Take Control of Your News Feed

I've heard many complaints about the redesign of the Facebook Home Page. Some people like it, most people don't. One of the biggest annoyances I've come across is the lack of filters.

We all have one of those friends who simply must become a fan of every Page on Facebook. I honestly couldn't care less about their Page Addiction, but my new News Feed updates me every time they find a new Page. Thankfully, there's a cure.

For that one annoying friend, Facebook provides a solution:

1. Go to your Facebook Home Page. Make sure you're viewing Most Recent.
   
   
2. Scroll all the way to the bottom; wait a bit, and you might have to scroll some more.
3. Click on 'Edit Options'
   
   
4. In this pop-up box we have the option to see more from certain friends, and nothing from other friends. Don't worry, your friends won't be notified about this!
   
   

Now we don't see any stories from Annoying Friend #1. But what about those other 50 friends that have a Page collection? Unfortunately, Facebook has not yet implemented a way for us to turn off certain stories in our news feed. We can block applications and friends, but not the Core Applications (Photos, Videos, Notes, Pages, Groups, etc.).

For those of you with Firefox, there's an Add-on for that!
(This requires the Firefox web browser)

1. Download Facebook Filter add-on
2. Restart Firefox after installing the add-on
3. Click on the 'Tools' menu and select 'Facebook Filter Options'
   
   
4. These are the settings that I use:
   
   
   (Basic users might want to avoid the 'Applications' tab, and the bottom checkboxes)
   
   
5. When you're happy with the settings, click 'Ok' and refresh your Facebook Home Page. All the stories you don't want to see have magically disappeared!
   

Now we can finally stalk our friends in peace.

For more info about Facebook, visit the Help Center.