploading content is one of the ways to share things with your friends and express yourself.

At the top of Facebook’s homepage, you’ll see your profile picture next to a rectangle with the question “What’s on your mind?” This is where you can write and post a status update. You can share your thoughts and opinions, or whatever else you feel like writing.

Below the rectangle are three more options from which you can upload content: live video, photo/video, and feeling/activity. When you upload or share anything on Facebook, it will show up on your friend’s feed, where they can react and comment on it.

If you find any content you like, you can read this guide to learn how to download Facebook videos.

 

4. Finding and Adding Friends

Facebook’s main goal is to connect people. If you want to find any of your friends’ profiles, you can look up their names on the search bar.

To add any of your friends, go to the search bar on the upper left. Then, type in their names; results will show up below the search bar or open the search page if you click enter. Find your friend’s right account from the choices give and select it.

This will lead you to their profile, where you can find all their information. On the right side of the tabs on their profile, you’ll find a “Send Friend Request” button. If you click it, a friend request will send to their profile and if they accept it, they will get added to your friend list.

Anyone on your friends can view your posts and look at your profile. To accept friends requests, go to the notifications icon on the upper right.

 

5. Adding to Your Stories

Another way of sharing more content is by uploading to your stories. Facebook Stories are short posts that you can share and only stay online for 24 hours. After the 24 hours have passed, the post will get automatically deleted.

It’s a great way to share things you don’t want “permanently” on your profile. On the Facebook homepage, there’s a box on the top saying “Create a Story.” This will be right next to your friend’s stories that you can view.

 

6. Customizing Your News Feed

Most of the time you spend on Facebook will probably be scrolling down your newsfeed. The content you see here will depend on the friends you add or the pages you’ve liked.

If you have a friend that shares posts and updates their status 5 times a day and you don’t want to keep seeing it, you can click on the three dots on the upper right side of their post. A drop box will appear, where you can either hide posts from this person or “snooze them for 30 days.”

When you do this, Facebook will update your newsfeed and tune it to only show you the posts that you want to see.

 

7. Customizing Your Notifications

When you add more people and like more pages, your notifications will start to blow up. Facebook tells you whenever there’s a new post that “You might like” and update your device. If you have too many notifications, it can be annoying.

You can change this by going to your device’s notification setting and turn off Facebook. Click on any posts that you don’t like getting notified for on Facebook and select “Don’t get notifications for this post.”

 

8. Using Messenger

Messenger is how to chat and call your friends on Facebook. It also has its own application that you can download for messaging purposes.

There are two ways you can start a conversation with someone. The first is to search for your friend and go to their profile. The top right of it will have a message icon that you can click which will open a chatbox.

The second way is to click on the messenger icon next to your profile on the upper tab, then search for your friend there.

 

9. Other Facebook Features

Facebook is constantly updating and innovating their site. They’ve recently added new tabs to Facebook, each with their own different function. Most of them are pretty self-explanatory.

The Events tab shows you different events that you’ve interacted with.

The Games tab shows you a bunch of games available on Facebook that you can play on the site. It also shows you what games your friends are playing.

The Marketplace tab is where you can find local vendors and friends selling second-hand items or starting a small business.

 

Now You Know How to Navigate Facebook

We hope that you’ve learned more from this article. Hopefully, you have a better understanding of Facebook basics and how to navigate Facebook.

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