Back in April I posted Spam Nation - Disintegrating RespectOne Friend at a Time
in an attempt to help people reduce Facebook spam and treat one another with
more respect. Some people “got it” and made changes to their app settings, but
other people, people I like and respect, still are spamming their friends with notices about
Bejeweled Blitz, videos they saw on SocialCam or Vimmy, stories they read on
the Washington Post Social Reader, or what song they are listening to on
whatever music spamming app they use to listen to music on.
I wondered why these normally polite people were still
allowing their apps to spam all of their friends and I came up with three
possible answers. It’s possible they didn’t understand the post. I try to make
these things as understandable to as wide an audience as I can, but individuals
often learn differently and maybe for some I wasn’t really clear. If that’s the
case, please let me know so I can be a better educator. The second reason, and the
one I think is probably the least likely, is that they really don’t care who
they spam about what. I don’t think that most of my friends are like that
though. The third reason, and the one I suspect is the most common one, is that
they have friends that they want to share this stuff with and that they want to
see. If I’m playing Words with Friends, I might want to know what other friends
who play are doing too.
If you are one of those friends, or a friend of yours referred
you here and this is true for you, then today I will teach you how to share
with your friends who want to know while respecting the rest of your friends
enough to not let your apps spam them.
The little trick here is something called lists. Of course
there isn’t a link on your home page called “lists”, but it’s easy to make one.
Once you make a list you can tell the apps to only send notifications to that
list. This is really easy and here is how you do it!
On the left side of your newsfeed you have a grouping called
“Friends”. If you hold your mouse over the word “FRIENDS” then on the right you
see the word “MORE”. If this step isn’t working for you, ask me for help!
When you click on “MORE” you will see a screen like the one
below, only it is probably longer. See at the top where it says “Create List”?
Click that!
Now you get to the Create New List screen. Choose a name for
your list and then start typing in the names of the friends you want to be on
your list. As soon as you have a letter or two the friend’s name and icon will
appear.
See (below) how I only had to type in two letters to get a list of
friends whose names start with those two letters? I just click on the friend
and move on to the next friend. It is really fast and easy.
Now when you go to add an app notice the part that says “Who
can see posts this app makes for you on your timeline. This really should say “Control
whose newsfeed we are going to spam”. In the picture below, see where I have
circled “FRIENDS” in red? That is where you select who the app talks to.
Many apps default to everyone or friends. I’m going to
change this to my new list that I titled “App Lovers Anonymous”.
Now all the app chatter only is seen by the people I put on
my “App Lovers Anonymous” list, and not in the news feed of my friends who
couldn’t care less if I play bejeweled or not.
We aren’t quite done yet. There is still the issue of the
apps you already installed. It’s time to fix their spammy behavior problem!
Go to that little down arrow by the word “Home” in the upper
right corner of your screen and choose “Account Settings”.
The next thing is to click on “APPS”.
On the right you will see a list of your installed apps.
Next to each app click the “Edit” link. You have to do this
step for each individual app.
Now you see in the lower corner where this app is set to
spam "Everyone"? I’m going to click on “Everyone” and change it to my new
list “App Lovers Anonymous”.
Repeat this step for each app and now you will share with
those who want the information and stop spamming the rest of the world!
Seriously, these apps don’t post all that stuff to save you
the effort, they post to your timeline because it is free spam-vertising. These
App publishers know that they can leverage you to spam all of your connections
if you don’t limit their audience by choice. Please be considerate of your
friends and only share the app messages with those who want to know it. Most of
your friends probably don’t want to know what video you just watched, what
songs you listen to all day, or what game you have been playing.
You can create separate lists for music, games, videos and
social readers, or put them all in one or two lists. You really can share with
your gaming buddies and stop annoying the rest of your friends!!!
If you want to use lists and I haven’t explained this well
enough, leave me a comment here or contact me at Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Mr.Randy.Abrams)
and I will happily assist you!!!
Remember, it’s up to all of us to make Facebook a kinder,
more respectful place by reducing the unwanted spam we can control! Share this with those who need the information, and use the information if you use apps!
Special thanks to my awesome friends Anders Nillson, Christina
Ho, Kenneth Bechtel, Lisa Wolfenbarger-Wagner, Larry Bridwell, Mary Donovan, Natalie
Moreno, and my sister (If I say awesome sister she’ll report to the FBI, again,
that my identity was stolen by an imposter) for allowing me to use them as
research guinea pigs for this article. I learned that you can’t use a group for
app notifications, it has to be a list. Also, if you name a group “App Lovers
Anonymous” Facebook with tell your friends that you added them to a group called
“Lovers Anonymous”.
You may republish, or translate and republish this specific blog posting at no cost as long as you don't charge others for it. It would also be nice if you let me know if you republish. Thanks!
©2012 Randy Abrams - Independent Security Analyst
