How far you would go to connect with people on Facebook? I know, for your friends and family, you would love to connect with them rightaway to be notified about their new stories, events happen in their lives and never wanna miss a thing about them. But what if someone else interested in getting in touch with you on Facebook?
Let's say you are a blogger and you have blog readers out there interested in what you are recommending and sharing. But, you might be uncomfortable in connecting with all those folks on Facebook with all the security concerns and as you don't wanna mix important updates of your loving friends and family with other folks. How about letting them follow your public updates without keeping them in waiting list with unconfirmed friend requests?
Let's say you are a blogger and you have blog readers out there interested in what you are recommending and sharing. But, you might be uncomfortable in connecting with all those folks on Facebook with all the security concerns and as you don't wanna mix important updates of your loving friends and family with other folks. How about letting them follow your public updates without keeping them in waiting list with unconfirmed friend requests?
Subscribe for Updates?
Unlike Twitter, Google+ or such social networks, Facebook had limitations in connecting with people. Early days, the only way to connect was sending a friend request and awaiting for acceptance. It's true that Facebook is a place to connect with people you know and there were number of reports showing that befriending with unfamiliar faces could be risking your identity.
We already discussed about securing your hacked profile. But as the network grows rapidly, it was not just about known friends and family anymore. Facebook had to think of an alternative as people seeking a way to connect with people they are interested in, so they can view what they are sharing or talking about. Wouldn't you love to see what's going on with your favorite movie star? ;) That's where Facebook introduced Subscribe feature which now referred as Follow.
We already discussed about securing your hacked profile. But as the network grows rapidly, it was not just about known friends and family anymore. Facebook had to think of an alternative as people seeking a way to connect with people they are interested in, so they can view what they are sharing or talking about. Wouldn't you love to see what's going on with your favorite movie star? ;) That's where Facebook introduced Subscribe feature which now referred as Follow.
Facebook Follow
This feature is really awesome and I'd say a great solution to connect with favorite people rather than stay in touch with their public fan pages. With the Follow feature, anyone can hear from interested people on Facebook. Obviously, no one can talk directly with that person, but can see what's happening on his / her profile and like or comment on his public posts.
Once a Facebook user start following his favorite person, public updates from his favorite will show up on his news feed. But here that person needs to have subscriptions enabled to let people follow his/her public updates. If you are a one needs to let others follow your public updates instead of keeping bunch of unapproved friend requests, let's figure out how to enable subscriptions on your own Facebook profile too.
Once a Facebook user start following his favorite person, public updates from his favorite will show up on his news feed. But here that person needs to have subscriptions enabled to let people follow his/her public updates. If you are a one needs to let others follow your public updates instead of keeping bunch of unapproved friend requests, let's figure out how to enable subscriptions on your own Facebook profile too.
Steps:
1. Log in to your Facebook account.
2. Navigate to Followers settings tab.
3. Now select Everybody for the option Who Can Follow Me?.
4. Once you enable following your updates for everyone, you will able to manage settings on how your followers can interact with you on Facebook.
Follower Comments - Here you can specify whether your followers can comment on your public updates or not.
Follower Notifications - Specify whether you wanna notify when your followers interact with your public updates.
5. Now you are ready to go, and anyone can easily follow your public updates. Make sure to set privacy as Public when you wanna share an update with your followers.
More Information:
* You can learn about people who following your public updates by navigating to Followers page from About section or Friends tab.
* You can manage who can see your followers too. Navigate to your Friends tab and select Edit Privacy option from Manage button.
Then you can change privacy settings related to Followers.
* If you turn off follow, your followers will not see your public updates on their news feed. But once you turn it on, your existing followers will start getting your public updates again.
Enjoy :-)
HI Mayura
Great Information shared!
I did exactly what was there in the post and implemented your shared knowledge on my FB page and it was successfully done.
You have been sharing such useful information and that too on time, that I feel really a learned person after reading your post.
Thanks for sharing such great post.
Sapna
Ah...I knew that one too Mayura!
It's nice to know something before I read it somewhere - knowing that I am not all that tech kind of a person. :)
I remember the time the subscribe option had come up and I was still thinking whether to have it up on the profile or not, until I went ahead with it and am glad I did. I guess it allows people to subscribers or followers without even being in your friend list (if they like what you share), and with time you get to know each other through this way also - isn't it? I think those subscribers have slowly become like friends now for me.
Thanks for sharing this with all of us :)
Hi Sapna,
Glad to hear you have followed it right away and implemented on your Facebook profile :) If you are using Facebook only to connect with your family and friends, then hopefully you don't need to worry about friend requests coming by everyone now dear. We need to make use of available features, if they suites for us, no? :)
Thanks for coming over and sharing your thoughts even after trying it out Sapna :) Really appreciate your compliments too and they encourage me always.
Have a fabulous week over there dear :)
Cheers...
Hi Harleena,
That's so cool dear :) Glad you knew that and my hope here is to let people know how they can get rid of bunch of friend requests from people they don't know while letting them follow updates.
