Responding to a recent Facebook status update where I mentioned I categorize my friends into different lists, Jennifer Halloran, Matthew Gilbert, Elysa Rice, Paula Kirman, and Gillian Swart, among others, indicated curiosity and sought more information on the category lists I use.
For the benefit of everyone else, I told them I’d create a blog post.
If you want to group your Facebook friends into lists of categories (or to see the default categories already set up for you to use), the first step is to click the Friends tab at the top of the page:
Facebook tabs
Depending whether or not you’ve already created friend lists, you’ll see something like this:
Facebook friends
If you click that to zoom-in, you will see the left sidebar displays search functions at the top, e.g. recently added or updated friends; and the ability to view selected friend lists. Depending what’s selected on the left, the center column will display relevant content.
In the screen shot, you can see default friend lists for my Boston and Suffolk networks; and customized friend lists for Jewish friends, people from my hometown, former high school classmates of mine, college friends, and more. Because nothing is selected on the left, the center displays a running list of my friends in alphabetical order by first name–and the lists, if any, in which I currently have them grouped.
For instance, AJ Gerritson, Aaron Strout, Adam Cohen, and Adam Hirsch are within my generic Tweeps list, which is a name I use for people I either 1) have never met; and/or 2) are reaching out to me, typically because they follow me on Twitter. While AJ, Aaron, and Adam I’ve met in person, I don’t have a “friends” list as I consider all 795 mutual Facebook friends of mine as such.
There are many reasons to have Facebook friend lists–e.g. companies could separate customers from vendors from employees; or celebrities could separate friends who are fans from friends who are true friends. Facebook privacy is the motivation for most.
I use lists for two primary reasons:
- On my “home page,” I can select a friend list to view selected updates.
- In my privacy settings, I can prevent certain lists from viewing certain data.
How about you?
Related posts:
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Comments:
Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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{ 14 comments }
Hi Ari – I made one list (NH) to group the people I grew up with in New Hampshire. I only did this because last winter I had reason to contact all of the and didn’t want to do it one by one. I’ve been meaning to make more groups but haven’t yet taken the time to do so.
Kim Woodbridge´s last blog post..(Anti) Social-Lists 5/24/09
Thanks for giving us a sneak peek into your inner Facebook sanctum, Ari. Have created a few lists already (friends from HS, college, etc.) but after seeing yours, I think I’d benefit from adding a few more — former colleagues, church, etc.
Your rationale for creating groups to “prevent certain lists from viewing certain data” could come in handy some day, as well. I’m pretty much an open (Face) book, but recently a FB friend went through a painful breakup which s/he shared way more publicly than I’d have been comfortable doing. A list would have been handy for that, I’m guessing…
Well… you can’t specify individual wall posts to be read by certain lists, but you can block lists from reading the wall.
I am not even familiar with the changes about Facebook.
Paul Ubiadas´s last blog post..Miscellaneos Ramblings
Still haven’t taken the plunge with organizing Facebook into anything that could possibly be considered useful for business. I’m slowly transitioning…but it’s been a personal hub of mine for so long and it’s slow going.
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I’m not even talking about business. I’m not using it for that. Though, I will be redesigning my page for that.
I do not see the option to block an entire list from seeing things. I can only assume it would be in the customize option of the privacy settings, but the only options is friends or friends of friends. Can you better explain how to control entire lists
If you’re looking at the dropdown box under privacy options, you have a series of choices: everyone, my network and friends, friends of friends, my friends, and customise.
If you don’t have the customise option, then you need to create the friend lists first. Then, you can return to the privacy options and either enable certain lists to see the option or block certain lists from seeing the option.
hi ari, – maybe you can help me?
im new to Facebook and learning to get the hang of it. on the left hand side of one’s FB profile page, people who you ‘friend’ are categorized into Friends or Mutual Friends etc. i could have sworn i saw a scroll bar on my ‘Friends page’ that allows you to choose which category you want your ‘friends’ to be in. this feature no longer exists. Do you know what might have happened? – your input is greatly appreciate.
Hey Ari – Thanks for the mention. I also use Facebook lists – they can be pretty useful tools when used the right way, from managing privacy to keeping up with different sets of people that won’t make it into one’s main news feed. The biggest gripe I have is the lack of tools for managing lists. I’ve been on Facebook for a long time, before lists were functionally available, so I now have to go back manually to sort everyone into a different list. There is no view of “not in a list” to help manage those folks I have been connected to the longest. Same gripe about accepting a connection request via mobile – you have to remember to add someone to a group after the fact. At any rate, you are in my “Professional” group – people I’ve met through networking in social media or otherwise.
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this is great stuff! I have created two lists for privacy – a list that can see everything and a list that can’t see much. I wonder if you can help me with the next level, though – now I want to create lists for reading: a list I can read when I have lots of time, and a list of necessary keep-up people I want to check every day. is there a way to populate both lists with the contents of my ’see everything’ group?
if not, is there a way to populate both lists with *everyone*? I don’t see a Select All option under Edit Group!
thanks so much if you can help me.
Great post. This is something I’ve been meaning to do and I’ve now done it. I stayed away from Facebook for a while but I’m beginning to see so many more options. Thanks for putting the needed fire under to get it done.
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nice post, not much info on this either on facebook or the web, but nowhere can i find anyone complaining about the 20 person limit for sending a note using one of those lists. this limit is way too limiting! does anyone know a workaround. for example, to send the same note to 200 friends, i have to send 20 different notes! thx.
Facebook can be both a blessing and a curse when going through a break up. Some people feel the need to address their status when it changes, and others will be checking an ex’s facebook page to see if they do the same. It can get awkward, especially if the break up was bad.
The golden rule: you don’t have to share EVERYthing. Keeping some things personal is probably a good idea.
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