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Facebook‘s Lists functionality started as a way to help manage privacy, but since the launch of “Subscribe,” Lists have become a way to better organize groups of friends and see content in your stream based on your interests.
If you’re a little confused about how to make the most of these useful features, consider the walk-throughs below.
Whether you want to find interesting public lists to subscribe to, set up a private list of friends, or better manage Facebook’s default “Smart Lists,” these tutorials should help you out.
Facebook’s “Smart Lists”
Facebook automatically generates “Smart Lists” for you. Here’s more on what they are and how to edit them.
A Guide to Facebook’s Smart Lists
1. Your Smart Lists
You can view your lists by hovering over the Friends section on the left-hand side of your homepage and hitting the More option.
2. The Default Settings
Facebook automatically generates “Smart Lists.” The default settings consist of “Close Friends,” “Family,” “Acquaintances” and a “Restricted” list.
Any networks you are part of, such as workplaces or educational institutions, will also appear as lists in this section.
3. Adding to Smart Lists
Populating your default Smart Lists is easy. Simply click on the list you want to add to and look to the right-hand side of the next screen.
Facebook will suggest people whom you can click to add, or you can enter names into the search box.
If you add people into the “Family” list, they will be notified.
Adding people into “Close Friends,” “Acquaintances” or any other lists you create generates no notifications.
4. Managing Smart Lists
Once you’ve added people to a Smart List, you can manage what kind of notifications you see from that list.
When you’re viewing the list, click on the Manage List option at the top-right to choose the type of updates (such as statuses, comments and likes, etc) that you want to see from those people.
For “Close Friends,” you also get the option to set notifications on or off.
5. Local Lists
If you’ve set up your “Current Location” on Facebook, you will also see an automatically generated list of friends who live in or near the current city on your profile.
As with other lists, you can edit who appears and what content you see. In addition, you can manage the geographical radius, making it larger or smaller to include more or less people.
6. Restricted List
You can add people to your “Restricted” list if you want to limit how much they see.
Anyone on your “Restricted” list will only see posts and profile info you make public.
5. Creating a New Friends List
If you’d like to create a new list, head to the Friends section on the left-hand side of your homepage, then click on More, then Create List.
Once you’ve given your new list a name, you can add people by typing their name in the search box.
Simply click Create to save the list down.
6. Moving Lists to Favorites
If you want to access the content of a list often, you can move it to your Favorites.
Simply click on the pencil-shaped Edit icon to the left of the list name and select Add to Favorites.
That list will now appear in your Favorites. You can click on it to see content exclusively from that list.
7. Sharing to Lists
Once you’ve set your lists up, you can share status updates, photos and other content just to the people on those lists.
When you post, click on the drop down privacy menu. After the “Public”/”Friends” options, “Close Friends” and “Family” will appear, along with the option to See all lists.
If you’ve populated your “Acquaintances” lists, the option to share with “Friends except acquaintances” will also appear.
8. Deleting People
If you want to remove someone from one of your lists, click on the Manage List option at the top-right when you’re viewing the list.
Click Edit List, then just hit the thumbnails of the people you want to delete in the pop up window which appears.
Facebook’s “Interests” Lists
Have you checked out the Interests-based lists yet? Here’s how to start adding some to your stream.
A Guide to Facebook “Interests” Lists
1. Interests Lists
To get started, look for the “Interests” menu on the left-hand side of your Facebook homepage.
Hover over Interests and select More.
2. Add Interests
Click on the Add Interests button at the top-right of the next page and you will see some auto-generated Suggestions.
These are made up of lists that your friends have created.
If you like the look of these suggestions, you can simply click on the Subscribe button to see content from these lists in your news feed.
3. Browsing for Lists
You can also browse for more interesting lists to subscribe to.
If you scroll down further, you will see other suggestions based on interests, such as topical events, arts, books, business, food, games, music, news, and many more.
4. View Details
If you see a list you’d like to learn more about before you subscribe, you can click on the list’s hyperlink title. This will load up the list’s live stream.
To see who and what pages’ content is included, on the right-hand side of the screen you’ll see Featured On This List. Click See all for the full details.
5. View Subscribers
You can also look at who subscribes to that list by clicking on the Subscribers hyperlink underneath the list’s title.
6. Search by Keyword
Beyond browsing, you can do a keyword search for lists to subscribe to.
Go to Interests from the home page, click More, Add Interests, then enter a term into the search box.
7. Adding Lists to Favorites
If you’ve subscribed to a list you want to view often, you can add it to your Favorites.
Go to Interests from the home page, click More, then the pencil Edit icon, then Add to Favorites.
That list will now appear in your Favorites section at the top-left of your home page.
8. Sharing Lists
If you want to share a list, there are a few useful options available.
Go to that list’s page and click Share. Hit the drop down menu on the pop-up box that appears.
You can then share the list on your own timeline, on a friend’s timeline or in a Facebook message.
9. Deleting Lists
If you want to stop subscribing to a list, go to Interests from the home page, click More, then the pencil Edit icon, then Delete List.
Creating a Facebook “Interests” List
If you want to create and share your own Interests lists, here’s how.
Creating a Public Facebook “Interests” List
1. Making a Facebook List
To start creating your new list, look for the Interests menu on the left-hand side of your Facebook homepage.
Hover over Interests and select More.
2. Create a List
Then click Add Interests at the top-right of the next page and then Create List.
3. Adding Content
Facebook’s list generation pop-up window gives you an easy way to find content for your list.
You can select from your pages, subscriptions and friends, or browse by topics.
The results are generated from popular pages and prominent people in relevant fields.
4. Keyword Search
You can also do a keyword search by entering a term in the search box.
Once you find people or pages you want to add to the list, click on the icons.
When you’re done adding, click Next.
5. Name Your List
Give your list a name and choose the privacy level that you want.
Public means anyone can see and subscribe to your list, while the friends option is obviously just for your buddies.
The “Only Me” setting means you can create a private list that only you can view.
6. Manage Settings
There is the ability to manage what kind of updates you see from your lists.
7. Edit Your List
If you want to remove a page or person from a list, go to the list’s page, click on the Manage List option on the top right-hand side of your screen, then Edit List.
Click on the icon for anyone you want removed, then Finish.
8. Add Your List to Your Favorites
Go to Interests from the home page, click More, then the pencil Edit icon, then Add to Favorites.
That list will now appear in your Favorites section at the top-left of your home page.
9. Share Your List
If you want to share a list, there are a few useful options available.
Go to that list’s page and click Share. Hit the drop down menu on the pop-up box that appears.
You can then share the list on your own timeline, on a friend’s timeline or in a Facebook message.
10. Deleting a List
If you want to delete a list, go to Interests from the home page, click More, then the pencil Edit icon, then Delete List.
More here:
A Complete Guide to Facebook Lists