Absolutely dear :) It's a great way to start bulding relationships with people you don't know as you don't wanna let them in first time. Also it helps prevent spammers from getting into your friend list where they start to spam afterwards. As like you, I'm really glad Facebook introduced subscribe feature which is now follow.
Thanks for coming by, and sharing your thoughts and experience on follow feature Harleena :)
Have a fantastic week there for you :)
Cheers...
Hello Mayura thanks for the tips my friend, you know I have always had problems with Facebook interface, it's not the easiest interface to get use to. I don't think I would like getting tons of request from people I don't know it will only be a problem in the long run. Thanks for another great tutorial. talk to you soon.
Interesting you wrote about this Mayura, as the other day I just enable this feature on my new profile. I'm not sure if I like it yet or not but thought I would try it. Thanks for sharing it!
Hi Rob,
Woopies... You had problems with Facebook interface? ;) Must be timeline. There you go mate. When you build relationships there would be folks love getting your updates sometimes, so you will find it helpful not to be annoyed by friend requests ;)
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts here mate :)
Have a fabulous week there :)
Cheers...
Hi Brenda,
That's nice dear :) Did you find it helpful to you? Hmm... I hope you have enabled it with the intention of getting rid of unknown folks while letting 'em know what you share publicly. Let's see if it gonna save you dear :)
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts about follow feature Brenda :)
Have a fantastic week there dear :)
Cheers...
Hi Mayura,
Thanks for another great tutorial. I used to see this followers button but I never used it but I followed the instructions above and I am all set now. Thanks.
Thanks for the useful information and tutorials Mayura. Always something new to learn. Keep them coming.
Be Blessed,
Neamat
As usual Mayura, another wonderful lesson!
So far, I think I have it under control. No more pests coming to me. So I must have done something right.
I'm am going over it again as a step by step process using this blog.
This way, I'll make sure that whatever I did before is correct.
Thanks again I love coming to the Mayura University!
Donna
You are a source of awesome tips, Mayura! I haven't even heard about this new feature until I read your post. So thank you for this! Unfortunately, Facebook is blocked at work so I'll have to wait until the w'end to give this a try. Thank you for this!
I was wondering about this the other day Mayura, I thought they just changed the wording. Thanks for the info. Will have to go check mine out now.
Hi Neamat,
Woah... You have implemented it :) Well, I find it very helpful when it comes to friend requests from unknwon folks dear. May be they might interested in updates so I find Follow feature is very helpful for me.
I hope you will find it helpful and prevent being annoyed by friend requests from unknown people dear :)
Thanks for coming by and sharing your views after trying it on your profile :)
Have wonderful week there :)
Cheers...
Hi Donna,
I think you have activated Follow feature already on your profile then dear ;) So you are safe there with no spammers on your way. Yeah, it's better to take a look and confirm it's true or not dear. I hope you already did it :)
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts on Follow feature dear :)
lol :D Owkies... University, as you say ;)
You have a successful week there Donna :)
Cheers...
Hi Maureen,
Ah you didn't? :) I hope you will find it helpful if you are getting friend requests from new faces dear. Facebook profile is need to be secure and should let in ones who can trust, right? :)
Well, take a look and see if this feature helping you in any way Maureen :) Alrighty, then this weekend :)
Thanks for coming over and sharing your thoughts dear :)
Have a fabulous week there :)
Cheers...
Hi Lisa,
Well, you are right there :) Subsrcibe feature called as Follow now. The change is about wording and also changed the way it access too dear. Take a look and make sure you have got the right settings for your followers dear :)
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts on this feature dear :)
Have a wonderful week over there :)
Cheers...
Hello Mayura,
I would not have known about this had I not found your post :) Thanks for sharing this with us. I'm off to check out my settings.
Hope you're enjoying your day!
Oh! So THAT'S how you do it! I've seen it - but typically, had no clue how it was done! Thanks for the tip Mayura! Now I've done it - why do I feel I've let the Genie out of the bottle and wish I could put him back! LOL ~Robin~
Hey Mayura
I'm always concerned about security on Facebook so I don't make my personal Facebook updates public. That kind of makes this feature redundant for me.
I can see how it would be useful to people though.
Hi Mayura,
Ya know, I was wondering how people set their profile up to have followers. Now I know!
I followed your awesome tutorial and now I'm all set up and good to go! Now I won't have to accept friendships of total strangers anymore or leave them hanging out and not responded to.
Another way I was using to get around having to accept strangers is to direct them to my fan page instead. This has worked for me some. It helps keep my personal account from people I don't know and it gets me more fans to my page. But I guess this only works for people who have a fan page. ;)
Thanks for another helpful tutorial! I'm sure this post is helping a lot of people!
Jess
Hi Corina,
Woops... Then you might love having it enabled if you get bunch of requests from unknown folks on Facebook dear :) Hmm... Security matters. Enable and see how it gonna help you manage your profile Corina :)
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts dear :)
Have a fabulous week there dear :)
Cheers...
