• UPDATE (Aug 9, 2010)

    Hi guys, there won't be any new content in the next few months, especially related to any Facebook stuff. I'm really tied up with a couple of other websites I'm developing. When things die down, I'll be back with more awesome imacros scripts. Until then - keep your info private & don't post things you don't want to go public! - Cynthia
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Posts Tagged ‘Photos’

How to Delete Older Wall Posts From Facebook Even Though You Can’t See the Edit Button

By Cynthia On October 27, 2008 8 Comments

*** UPDATE (Oct 21, 2009) – This is a really outdated post (written 1 year ago). You may want to check out my other post on How To Delete All Facebook Groups And Wall Posts From Facebook Using Imacros ***

When I first wrote this article, only the 10 most recent posts were editable. But a few hours later, every post was editable! I suspect it’s just something Facebook is working out for the profiles. So, either be patient and wait until Facebook gets to your profile, OR follow the trick below.

If you’re frustrated that you can’t delete older wall posts because the “edit” button for story options doesn’t appear for you to delete your post, you’re not alone. Someone posted a similar question in Facebook’s Help Center last month, and the problem still hasn’t been fully fixed by the Facebook team.

A lot of you are worrying that without the story edit button, you’d have to be deleting your posts every few days or they become permanent. I found out today that it’s not true. You can delete your older posts, but there’s a trick to it. I’ll walk you through it.

Before you begin, I suggest you open up Firefox. The delete function doesn’t seem to work in Google Chrome.

Try this first

There can only be 10 editable posts (these can be wall posts, comments on photos, notes, events, etc.) in your mini-feed. Count down from the very first post to the 10th post. When you hover on the side of the 10th post, the edit button should appear. But when you hit the 11th post, the “edit” button should not appear. Before you think – damn it I can’t delete my older posts! – delete the 10th post. Then see if you can delete the 11th post. If not, REFRESH the page and try again. You should now see the “edit” button appear for the 11th post.

This method is not perfect. You can’t just delete random wall posts from any date. You have to go in order from the top, making sure there are only 10 posts at a time that you’re keeping. But there’s an easier way.

Easier way to delete posts

Right under the status bar, and before your posts, there is a heading: All Posts, Posts by <your name>, Posts by Others, Settings.

Click on Posts by <your name>. That way the 10 editable posts include all of yours, and not your friends’ wall posts. From my experience, you can only delete about 2-4 posts at a time, and then you’d have to refresh the page, and do it again. I recommend Firefox because you can delete more posts before having to refresh, whereas with IE, after 1-2 posts, you’d have to hit the refresh button. It’s just much faster with Firefox.

Did this work for you? I’d love to hear your feedback. Please comment and share your experience.


Should You Create a Facebook Page or Facebook Group?

By Cynthia On October 25, 2008 No Comments

Both Facebook Page and Facebook Group allow you to post news and updates, attach photos and videos, include wall posts and discussion, and send messages to members. But why should you choose one over the other to create a Facebook presence? As similar as they appear to be, there are subtle differences between the two that will answer your question.

Before you start, you should identify what your personal or professional goals are for creating a Facebook presence in the first place. Are you trying to increase your brand visibility? Generate discussion? Or publicize your blog or website? Once you know your primary reason for creating a Facebook presence, you can decide which option provides you with the features that closely align with your goals.

Why Facebook Page?

If you’re looking to promote your business – go with Facebook Pages. It has an obvious commercial feel to it. But beware of using a Page if updates are important to your business. I haven’t conducted an official poll, but people tend to become a fan of a musician/website/company to let others know what they’re interested in, or to show their support. They do not necessarily become a fan for the updates. From personal experience, I have actually turned off Page updates for some of my subscriptions because some came too frequent, and they were irrelevant and became borderline annoying. (Update: Jan 12 2010 – This is not really relevant anymore due to the new changes on Facebook which allow Facebook pages to show up on people’s feeds, creating more interaction. I actually like this feature for Pages that I want updates for). Frequency of updates is also an issue you should take into account if you go the Page route. I could see it working very well for restaurant/bar/lounge though, which can send updates regarding discounts or special events that people would be excited about.

If you want to publicize your blog - I would suggest Facebook Pages because of the RSS feeds capability, and also the flexibility to embed apps. This feature is highly useful if you want to include blog updates that will show up in the timeline. It’s also a great way to attract new members to your site.

Why Facebook Group?

Facebook Groups allows you to send messages directly to members’ inbox, which increases the chance they’d read your message. Facebook Pages has that messaging feature as well, but it shows up as an “update” next to a member’s pending friend requests and event invitations. These updates tend to be ignored, or at least, delayed in reading. You don’t want that if updates are extremely important.

If you want to generate discussion around a controversial topic or leverage the power of the crowd - go with Facebook Groups. Groups has more of a grassroots, bottom-up undertone to it. You can tell by the sheer numbers of some groups – over 800,000 for the Six Degrees experiment. Another group called “I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who dislike Bush” has over a million members.

I would only suggest Facebook Groups if you want to get a discussion going – as that’s what Groups are good for – but I would highly recommend you use your blog for discussion. Any discussion on your blog are yours and permanent, but the ones on Facebook can’t be extracted or compiled together.

I hope this helps you decide whether to go with Facebook Page or Facebook Group! Here are some related links you may want to check out for further reading on Facebook: