What day of the week do Facebook updates get shared most often?

What’s the most shareable word? …The least sharable word?

This Facebook infographic gives you a quick overview of some handy Facebook Q&A:

Infographic courtesy of datadial.

Facebook has begun rolling out its Timeline feature to all users. A message at the top of your personal profile’s Home tab will inform you that your profile is being switched to Timeline. You will have seven days to review and edit your past posts, photos, videos, etc. before anyone else can see your Timeline.

If you want to see how your timeline appears to other people, click the gear menu at the top of your timeline, and select “View As.” You can choose to see how your timeline appears to a specific friend or the public.

You can publish your timeline at any time during the 7-day review period. If you wait, your timeline will go live automatically after seven days, replacing your profile (your stories and photos will still be there, they’ll just be formatted differently).

What is Timeline?

According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Timeline allows Facebook members to store and share videos, photos and posts from the most important moments of their lives, organized year by year.

A TechCrunch article by Sarah Perez states:

“…Timeline makes it far easier for you to travel back through your Facebook posts – posts which normally disappeared off your Wall and into oblivion. The posts from these previous months and years are now accessible through new navigational elements on the right-side of your screen that let you quickly travel back in time to the day you were born.”

Facebook has offered the feature on a voluntary basis since mid-December. But, if you’re like me (hoping that if you just ignored Timeline it would go away), you haven’t made the switch yet.

You can voluntarily switch now, and give yourself a few more days to get your Timeline in order. To get started, visit http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline, where you’ll find a helpful video tour.

Keep in mind that Facebook usually rolls out major redesigns to its personal profiles first and then implements them on Facebook (fan/business) pages. So be prepared for Timeline to appear on Pages in the not-too-distant future.

Four More Resources for Creating Your Timeline

1. The Facebook Blog – Tutorial that explains how to find and change Timeline’s major features.
2. TechCrunch – Reviews the changes and introduces the new tool, Activity Log, which allows you to review all your posts and activity, from today back to when you first started using Facebook. Fortunately, only you can see your activity log.
3.  How to Enhance Your Facebook Timeline with Apps -Whether you love to cook, eat, travel, run, or review movies, you can tell your story using timeline apps available from Foodspotting, Foodily, Ticketmaster, Pinterest, Rotten Tomatoes, Pose, Kobo, Gogobot, TripAdvisor, and others. From the Facebook blog.
4. Mobile Timeline Available on Android and m.facebook.com – From the Facebook blog.

Do You Have Timeline?

If you’ve already activated Timeline on your profile, and you’re willing to share a link to it, please do. We’d also love to hear pointers from those of you who have switched, to help make the transition quick and painless for the rest of us. Thanks!

You’ll find complete information about all five workshops in the “Social Media for Business” series on the Speaking page at BloggingBistro.com.

I’ll be teaching this series Winter and Spring quarters for Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center.

Here are details about the rescheduled Facebook workshop and a registration link:

Facebook Pages for Business

Thursday, February 9, 2012
6-9 PM
Everett Community College Corporate & Continuing Education Center East County Campus
Tye 303, Monroe, WA
Fee: $69

Use the world’s largest social networking site to promote your business. During this intermediate level hands-on class, you will create and customize your Facebook Business (Fan) Page and learn how to publish enticing updates that help you build your business. Participants must have a personal Facebook profile set up prior to enrolling in this class, and should have basic proficiency with Facebook.

To register for this course, click this link: http://www.campusce.net/everett/course/course.aspx?C=598&pc=14&mc=&sc=

Facebook. Twitter. Shoutlife. LinkedIn. Dopplr. Google+. Plaxo. Blogger. WordPress. Shelfari. Goodreads. Writer’s loops. Conference loops. Endless loops.

