Social Fixer (formerly Better Facebook)

Social Fixer (socialfixer.com), formerly called Better Facebook, is exactly that: a way to streamline Facebook to take out the annoying features, and tweak the ones you want to keep, to create a better Facebook experience.

It's free, and will automatically discover what browser you are using and provides the appropriate add-in.  Once added, it will take you through a Wizard to show you to use the most commonly used features of Social Fixer.  A small icon will then appear in the upper right corner to give you access to all the tools available in Social Fixer.

You should definitely click the icon to see all the options allowed (the screenshot below is just one of fourteen tabs of options).  The Wizard will take you through the most basic options, but clicking the icon and seeing all the options available is really where Social Fixer begins to shine.  You can change the width of the display (or go full width of your browser window), add and remove features in the side columns, force the most recent stories to display first (as opposed to Facebook deciding what you want to see), get rid of sponsored posts, change color themes, even write your own CSS for your Facebook page.

Because of the sheer number of available options, it takes some tweaking to get things just right, turning off some features after you've tried them, turning some features back on.  But after getting a sense of how Social Fixer works, you can customize Facebook to make it a much more useful and enjoyable experience.

Facebook Security Settings

Angie Asmus and Steven Lovaas both sent out emails today about Facebook security settings that I thought I'd clarify with a few screenshots.

First, go to Account in the upper righthand corner. Click the pulldown arrow to the right and choose Account Settings (below).


Scroll down until you get to Account Security (below). Click Change.

Check the box that says "Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible." While you're at it, you might want to consider also checking the box "When an unrecognized computer or device tries to access my account, send me an email." That's it!

Archiving Facebook Data

Facebook has now made it possible to download and archive all of your Facebook data: status updates, messages, photos and profile information. It's yours after all, and provides you with a day-to-day history of your own life.

Here's how:

In Facebook, click Account, then click Account Settings.



Click on Learn more to the right of Download Your Information.



Click the Download button at the bottom of the page (you'll then get a second Download button; click that one too).



It will take awhile. Facebook will send you an email when the download is complete. It will be a .zip file (here are instructions on using j-Zip to open a zip file). The extracted files will include an html folder, an images folder, and a file called index.html, which you use to access the rest of the information. Open the index.html in your browser, and you will be able to access profile, wall, photos, friends, notes, events and messages from here.

Thanks to Darrin Goodman for the tip!

Adding a Facebook "Like" Button

Want to dip your toes into the social media scene, and increase traffic to your website at the same time? You can add a Facebook "Like" button to your webpages, so that when the end-user clicks the "Like" button on your site, a story appears in the user's News Feed with a link back to your website. You don't even need a Facebook account! The "Like" button uses the end-user's account.

Here's how: go to the Facebook Developers page at http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like. Choose the layout, the font, whether you want to use the verb "like" or "recommend." A preview appears to the right of the dialogue box (see illustration below). When you have it tweaked to your liking. click the "Get Code" button, and cut and paste the code onto your webpages. If you like this feature, add the code to the template page you use to create new pages. Then, by default, ALL your pages will have a "Like" button on them.

Online IT Training on Facebook

eXtension now has a presence on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/). Facebook is a social networking site that provides a "feed" from other people's Facebook pages. You essentially subscribe to another person's feed by becoming their "friend." Think "contact" whenever you see the word "friend" on Facebook and the whole thing will make more sense.

You can network with other Extension professionals there, share ideas, provide feedback and much more. Sign-up is easy; all you need to provide is an email address and a password. Other profile details are optional.

If you do a search for "Extension Online IT Training" (use the Search box in the upper right corner) you can join the Extension Online IT Training Group. Their next training is "The Basics of Working With Images" on Wednesday, August 19, from 12-2. Go to
http://slms.delta.ncsu.edu/join_meeting.html?meetingId=1247246047004 at the appointed time to attend the session.

Future IT trainings posted on Facebook include discussions of Twitter and Facebook. The more general eXtension Group on Facebook offers a calender of Connect sessions on working with keywords, the Ask an Expert widget, and much more. Become a Extension Online IT Training member on Facebook to learn more.