How to Improve Facebook Engagement by Decluttering News Feed
Posted by Ching Ya | Posted in Facebook, How To, Social Media Tool, Social Networking |
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This post was inspired by one of our Facebook supporters:
I think Radhika hit the jackpot with her question – unsubscribe.
I don’t know about you, but to follow 200+ Facebook Fan Pages and 400+ friend updates daily without group management can be overwhelming. Last weekend, I spent half day tidying up my Facebook Lists, but never once in my mind I thought about ‘unsubscribing’. Why should I unsubscribe when I could join up to 500 fan pages, right?
I did not pry why Radhika wanted to unsubscribe from a fan page (hopefully it’s not Social @ Blogging Tracker) but her question alerted me: what seems to be a harmless ‘Become a Fan’ feature now has the tendency to worn us out bit by bit. Gaining back our focus and be in control of the news feed is the cure to social media overwhelm. Speaking of which, I eliminated some unwanted noise in Facebook, mainly applications and the hard work paid off! I’m having a better week in capturing page highlights and improving Facebook engagement with other contacts.
How to Declutter Your Facebook News Feed
To answer Radhika’s question about ‘unsubscribing’ from a fan page, we need to firstly identify our commitment:
1. To Stay as Fan but:
- eliminate unwanted noise
- pause and take a break from receiving updates
OR,
2. To Unfollow a Fan Page, completely.
To Stay as Fan but Eliminate Unwanted Noise
Some fan pages prefer to integrate Twitter updates as their wall posts. If you have already followed them in Twitter or FriendFeed, reduce the noise by removing the Facebook application used to broadcast these updates in your news feed. Beware though, whoever is using the same application will no longer appear on your news feed until you retrieve the app.
1. Locate the fan page among the news feed. Hover the mouse over to reveal the Hide option. Click it.
2. You will be prompted with below selections. Choose whatever that’s applicable to you:
Here we will be turning off the Twitter application to increase visibility for other page updates. To bring back the application (or contact/fan page), look for Edit Options at the bottom of your news feed and click Add to News Feed as indicated:
Caution: Some page admins are actively responding to their Twitter comments in Facebook, so be sure to check the overview of the fan page first before you’re missing any chance to engage.
Secondly, the updates that sent to you via ‘Send an Update to Fans’ feature. Some may not realized but bulk-sending will direct this message to ‘Updates’ – a subcategory of Messages. I can’t thank Facebook enough for separating that from our private inbox. Joining 214 fan pages myself, I can easily receive 50 updates from page admins daily. Now you can have the option to unsubscribe from the hyperactive fan pages. It will remain your membership, just no more updates bugging you afterwards. Of course, the process is completely reversible.
To Unfollow a Fan Page
To quit from being a fan is easy, all you have to do is look for ‘Remove me from fans’ option at the bottom of the fan page itself. So when you hit the 500 mark for fan page limit, you’ll know what to do then.
“Wait, I heard about Facebook Lists?”
Bingo. If you’re not in the mood to decide or quit any Facebook fan pages just yet, why not monitor it over Facebook Lists. Similar to Twitter Lists, you can categorize your most-watched Facebook contacts and fan pages into assigned niche/names so you can easily navigate to check out their latest updates. That’s what I’ve been doing all along and here’s how:
1. Go to Account > Edit Friends
2. Click Create New List > Name & Group your Friends/Pages accordingly via selections
For Page Admins: Shall We Bother?
When a fan decides to pull the plug from our fan page, shall we bother? Some say it’s no big deal to lose just ONE fan. Besides, it’s a self-cleaning mechanism for a more focused fan base – he/she who cares, stays!. Sounds logical, but what if he/she WAS a loyal fan? Are we sending out wrong messages, pissing potential visitors off without consciousness? Plus, there’s no way to tell how many of our fans are opting us out from their Facebook lists or news feed due to (info) force-feeding. Yes, we should bother but not over-panicked. Review your fan page progress periodically can help to strategize your next move.
