"We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.”
– Erik Qualman

The Secret Inbox

For those who have been a Facebook user for a while, then you probably have a message folder full of unread messages that you didn't even know you had: the "Message Requests" folder. Formerly known as the "Other" folder, this inbox is where all the messages from people you're not friends with go to.

To access this folder, just go to your ‘Messages’ as usual. In the messages pop up box, click on the ‘Message Request’ tab on the top of the box. You’ll be surprised at how many unread messages you have there.

Flaunt Your Facebook Romance

If you are listed as in a relationship on Facebook, you can actually see the detailed Internet history of you and your partner at www.facebook.com/us. This can be an interesting feature for couple travel bloggers who run their blog together.

Curate Your News Feed

For those of us who have more than 1,000 friends on Facebook, your News Feed can read like a jumbled-up mess with more articles on Donald Trump and photos of cats than you care for.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to unfriend anyone. Facebook actually has a feature that allows you to do some housekeeping and tidy up your News Feed so you don't get inundated with posts that you're not interested in.

To access this feature, just go to your dash back and click on the gear icon next to “News Feed” on your left hand menu bar. Click on "Edit Preferences" and then choose "Prioritize who to see first," in the pop-up box to select whose posts you don't want to miss. You'll always find them at the top of your News Feed.

You can also choose to "Unfollow people to hide their posts" to mute annoying Pages or personal profiles (they won't know they've been muted).

Change Your Ad Preferences

Facebook's algorithm is so smart that it predicts users' interests based on Pages and profiles they actively follow, as well as other internet browsing history. Sometimes it almost feels like you’re being virtually stalked. Well at least Facebook allows you to keep the ads shown to you in check.

To curate your ads, go to the arrow button on the top right corner of your dashboard and select “Settings”, then “Adverts”. In this section, you can choose to be (not) shown adverts based on your use of websites and apps or social actions. You can also go to the bottom and edit "Ads based on my preferences." Here, you can change your interests and delete Pages that have your contact info.

Download a Copy of Everything You’ve Posted on Facebook

If you’re facing legal issues or simply love your Facebook Page SO much that you want to keep this record for memory’s sake, this feature on Facebook might be useful for you. You can basically download every single thing you’ve shared on Facebook: every post, photo, video, message, and even chat conversation you’ve had on the platform!

Simply go to your “Settings”, then “General” and d click on the link "Download a copy of your Facebook data" at the bottom and follow the directions from there.

Send Files Over Facebook Messenger

Those of you who use Facebook Messenger often will love this! You can actually transfer files up 25MB over chat conversations.

All you need to do is open a Facebook Messenger window (by sending a message to someone).

Click on the paper clip icon in the bottom row of the window, which will allow you to upload files directly from your computer. The receiver can just click on the attachment and download them from there.

Transfer Money Through Facebook

In our digital age, you no longer have to go to the bank and wait in line for some cash. Now even Facebook lets you transfer money from your computer or mobile device to another account. The only requirement is that both the sender and recipient have a valid debit card. On top of that, you can also purchase products and make in-game purchases through Facebook.

Before you can send money through Facebook, you need to enter your debit card first. Go to your dashboard’s “Settings” the “Payments”. Under the “Account settings” tab, click on the “Add a Payment Method” link and a pop-up box will appear for you to enter all your card details. Once accepted, you can send (or request) funds to/from another user via Messenger.

To start transferring funds, start a conversation with your contact by sending him/her a private message. Then click on the dollar sign at the bottom of the chat window to send/request funds.

Create Facebook Notes

Facebook Notes is another interesting feature that few know about — it’s a great corner of your Facebook Page where you can scribble journals or thoughts that are too long to share in a post. It lives inside your Facebook Page, and followers can easily access it on the right menu. Here you can share paragraphs of text and multiple images (no HTML coding knowledge required) using the easy post editor.

Just click on this Facebook Notes link and you'll find notes from people you follow. To add your own, just click on the "Write a Note" link in the right corner of the top tool bar. If you can't finish your note in one sitting you can just save it and publish later. A Facebook note looks almost like a blog post and works well if you want to share updates that are too long to fit into a Facebook post.

See Who’s Using Your Account

Want to know if someone is logged into your Facebook account without your permission? Facebook will ease your mind. This sounds almost like a feature designed for the paranoid at heart — but it can be handy for those who perhaps forgot to log out of a public laptop or gave their login to an ex-boyfriend-turned-psycho-stalker.

To check who’s snooping around your account, go to your “Settings” page as usual. Select “Security” from the left menu bar and go to the "Where You're Logged In” section close to the bottom. Here you will find all your active Facebook log-ins from desktop or mobile. It will provide data on the location, browser, and device. If something doesn’t look right, you can actually "end activity" from individual or all devices.

Add Some Extra Security

Facebook has a whole lot of personal data (more than you can imagine) on each and every one of its users — so it can be pretty easy to steal a person’s identity just by hacking in his/her Facebook account. For safety purposes, it’s definitely a good idea to put some security measures in place on your Facebook account.

In your “Security Settings”, there are a few ways you can protect your account on Facebook:

• Create a login alert — so you receive notifications when anyone logs in to your account from an unrecognized device.
• Review recognized devices — to save the devices you often use in Facebook settings.
• Create a login approval — use your phone as an extra layer of security to keep other people from logging in to your account.
• Establish trusted contacts — choose friends you can call to help you get back into your account if you’re logged out (by asking confidential questions).
• Generate codes — use your Facebook app to get security codes when you need them.