Tuesday Tips - Getting Facebook Updates?

Figure 1: Click on the "Like" Button to like my Erika Price Designs Facebook page

Do you find Facebook rather frustrating - I certainly do, and it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this! Recently I noticed that the updates in my Facebook Newsfeed have dwindled to a handful of posts from just a few people, with no news at all from any of my other friends. A little bit odd, given that I have over 1,300 friends (although admittedly fewer followers, LOL!) Then I realised that something similar was happening on my Facebook page - despite having over 1600 "likes", only a few people ever seem to see any of my posts

Hmmmm.... I started to wonder. Why is that??? What's going on??? Have all my friends and "Likers" abandoned Facebook, or have they all just abandoned me?! Thankfully, neither! After doing some digging around I discovered that Facebook has changed things yet again. I don't know when, but I'm certainly noticing an impact. What has changed this time is how and when new posts appear in our Newsfeeds.....

Figure 2: Click "Get Notifications" to make sure you ... "get notifications"!

Apparently two things are now really important, and I thought I'd share my findings with you. Firstly, the amount you interact with other people and pages now directly influences what you see in your own Newsfeed. In fact, it seems that the more you "Like", share and comment on status updates and photos with your friends and on other pages, the more updates you will see from them in your Newsfeed! Secondly, in order to make sure you see these updates, you must set "Get Notifications" ON for each friend and each page you want to keep in touch with

Mystery solved! At least that explains why I've not been getting my friends updates. But, of course, this also means you are probably not getting any updates from me in your Newsfeed either! Are you losing out on info that you'd actually like to know about? As well as chatting and posting Wordless Wednesday and Skywatch Friday, I also post on Facebook when I list new jewellery items in my shops, and when I hold special offers and promotions. From time to time I also host giveaways, and followers of my Facebook page are eligible to use a special coupon code to gain discount from my Etsy shops (just send me a Facebook message asking for the code if you don't already have it). Check your "Get Notifications" settings now, and make sure you're receiving Facebook updates from me and your other friends and pages that matter to you!

Figure 3: I love to make new friends on my personal profile too!

Here's how to keep in touch with what's going on in my Erika Price or Blucha shops: First, if you haven't already done so, just click the "Like" button on my Erika Price Designs page (see Figure 1). Next, make sure "Get Notifications" is set ON. The process is similar for both Facebook friends and for Facebook Pages. Once you've liked the Erika Price Designs page, place your cursor over the little arrow to the right of the “Liked” button. Take a look at the drop down menu that appears, and make sure there is a tick to the left of "Get Notifications" (see Figure 2 above). If there is no tick, just click "Get Notifications" and the tick will appear. Do this for each page you want to receive updates from

To check you're getting updates from your friends, go click the "Friends" tab (next to the "Message" tab) on your friend's profile, and ensure "Get Notifications" is ticked in the drop down menu. You can use the same drop down menu to organise your friends and pages into lists. Simply click on "New List" and enter a name. Once you have set up your own lists, just click on "Add to Interest List" to add a friend or page to that list and ensure you never miss an update again. Simples! Just remember, if you want to see more Facebook updates, you need to set "Get Notifications" ON!

Incidentally, Google also now determines site rankings based on the level of reader engagement, so the more we all interact and engage with each other on the various social network platforms such as Facebook, the higher the rankings Google gives our sites!