Now Is Your Turn…
How do you declutter your Facebook news feed currently? If you’re a fan page admin, kindly share with us how you moderate info-sharing to prevent suffocating your fans? In the mean time, would you help me out with this poll by voting (perhaps a Retweet as well?). Appreciate your support:
I’ll leave you with this video from Gary Vaynerchuk who’s not happy when somebody dropped an irrelevant wall post on his fan page recently. Visibility doesn’t mean opportunity anymore, right? You be the judge:
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I don’t think I have a problem with fan pages, because it seems like those are updated much less than profiles. I have had to decide whether to just hide or un-friend people though. I start with simply muting the apps, but if that is all people do (I bought a fish, I ate a cracker, etc.) then I end up just de-friending them because they are not interacting any other way that is useful. It seems harsh, but there’s nothing worse than missing out on something useful because of a bunch of things you don’t really care about.
.-= Kristi@Blogging Tips´s last blog ..HootSuite for Blogging – Twitter Management for Bloggers =-.
Hi Kristi,
That is one of the ways to take control. I think most of the time we are concerning too much about what others may think if we unfriend them. We don’t wish to be harsh but then ended up feeling overloaded. Yes, at some point, we need to consider what’s best for the network. Thanks for pointing that out.
Appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Hey Ching Ya,
Awesome tips – Facebook makes it super easy to
join, but a little harder to leave
I’m going to overuse the unsubscribe and hide button now…hey—time’s precious !!
And what I do ? I just watch very carefully who I add and what I subscribe to – back in the days it was just approving, but know it’s the watchman style
.-= Mars Dorian´s last blog ..Why You Have to Remember it ! (video) =-.
Mars,
Ha..well, go easy with the features, glad the tips helped. Hopefully Social @ Blogging Tracker (fan page) is still under your radar.
I know what you mean. Sometimes it’s good to be the early birds.
But of course, we can always try to group them properly. Thanks for stoppying, will be checking out your vlogging soon, hope it’s going smoothly.
Hi Ching,
How are you? This is good information. I try to only post things on my Fan Page what I think others will enjoy reading and selectively choose what Tweets go on the fan page, by using Hoot Suite. I think I have more cleaning up to do though.
I didn’t know that we could create lists, like we can on Twitter. That’s good to know. I’ll be utilizing that feature soon.
Thanks!
.-= Evelyn´s last blog ..Eating to Live =-.
Hi Evelyn,
Yes, I’m doing selective posting as well.
At times I prefer to keep both networks indepedant, meaning they all have own exclusives, so those who are connecting with me on FB and Twitter won’t receive duplicate info at once. I agree, Twitter clients like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck really make things easier for us. And Lists, I couldn’t imagine life without them. lol..
Thanks so much for visiting.
I’m careful about how I post into my Facebook stream.
After watching the f8 video today, I suspect Facebook is going to rip the blogging community along a fault line: those who blog in and out of Facebook, and those who don’t.
Personally, I don’t want my comments appearing in Facebook. But I suspect I may lose the opt-out option.
90%+ of my friends on Facebook are not bloggers, and don’t want to be.
Wonder where this comment will go?
Going to be interesting.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..hRecipe – Semantic Recipes for WordPress (Google loves these) =-.
Helpful post, Ching Ya.
This issue came up in a social media seminar I gave just the other day. Now I have a good place to point folks when they ask this question about Facebook.
Thanks.
.-= Scott Fox @ ClickMillionaires.com´s last blog ..test =-.
Hi Scott,
Glad you find this article helpful. Appreciate your kind support. Sure is great to see you here again.
Great article Ching Ya, as with everything else it is possible to have too much of a good thing. I use a “Greasemonkey” script called “facebook purity” to remove all of the noise from dumb little apps and thak helps a lot.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..How Our Relationships Reveal Our Beliefs =-.
Jonathan,
I just checked on Facebook Purity, looks promosing! Thanks for sharing this alternative, someday I’d like to give this a try too.
Appreciate your comment.
Hi Ching Ya,
I have used FaceBook Purity, which is a GreaseMonkey script. I had to disable it after my entire newsfeed disappeared.
It is one of those All or Nothing deals.
I like your suggestions better, especially the Lists feature, which I only thought was for grouping friends.
Cheers,
Mitch
.-= Mitchell Allen´s last blog ..How To Secure Your Personal PC =-.
