Facebook’s success as a dominant figure in the social networking is brought about by its continual site reinvention and innovation to best cater to the needs of its users. Thanks to Zuckerberg and company, the easy content management on Facebook has made using the website more of a breeze.
Here are ten of the best features that make Facebook the leading contender for social media networking to date.
1. Events
Formatted similar to a calendar, Facebook events allow users to keep up to date to a schedule of all sorts of events. Users can also use this feature to handle their events management on Facebook by setting and organizing events. Events, along with its details, can be organized and be sent to any user by any user. The user can also select between a public or private setting.
People have depended on it as one of the most common ways of updating themselves with major happenings and events regarding their friends.
2. Timeline
Journalistic in nature, Timeline proves to be an effective way to showcase and document one’s life happenings online. Facebook management also allowed users to categorize all their content, including a range of life events, photo uploads, and the like, into cohesive time periods. Friends can also connect and share information with you through posting on your timeline.
Now, they’ve added a crucial new feature – hiding posts. If users would like to document certain information into their timeline but also to keep it privy from the public, then they can now “hide” posts (posts only they can see).
3. Wall
Now with a Timeline layout, Facebook users use the Wall to post messages, and up until just recently, attachments as status updates. Facebook management has also allowed tagging names and pages to directly link to the person’s profile. This makes connection and interaction between and among users faster and more convenient.
4. Messenger
Facebook has become such a prominent way of communication that Facebook management had to create a separate application just for messaging. With the new sleek and simple design of Facebook Messenger, users can now enjoy the convenience of messaging their friends without having to hassle themselves logging in to Facebook every time.
Arguably the most convenient portion of Facebook messaging is its multifunctional messaging system. Users can send messages to any number of his or her friends at a time. Users can also create messaging groups, wherein all messages are privy to only those included in the group message.
The messaging system can also include attaching a big range of files, which include photos, videos, links and documents as well as using a myriad of creative emoticons that can either serve as supplementary messaging devices or stand alone to convey all sorts of emotions.
5. Like Button
Even with the advancing of the social media age, Liking has remained the fastest and simplest way to show approval for happenings online. Users can likeall sorts of content on Facebook, which includes status updates, photos, pages, interests etc.
Many have used this feature for gaining Facebook fans for their businesses. Pages utilize this feature in gaining Facebook fans, and eventually more much-needed traffic to their page. Organizations, especially non-profit organizations, have also used this to raise awareness, inspire people, and ultimately create a change in society.
6. News Feed
The News Feed refers to a separate home page displaying a constantly refreshing list of friends’ activity. It draws attention to relevant information such as upcoming events and updates in a person’s profile. Using this feature, people can choose the kind of updates they’d like to receive.
In addition to the basic News Feed functions, Facebook News Feed now has Top Stories and with it the option to highlight certain stories to make them Top Stories, which is an alternative way to drawing attention and gaining Facebook fans.
7. Photos
Users are allowed to post photos and arrange them into albums. Photo management on Facebook has been created for easier access and handling, since the addition of tagging and facial recognition technology. Friends can also comment, share and like these photos.
8. Friending and Unfriending
When a user receives a friend request, the user can accept the request, (commonly known as friending), decline the request, or use a more recent option, clicking on the “Not Now” feature. Unfriending is also possible, which refers the act of removing a user from one’s list of friends.
Admittedly, both the “Not Now” and unfriending features have saved a great deal people from all sorts of social blunders and security issues. The Not Now feature merely hides a request but does not delete it, which is a feature infinitely helpful when postponing accepting friend requests due to bad timing, having second thoughts about accepting users’ friend request, or avoiding certain users altogether without being too harsh to decline their requests.
9. Groups
One of the most useful in the list, Facebook Groups are created by users to enable certain users to come together online to discuss topics exclusive to the group.
Each group can select from three different privacy settings: Open (which allows the public to see the group’s interaction), Closed (which allows the public to see only the list of members of the group) and Secret (which allows no public viewing).
10. Notifications
Notifications alert users in real-time updates on their profiles which include mentions, comments on your posts and the like. This feature is still the quickest way to be informed of all updates concerning the user.
Previously, a major concern about getting notifications is getting too many but it is now possible to set a maximum number of notifications for easier management.
But what really makes Facebook the successful site it is today? More than anything, it is its exhibition of all its possible features, even those countless other features not mentioned in the post, and how they tie up and work together to create and sustain the thriving social environment users all over the globe know and love.