By the time I finish updating my status, writing my blogs, tweeting, pasting my bulletins, my newest pictures, my URLs and YouTube links, recruiting friends, recommending friends, sharing reads, rating reads, ranking reads, ranking friends, tagging friends, responding to posts, responding to friends, responding to blogs, ranting, reblogging, re-bulleting, re-accepting (plants, gifts, pinches, bits o’ karma, flowers, flare, tickles, candy, drinks, siege warfare by angry goats and lil green patches–what the heck is a lil green patch anyway??) it’s time to repost my status–and respond to those responding to my status who are reading their walls, shuffling friends, organizing bookshelves, recommending contacts and waging mob wars.

By then, the day is over. I have missed my hair appointment, my deadline and a conference call, needed to go to the bathroom three hours ago, blown off dinner, ticked off my friends (who live in town and did not check my wall to see why I never showed up), neglected my Significant Other, alienated my family, and defaulted on my mortgage.

I’m already grossly behind on an article and some reading, on projects for friends and the synopsis I owe my agent… and yet I cannot tear myself from Facebook because I might miss something important–say, another lil green patch–and then I will have gone from being behind with writing, reading and work, to being behind with the relational fiber of my life that is supposed to make the reading, the writing, the work all meaningful.

Bouncing back and forth between the social, networking and professional sites I signed up for to catch up with friends, connect with readers and promote my work, it’s plausible that I might never have time to write another book–or if I do, it’ll be 360 pages of 140-character one-liners.

I don’t know half the people in my extended network, but they came highly recommended. And even though I may not actually know Marlene in Dekalb, I’m fascinated by how white her teeth are in her picture and the fact that her relationship status just changed from “In a relationship” to “Single.” I’m wondering if they broke up or she forgot to change it before her last boyfriend. And if I know any friends of friends willing to dish.

I’m fascinated by hub friends, who seem to know and be on everyone’s page, horrified at how many colleagues know schoolmates who have seen me do stupid things, appalled friends’ exes who never had the decency to settle down more than one degree away.

It gets a bit uncomfortable–I worry if raucous friends will offend the straight-laced among my network (or vice versa). I wonder whether I’ll say something dumb that will haunt me forever–or at least until it scrolls off the new bulletin list, pushed down by the newest rants, requests, ramblings or reciprocal idiocy of others.

The only way to know, of course, is to stay pasted to the screen. I find that trolling for feedback is an especially convenient time to spy on high school friends and frenemies, the real lives of people I only see in suits, my exes, my readers (it seems only fair), my colleagues, my neighbors.

And I am at peace with my virtual social life, holed up like a voyeuristic hermit, my picture neatly made up in the window as I sit stinky and unkempt at home in my sweats.

One of these days, God willing, I’ll start a new project. Crickets will chirp from the void that was my blog. The status line of my Facebook page will stare blankly at no one. Invites will turn kudzu on my homepage, and my Shelfari shelves will grow dust. Concerned friends will send notes like morose pings into the ether as I wrestle with metaphors and confront the empty page, wishing I could trade my Roget’s for the tiniest lil green patch or bit o’ karma.

***

Tosca just sent you a lil green patch.

[Accept] [Decline] [Ignore] [Wage Mob War Instead]

#caffiene

Tosca Lee is the author of Demon: A Memoir and Havah: The Story of Eve. She is also the co-author with Ted Dekker of the NYTimes bestseller Forbidden. The next book in that series will be out this summer.

A sought-after speaker and former Mrs. Nebraska, Tosca was a senior consultant for a global consulting firm until turning to writing full-time. She holds a degree in English and International Relations from Smith College and also studied at Oxford University. Please visit her web site at toscalee.com.

This post was originally published on the blog of my friend, Steve Laube. (Steve is a literary agent who represents Tosca Lee.) When I read Tosca’s article, I knew my readers would appreciate it, too. Tosca graciously granted permission to reprint her musings here at Blogging Bistro.

If you’d like to submit your own guest column, check out our guest post guidelines.