[...] Improve your Facebook engagement. Are you worn out by becoming a fan on hundreds of Facebook Fan pages? This is a terrific tutorial on how to declutter your news feeds so you can focus on what you really want to read. Social@Blogging Tracker [...]
Great information as usual. I think it’s about time I cut back on some of the noise myself.
I’ve been participating in this ultimate blog party and one aspect is to get fans on Facebook. I fanned a few, but haven’t solicited any like I’ve seen others do. I figure if they want to fan me they will and just asking someone to is kind of like begging and would be so depressing if they decided to unfan me later.
.-= Anne Bender´s last blog ..SPRING SAMPLER ~ I ? Free Music =-.
Hi Anne, sure is nice to see you here!
Being selective to join fan pages can be a good way to prevent clutter. I know the feeling too, how about making the fan page button as visible as possible (on your blog/fan page) if you’re not comfortable to invite?
Sometimes people do need a little push or reminder as you never know by chance who you’ll get to meet then.
Thanks for the tips =)
I am really bad, I have just stopped looking at a lot of my facebook and twitter stuff because there is just too much noise. I use groups in facebook and twitter to see some of the people I really want to see, and I do my best to keep up with everyone – but I’m definitely always a bit behind =)
.-= Sid Savara´s last blog ..The Definitive Guide to Organize Your Life And Get Rid of Clutter =-.
Sid,
This is a common issue, it’s not easy to follow everyone so don’t feel bad about it.
We’re all trying our best, while we’re waiting for a better solution, hopefully this article helps.
Great info Ching. To be honest I did not have any idea that we can reduce noise these ways. I chose to simply ignore many of them and probably one of the reasons I do not enjoy using FB that much. I lost control on “become a fan” and now it so seems that I have these ways to get it back under control and maybe start to enjoy FB a little better. Thanks and RT on the way. Not creating too much noise here I hope:)
.-= DiTesco´s last blog ..Make Money Online With Sponsored Comments: TalkAhead =-.
DiTesco,
Of course not, you know I always appreciate your kind support.
Keep them coming. ha.. I’ll repay your kindness shortly. See you around.
Hi Ching Ya,
Brilliant post on the whole. Never thought this simple question will trigger you to make a post out of it but its very useful. The main reason why asked this because randomly i’l become a fan some page which i later point realized they are not so good at posting contents! Thanks for your credits and keep going. Much appreciated work!!! *hugs*
Radhika,
Your question helps us all to review our Facebook behavior and it’s encouraging to see everyone can benefit from this little discussion. Thank you and I’ve always appreciate your inquiries. Keep them coming.
I don’t mind to become a fan of all the fan page at all and I don’t want to leave any of them because its a free promotion for me
.-= Latief@AnotherBlogger´s last blog ..Free WordPress Themes From WPREX =-.
Latief,
In that case, Facebook lists is the best option for you to handle all fan pages/contacts at once – a maximum of 100 lists can be created with 1000 friends each. No harm to organize early before the updates become overwhelming.
I’ve been putting this off for ages, but this post has inspired me to go back and sort it out. It’s much easier now than it used to be. In fact, I left reading this halfway through just so I could go and neaten up my FB contacts.
Another helpful and super post, Ching Ya
.-= Anne Lyken-Garner´s last blog ..Whinging Wednesday – Shoes That Tone Your Bottom =-.
Anne,
Hope by now you’re all set with a noise-free Facebook news feed.
Thank you for taking time to comment, I appreciate your input always.
How do I get my pic to show up here?
.-= Anne Lyken-Garner´s last blog ..Whinging Wednesday – Shoes That Tone Your Bottom =-.
Nice Ching Ya i found it really informative, i already found myself lost in facebook and i also love the way it has been written.
Continue your great works
.-= Rathnakumar´s last blog ..Tips to Select a Blog Theme =-.
Rathna,
It’s not too late yet, make sure you set priorities to your main contacts and fan pages. Allow groupings to be done so you won’t miss any important updates.
How i wish I’d known all this last year when I simply deleted my account.
It’s a keeper! if/when I decide to re-join.
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..WANTED: HootSuite vs. TweetDeck Comparison Guest Post! =-.
