Facebook lists aren’t new, but many people do not realize the many ways they can utilize them. Normally, if people utilize Facebook lists, they are using them to manage their privacy settings – making lists to decide who can see what items on your page. But now that Facebook has launched the “subscribe” feature, lists can be used for a variety of different
social media marketing and social networking purposes to help separate out business, entertainment, and friends feeds from one another. This makes Facebook lists important for your business – even though they are used on personal profiles, they can still help your business, as you can organize any companies you follow and any work contacts you may be Facebook friends with.
Facebook already automatically generates “Smart Lists”, which can be adjusted manually as you deem necessary. Smart Lists can be viewed by clicking “more” by your Friends section on the left-hand side of your Facebook home page. Facebook automatically gives you lists for your “Close Friends” “Family” “Acquaintances” and a “Restricted” list, as well as lists for any workplaces or educational institutions you have included in your profile. If you have updated your current city on your profile, you will also have a Local list, made up of friends who live in or around your current city.
Upon choosing a list, Facebook will give you suggestions on who to add to it, as well as allow you to enter names into the search box to select people. Users are notified if you add them to your “Family” list, but no other list generates notifications. The “Restricted” list gives you the power to limit what you share with users without blocking or unfriending them. People on your restricted list only see posts that you make public.
You can also make your own lists outside of the Facebook-generated ones. These lists can be for people or celebrities you have subscribed to, allowing you to filter them out. For example, say you have a list of “
Social Media Experts”. If you are trying to get ideas for what you should post on your Facebook fan page, you might want to browse this list of users to get inspiration.
You can also use lists to decide what users are seeing on your page. As mentioned, anyone on the “Restricted” list can only see those posts you make public. You can choose to make your other posts available only to certain lists – for example, you might post an update related to a BBQ in your neighborhood and only make it available for those in your town – or you can make something visible to all friends except for one list – maybe a more personal update that you do not share with your acquaintances.
By properly utilizing your Facebook Lists, you will be able to better streamline your Facebook experience and see the posts that matter the most to you.