1.  Elements on a Facebook Business/Fan page that people look at most often

[Sarah Kessler, Mashable Social Media]

2.  The most common reasons for unfriending people on Facebook

[Zoe Fox, Mashable]

3.  Receiving Facebook Comments is 4 Times More Valuable than Getting Likes

[Raul Kaevand, DreamGrow]

4.  7 basic things you can do to help your Facebook business/fan page get found by search engines

[Richard Larson, Just Creative Design]

5.  The Checklist All Facebook Pages Absolutely Must Have

If you’re a concrete person who loves checklists, you’ll love this article. [All Facebook]

1. YouTube Home Page Redesign

http://youtu.be/W-ajXnrpkio

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. YouTube Improves Analytics

Latest features include:

• A Quick Overview: A new overview provides all of the information that you care about quickly, while also enabling you to easily access more detailed information.
• More Detailed Reports: Analytics now includes more detailed statistics so that you can have a more precise understanding of your content and audiences.
• Audience Builders: Discover which videos are driving the most views and subscriptions.
• Audience Retention: See how far viewers are watching through your video in the new audience retention report.
• Source: The Official YouTube Blog

3. Twitter Launches Brand Pages

Pages can be customized with large header images and allow you to keep a tweet of your choice at the top of your timeline

Source: Cotton Delo, Ad Age Digital

4. Google Bar Integrates Google Menu, Search, and Google+ Tools

http://youtu.be/vSIMpFfNLEA

Click here to view the embedded video.

5. StumbleUpon Streamlines its Look

http://youtu.be/F8DtI9e4xZ8

Click here to view the embedded video.

6. Facebook Timeline for Personal Profiles

http://youtu.be/hzPEPfJHfKU

Click here to view the embedded video.

7. Facebook Insights Feature Negative Feedback

Page admins who click “engaged users” on Facebook posts can now see how many users either hid their posts or gave them negative feedback in their news feeds.

Source: David Cohen, All Facebook

Formerly, when you wanted to “Use Facebook As” the persona of a page you administer, you had to click the arrow to the right of the “Home” tab, scroll through the pages you admin, and decide whether to click the “Switch” button to instantly morph into that Page’s persona.

If you clicked “Switch,” everything you posted, liked, shared, or commented on would appear as if it was coming from the Page’s persona (as opposed to the personal Facebook profile from which you logged in to your account).

If you didn’t click “Switch,” you could like, share, or comment on a post from a page you administer as yourself (that is, the profile from which you logged in).

All this switching business was very confusing for page admins (which I can attest to after teaching several Facebook Page workshops). People often forgot to click “Switch” and ended up posting updates to Pages they administer as themselves (as the profile from which they logged in to Facebook).

But I’m not so sure I like the elimination of the “Switch” function. I administer several Business Pages for Blogging Bistro clients, and I enjoyed having the freedom to like, comment on and share some of my clients’ updates as myself. It appears I no longer have that freedom.

What do you think? Vote in my poll:

Related Articles

How things used to work – How to get to your Facebook Page from your Profile

How to create a social poll (like the one above) with Quipol

Social networking is a popular way for younger people and professionals to stay connected. It also makes sense for older people to become involved in social networks. Here are five reasons grandparents should get on Facebook.

1. The grandkids are on Facebook

By signing up for Facebook, grandparents can keep in touch with grandchildren they don’t see on a regular basis without having to wait for emails, phone calls, or text messages. The site is a great place to share the latest family news and updates about local events.

Since many users are inclined to visit Facebook daily, it can be possible for family members of different generations to have enriching conversations more frequently than in the past. Privacy controls allow both grandparents and grandchildren to decide who can be part of their conversations.

2. Facebook is cheap entertainment

Facebook provides a cheap alternative to console and handheld games with its array of social games that appeal to both older and younger players. Words with Friends, Cityville, and The Sims Social can be played without having to travel to another gaming website to install complicated software. Players of different ages can interact with each other without having to pay monthly membership fees. If a grandchild has a packed schedule, it isn’t disruptive to take a few minutes to make a play and say hello.

3. Facebook is a virtual photo album

Grandparents can share pictures and videos with relatives and friends in a central location. The cost and hassle of printing photos can be bypassed entirely thanks to the Photos section. Uploading photos here is a convenient way to share one’s memories without having to sign up for an outside photo sharing site.