Ching, this is something new for me. I haven’t thought much on the same. I myself have been following so many fan pages but I am not so active with it. Also, someone suggested me to start my own fan page but not yet decided. It doesn’t matter much to me. Will think on it later. By the way, I voted on your poll and also retweeted your post.
.-= Aswani´s last blog ..Why are we Indians so NEGATIVE ? =-.
Great information.
It’s really a good idea to answer your reader’s question in the form of a blog post.
The Social Media space are getting more and more clutter these days. That’s just the nature of social media.
I guess, eventually, the space with a clean and simple interface, like the google.com, will stand out.
Anyway, I thought the “ellipses” on the images look familiar however, the arrows doesn’t.
.-= Louis´s last blog .. =-.
Louis,
Indeed,especially when there’s more than one answer to the question.
Also, it’ll be beneficial to whoever is facing a similar problem and hoping for solutions that fit their needs. The ellipses and arrows? Those are created from image editing software.
Hi Ching Ya,
Since I have barely done anything with facebook, reading this posts is very helpful. I had no idea how much can be done with facebook.
I’m glad I resisted becoming a fan of everybody when I got the requests, in part because I didn’t know how to manage it afterwards.
You are giving most valuable advice on it here.
I will have to read all your other posts on the subject of facebook as well.
Right now I’m also struggling with mastering twitter, so I’ll probably focus on it first.
Thank you for your helpful comment on my blog about it. Your encouragement is much appreciated.
I’ll be back visiting soon.
Vance
.-= Vance@Get Blog Traffic´s last blog ..Can You Really Get Blog Traffic From Twitter? =-.
Hi Vance,
Welcome and I appreciate your return visit.
To start with Twitter is a good idea, better to concentrate and see how Facebook can assist you afterward. I’m glad I didn’t go for both at once otherwise I probably got too overwhelmed to continue before knowing where to start.
Nice meeting you too and most welcome for the comment.
[...] information. But, I discovered a solution thanks to Ching Ya’s spot-on article, How to Improve Facebook Engagement by Decluttering News Feed: Hide all Twitter [...]
Ching Ya, I don’t have a problem with Fan pages yet as I’ve only joined a couple. What I do have a problem with is getting all those requests. Is there any way of doing a mass delete?
Other than that I’ll keep this post on the back burner for when my fans status becomes more of a problem.
You’re a true gem for constantly coming up with ways to help people.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Tips On Having A Photo Blog And How Photos Can Inspire A New Post =-.
Sire,
I hope I know how to mass delete page requests. I was having the same problem too, which at times makes me wonder if bulk invitation is the good way? (I’m guilty of doing the same too, gotta think of a better solution for this)
I’ll let you know if I came up with anything. Thank you for always coming back and support. A diligent commenter you are!
Ching Ya if you can find a solution I will be forever grateful. As to commenting on your blog, how could I not when you leave such informative posts.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Taking The Time To Think Before Clicking Submit =-.
I have a lot of fan pages on my facebook profile but I rarely visit them. I even tend to ignore the updates from these pages. Now I can use the ‘hide button’ to clear my page of unwanted data. The “Facebook Lists” is something I am new to, as I have not yet figured how to use it. I will try it out as you have explained in this article. After reading this, I can now manage my facebook profile more efficiently. Thanks a lot.
Carolyn,
Good to know. I didn’t go detail with the Facebook List making but in case you need further clarification or assistance, feel free to drop me a message. Here’s to a clutter-free news feed! Hope to see you here again sometimes.
Hi Ching Ya,
You’ve raised a really interesting point and provided some great instruction on cleaning up facebook news streams. I get twisted up about how to use my fan page for new blog post notifications. Many of my fans are also on my personal page so they end up receiving the notice twice. Then they’re the people who want to join my personal page after they’ve seen my fan page or maybe it’s because they can’t find my fan page. I don’t know. I’m still getting used to sharing my personal “profile page” with everyone. I really need to think through how to make my facebook space more effective. Thanks for bringing up this important topic
.-= cheryl@I love blogging tips´s last blog ..A Bad Day? Funny Photos to Make You Laugh Out Loud =-.
Welcome Cheryl, always love to hear from a new visitor.
I’m using both personal acc and fan page to assist one another. Both are for different purposes and I try to avoid posting duplicates on both sides because same as you, some fans are now friends of my personal account. The challenge now is to engage better with a clutter-free news feed, and our friends(=fans) will appreciate us too if we can help them to reduce repeated shout outs.
