The Facebook News Feed is a live feed of the posts that you and your friends are making on Facebook. Facebook is a social networking website that allows you to keep track of what your friends are doing and what is new in their lives through checking out their online profile and reading their posts. Your friends are people that you have pre-screened and have approved to be able to see your profile, make comments on your statuses, etc. The Facebook News Feed is a home screen that allows you to see at a glance what all of your friends have been up to on Facebook.
When you first log into Facebook you have the option of choosing which type of feed will be your home feed. On the left of the menu options is the News Feed option. Each news feed item consists of your friend’s profile picture, their name, their status update and a space for you to make a comment. There are other news feed items that are not just status updates. For example, if your friend becomes friends with someone else, the name of that individual will show up on your news feed. If a new photo album or picture is uploaded, this too will appear on your news feed screen. Additions of notes, participation in applications, and links to other websites on the internet can also be included in the posted information on your Facebook News Feed.
The Facebook News Feed is listed in chronological order with the most recent Facebook actions being found at the top of the News Feed page. If having the most recent items at the top of your News Feed page is not your preference, you can select to have your feed list the “Top News” by switching from the “Most Recent” option to the “Top News” option that is listed towards the top and center of the Feed Page. The time that the post was made is also listed so you know how long ago a certain comment or post was made. At the top of the News Feed is a space where you can conveniently type whatever it is that is on your mind and it will then appear on the News Feed.
In some cases there will be friends or promotions that you would rather not see on your News Feed. By scrolling over the right side of the individual post you would like to eliminate a “Hide” button will appear and give you the options of hiding a person, application, promotion, etc. Simply click on the item you want to have removed from your News Feed. Even if you hide a friend they are not gone forever, you can simply scroll down to the end of the News Feed page and on the bottom right chose the “edit options” button. You can then select whoever or whatever you would like to be restored to your Facebook News Feed.
When you set your News Feed page as your home page, you will have some additional menu options along the right side of your screen. These options include suggestions for people you may know and can choose to send a friend request to, advertisements, friend and other requests that others have sent to you and other helpful tools for staying connected to your Facebook friends.
If you would like to refresh the Facebook News Feed page and see if there have been any new posts since you last checked, you can either click the refresh button on your browser or click on the “Home” button on the top right (assuming that you have decided to make the News Feed your Facebook home page).