Hi Robin,
We always have the room to learn something new every day if we open for it, no? :) I'm glad to hear you have gone through it and made the change already mate.
Genie? :D lol... Sometimes you gotta get him out to accept changes and move forward. Jus' keep the control ;)
Thanks for coming by and adding your thoughts on Follow feature mate :)
You have a fantastic week there :)
Cheers...
Hi Tim,
Oh no... Don't apply it for personal updates mate :) That's why we have different kind of privacy levels on Facebook, right? :)
Personally, I share stuff of others (Mostly valuable posts, images or so) public when it's gonna help anyone. But when I need something to share only with my friends, then I take control of the privacy option :) No personal stuff goes public though.
Sometimes it allows us to find interesting folks on Facebook we have never come accross :) Finally, it's all your choice mate.
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts on Facebook public updates Tim :)
Have a wonderful week there :)
Cheers...
Hi Jess,
Owkies... Now you have enabled it and ready to go with followers :) That's really glad to hear dear.
Well, but I don't believe accepting requests from strangers is always a good idea Jess :) I have a friend got hacked by allowing strangers in. Sometimes you never know, but your profile sending terrible messages to friends. AGAIN glad you took action and implemented follow feature dear :)
That's a nice idea :) Sending them to fan page. I've never did so dear. Sometimes I doubt how far they would be interested in our blog updates as I have no idea why they are sending me a friend request while my blog has link to fan page. But I need to try and see myself, right? :) Thanks for tip there dear.
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts on this feature and experience with friend requests dear :)
Have a wonderful week there :)
Cheers...
Hi Mayura,
Is that the old "Subscriber" option or is this something new.? I had subscribers turned on, but followers sound so much better, I think. Thanks for another great tutorial! I bookmarked it in case I need to make some setting changes in the future :)
Have a fantabulous day!
Ilka
Hi Mayura,
This is very helpful information. I must admit, I find all the different settings on FB very confusing and I didn't understand what the 'subscribe' thing was all about - you've explained it very well.
One of the things I find frustrating is when people have their profiles so locked down that you can't even send them a 'thank you' message - I like to thank people if they 'like' my page, but some people's accounts won't allow it.
Thanks very much for unlocking a little FB mystery for me!
Sue
Hi Ilka,
Yes it is dear :) It's revamped Subscribe feature. If you have already enabled subscribers, then you don't wanna enable it again. So you are safe to remove bookmark now ;) lol...
Thanks for coming by and sharing your views about the feature Ilka :)
Have a fabulous rest of the week dear :)
Cheers...
Hi Sue,
Now do you think it would be helpful for you? :) If you receive bunch of requests from people you don't know, then it's for you. Well, you gotta make the choice ;)
Messaging... There's something about it dear. Sometimes when messaging enabled for public, folks tend to spam via messages. Not everyone is like us :) If someone has gone through it, he/she would disable it immediately to prevent further messages. Or else they never enable it :) It's their preference, right? :)
Thanks for coming over and sharing your thoughts on Facebook features Sue :)
You have a fantastic weekend ahead dear :)
Cheers...
Hi Mayura,
I jumped on Facebook when I knew that I needed an online presence. I must admit that I had no clue at all about all those subscriber or follower buttons.
Thanks for the useful information and tutorials. There is always something new to learn from you. How I wish that I knew earlier! I now have to clean up the mess (after I have had the FanPage organised).
I appreciate you, Mayura :0
Viola The Business Mum
Hi Viola,
You know, Facebook is not like other social networks where anyone can follow you rightaway for updates. Now this option will give some room for users to follow you and you don't need to accept friend requests from folks you don't know too dear :)
Ha ha... Cleaning up is a good thing and glad you taking action on it dear :) I hope you will enjoy and get familiar with Facebook features more and more.
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts on this post Viola :)
Have a wonderful weekend ahead dear :)
Cheers...
Hey Mayura,
I don't have this function activated on my profile because I want people to friend me if they're interested in what I share. Now those people who do send me a friend request yet they don't email me telling me why we should connect then I just ignore their request and clean that out periodically. I don't even look at it because people should know better by now. They should.
Another great tutorial lesson from you. Thanks!
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
Absolutely dear :) You have told about how you consider friend requests and now many folks need to follow that way. I think that's the best way too :)
Well, there are folks still don't get it or just wanna get connected for updates dear. I don't know why, but they still do. That's where I found follow feature helpful for me though dear. So if someone just being annoyed by friend requests, then he/she can let 'em follow instead of sending friend requests. However the able to view public updates only :)
Obviously the choice matters Adrienne and it's not me or someone, but you knows what's best for you :)
Thanks for coming over and sharing your views on accepting friend requests and follow feature dear :)
Have a fabulous week over there Adrienne :)
Cheers...
Thanks, nice share.
You're welcome Pawan :) Thanks for commenting.
Cheers...