I am so glad you posted about this, as I dread going to facebook because of all the clutter, it really drives me nuts!
.-= JR @ Internet Marketing ´s last blog ..How To Secure WordPress Blogs & Prevent The Hacking of Your Blog =-.
JR – One of the main reasons I deleted my account last year.
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..The Official DEDC Comment Policy =-.
I usually hide rather than unfriend someone. For example, I am friends with an uncle who really annoys me – if I unfriend him it will cause friction in the family so it’s easier to hide him
I think leaving a fan page is a pain – it isn’t hard but you have to go to each page one by one to do it. There really needs to be a bulk tool for this.
Another great article
.-= Kim Woodbridge´s last blog ..7 Fun WordPress Alternative Gravatar Plugins =-.
Thank you Kim,
Always love your input. For now that’s how I manage most of my connections too – hide and group. It’s easier that way especially to avoid sensitive issues.
So you have my vote on that.
HI Ching ya,
What if someone has something important to say?? Dont want to miss it na…
lol.
Loved this facebook post! I am always behind in keeping up with everyone and everything. You know, i do know about this hide feature for sometimes…but i feel guilty using it
But yes, i know some who are constantly just playing farmville…well then..I without any gult hide them. Too much farmiville aint good for anyone
Much Love,
Z~
Zeenat,
Ha.. yeah, I basically just block whatever applications that are flooding my Wall posts for good.
Hopefully I won’t have to block anyone after that.
So nice to see you here again!
as well as filtering out the junk from the newsfeed, fb purity adds an easy to access “block app” button which lets you block the applications you dont want to see and dont want to be invited to join etc, it works better than the “hide” button, as if you hide the apps you can still be invited to join them
I’ve been cleaning up as well..
I do become a fan of something and remove myself later on simply because I’m not interested in it anymore. There’s always a reason as to why I become a fan.. So if there’s none, I remove myself. These things can really flood your homepage and annoys you..
.-= Cashmere´s last blog ..Kia Forte Koup 1.6(A) Review =-.
Hi Ching Ya.
I love how you supplement previous articles. And of course add some handy tips to help us stay organized. Something I put a lot of focus on this year.
Facebook is a business tool that we need to stay on top on. When they get their geotagging fully in place it will be really interesting to see what we can do with this awesome Social Media tool.
Facebook List don’t have the same functionality at the moment as Twitter Lists. Hopefully they will add some functionality for it towards fan pages.
Reminds me to check if I can add my task programs into my fan page.. that would been cool..
Cheers.. Are
.-= Are Morch´s last blog ..Links for 2010-04-18 [del.icio.us] =-.
I yet to play with Facebook, I basically love to interact via Twitter but I don’t want to say it’s too late and that’s why I’m planning my social engaging now. Will be active on Facebook soon and just noted down your tips.
.-= Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..MovieRecipes: Find Food Recipes Which You Watch In Movies =-.
Great post! I am only and fan (now it is “I like”) of one page. I didn’t even subscribe to my own page yet.
I am slowly unfollowing a lot of people on Twitter. When I first began to use Twitter I was just following anyone who followed me. 1,500 users later, I realize that I can’t take the noise so now I am dropping anyone who is not adding value to my experience.
Good stuff, Ching Ya. I also liked the video. I don’t have problems with fan pages either, but I have hidden tons of game applications and such, and especially those invites to sign up for this and that. Much less clutter and bother as time goes on.
.-= Mitch´s last blog ..Customer Service / MS Excel Workshop & Webinar; Sticky Post =-.
Hmm. I’ve been wondering whether to get more active on Facebook or not, and your post is making me hesitate. The biggest problem I have re: online promotion is that people are overloaded with information already, and your description of what’s going on with Facebook Fan Pages – and I already know people go crazy with updating their profiles – makes me wonder how effective I could be with Facebook.
One thing’s for sure – I need to figure out a streamlined social media strategy generally. Your post gives me lots to consider in that vein. Thank you!
.-= ashok´s last blog ..Comment on Cowboy Bebop, “Sympathy for the Devil,” Session 6 =-.