In addition, it’s possible to use a webcam or make your own photo albums. What used to take a darkroom or a wait of several days for photo processing can now be done with just a few clicks. If there are new pictures of the baby or grandchildren waiting, it’s easy to download and share the pictures with the rest of the family and friends.

4. Facebook simplifies planning for family gatherings

When it comes to Facebook, another advantage for grandparents is the ability to organize and manage family gatherings or other events. The event manager of the family can ask for recommendations for restaurants and activities, then confirm meeting dates and times without having to type out numerous emails.

Changes to activities can be made and announced without having to hurry over to another website like Evite. When the event’s done, it’s easy to solicit feedback and make plans for the next occasion. So if a grandparent wants to host a barbecue or have the whole family over for a birthday party, it isn’t a laborious process to coordinate everything.

5. Facebook makes gift shopping easier

Many favorite brands are on Facebook, which makes it simple to find coupons and savings related to the interests of grandchildren. It’s possible to obtain discounts on anything from toys, snacks, and clothes to the latest must-have items. Grandparents won’t have to worry about missing any deals or hunting down coupons in the local paper.

Thanks to social networking sites like Facebook, millions of older people can hear from their grandchildren on a regular basis, grab deals from their favorite brands, and share photos in a safe environment.

Megan DeFilippo writes for Assisted Living Today, a leading source of information on a range of topics related to Alaska Assisted Living, retirement care and facilities.

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

~As of December 2011, there are 800 million active Facebook users.

~By the end of 2012 it’s predicted that more than a billion people will use Facebook.

~96% of online Americans have a Facebook account (this includes ages 18 – 67+)

Time

~Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other U.S. website:

• The average Facebook user logs in 3-4 times per week.
• 31% of Americans on Facebook log in multiple times every day.
• The average Facebook user spends 20 minutes on his or her account during each visit.

Mobile

~People who use Facebook on their smartphones are twice as active as non-mobile Facebook users.

Do you know any interesting Facebook statistics? Please share ‘em!

Click the “Printable PDF” icon below to print a nicely-formatted version of these statistics for easy reference.

Sources:

• Pew Internet & American Life Project
• Forrester State of the US Consumer Report
• Facebook
• Nielson Social Media Report Q3 2011
• Experian 2011 Social Media Consumer Trend Report

That’s because the folks at Facebook, in their infinite wisdom (?), have expanded the maximum length of a status update from 5,000 characters to a whopping 63,206.

If you wish to publish a novel on Facebook that’s 63,207 characters, you’re outta luck. You’ll have to put that stray character into its own update.

How long is 63,206 characters?

Seriously, would anyone want to read a 60,000+ character update? And just how long is 63,206 characters, anyway?

I opened the manuscript for my 88-page e-book, Blogophobia Conquered, which is 16,398 words long. That equates to 97,602 characters, including spaces. So, I could publish my entire book on Facebook in two updates of 48,801 characters (don’t worry; I have no plans to subject you to that!).

Here’s another way of looking at 63,206 characters:

63,206 characters = approximately 10,000 words, considering the average word is 6 characters long

A typed sheet of paper (double-spaced) fits approximately 250 words.

So, 63,206 characters equates to somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 typed pages.

The evolution of Facebook’s character count limits is mind-boggling.

• 160 characters (similar to Twitter’s 140 characters) was the limit in Facebook’s early days.
• 420 characters (March 2009)
• 500 characters (July 2011)
• 5,000 characters (Sept 2011)
• 63,206 characters (Nov 2011)

Here’s the really strange thing. Studies have shown that the optimum length for status updates is 80 characters. Not 800. Not 8,000. And especially not 80,000.

80.

What do you think of this new development?

Will you be posting a 63,206-character update anytime soon? (If so, don’t expect me to scroll to the end and comment on it.)

My take on this development: They should change the name of the network to FaceBOOK.

Sources:

• Vadim Lavrusik, Facebook’s Journalist Program Manager
• Mashable: Your New Facebook Status: 63,206 Characters or Less