Facebook has CIRCLES! Learn How to Use Them!

If you're like me, you find it very annoying when people post things on Facebook like, "Anyone wanna hang out tonight?" as their Facebook status when you live three states away from them! Or, "Can anyone help me move this weekend?" Or, "Does anyone know if the Wal-Mart on 9th still has those lunch boxes on sale?" I don't live anywhere near you... why would I be interested in reading any of those posts?

Did you know you can make your Facebook statuses visible only to specific people of your choosing???

The below description tells you how. It may seem a bit daunting. It probably looks like more steps than it really is, but I've provided screenshots for every step of the way (which is why it seems like a long process. I assure you it is not). Once you do this, it's nothing but a SINGLE click every time you want to post to a list of your choice.

(click on any image to see it larger -- sometimes there are details on the images that you'll want to see)

STEP ONE: Organize your Facebook friends into LISTS (same thing as a Google+ circles). This, admittedly, will be the longest and most tedious step. I know some people won't ever use this amazing Facebook feature simply because they're too lazy to organize their friends into lists. So suck it up, and do this now!


Notice on your Status/News Feed page, on the left, you have "Friends" (pointed out by the arrows in the picture below). When you hover over "friends" a "More" will appear to the right of it (as shown below). Click "MORE" (note: do not confuse this with the "Groups" and the "more" that appears when you hover over "groups." Groups are very different than "Lists")

STEP TWO: On this page you'll see a bunch of already-created "smart lists" created by Facebook. Just ignore those for right now. You can edit/explore/delete them later. Right now, click on "Create List" at the top right, as seen here:

STEP THREE: Title your list and begin adding people to it. What should you title it? What sorts of things would you want to post to only specific groups? If you're a big hockey fan, create a hockey list and only add people to it that would be interested in your posts about hockey. Or what about a "Church Friends" list, or a "Local Friends" list? 

For this example, I titled my list, "Test Group" but I shouldn't have done that. It's misleading. This is not a "group" it is a "list." Moving on: Once you click "create" then you'll see the page below (read my red notes on the image). Here, you can add anyone to this list (or circle or whatever you want to call it) that you choose. You can add them manually here (shown by the arrow) but there are a couple of other easy ways to add people to the list. Keep reading.

STEP FOUR: Once you've added at least a couple of people manually into your new list, Facebook will start providing suggestions to add to this list. Look at the graphic below and discover a few things that are easy to use and understand:

STEP FIVE: Another way to add people to your custom lists is to hover over their name in any part of your news feed. A box will appear and you'll see a button that should look something like this:

Click on the "friends" button for that person. This will bring up an additional window that shows you what "lists" (or circles) this person is a part of. You can add them to a list or remove them from a list by clicking on the list name. If you have lots of lists (like I do) then just click "show all lists" if you don't see the one you're looking for. See here:

STEP SIX: Boom! The "hard" part is done. Now it's all easy and downhill! When you post a status, look under your typing window and you'll see that your post is already geared up to post to a specific list. NOTE: Facebook WILL remember the last list you posted to, so be sure to double check who you're posting to.

Simply change which list you want to post to by clicking the drop-down arrow:

Once there, you can select a "list" that you want your new post to be visible to. Maybe you want this post only visible to your old high school friends, or your old home town friends, or your church friends. Or maybe it's a picture of your kids and you don't really want all 500 of your friends seeing it (400 of which you hardly know). Just create a "Close Friends and Family" list and make it visible only to them!

NOTE: These lists work on the iPhone FB app too!

STEP SEVEN: Honestly, that's the bulk of it. But what if you want a post to be visible to multiple lists? When you click that drop-down arrow to select a list, click on "custom" if you want to post to multiple lists.

That will bring up this window. Choose option: "Specific People or Lists"

Your window will now look like this (below). Read my notes in red on the image below for ideas and further understanding. And note that you can also hide posts from people!

 There you have it, Feeps. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! Let's clean up Facebook! Stop posting to the whole world things that are only meant for a specific few!

Put a link to this blog post on your Facebook wall!

Time Travelers Never Die (book)

This blog was meant for my fiction blog at fictionfixation.blogspot.com. I posted it here on accident and decided to leave it up. :)

Yesterday I finished the book, Time Travelers Never Die, by Jack McDevitt. If you know me, you know I love stories about Time Travel. This novel, by an author I'd never read before, was extremely fun and enjoyable.

I'm not going to pretend that it was a masterpiece of literary genius, but it was a story I couldn't put down once it began. As always, no spoilers, so read on.

The book read, at times, like a travelogue that didn't advance the plot. Even so, I found those sequences interesting due to the nature of where (or when?) they were traveling.

The time travel theory was pretty solid and stayed consistent throughout the book--something difficult to find in fiction. The author found a creative, if not trivial, way around paradoxes that I had never thought of before. Perhaps it was a plot device, but it worked.

If I had to point out one main flaw in the book, I would say that it was extraordinarily predictable. Throughout about 60 percent of the book, I already knew what would happen next, or down the road. Some things were plainly (and painfully) obvious. The main characters didn't seem to be able to figure out how to solve problems they were encountered with until chapters (or even half the book) after I had already figured it out.

Don't get me wrong. It may sound like I'm being nothing but negative about this novel. In spite of the predictability I found it extremely enjoyable to read. It was, as I said, a very fun story. It was not overly nail-biting or suspenseful but it was an adventure that I didn't want to end.

The final few pages were a bit confusing, and there's one major point that was so confusing that I actually went back to re-read the chapter. It didn't help. Still, it wasn't enough to ruin the book for me. It left me wondering a bit, but did not affect the overall story.

One thing that struck me about the book after I had finished it was how clean it was. Hardly any bad language (if any), and no sexual content. Just an overall fun adventure through time with a few small mysteries mixed in. I enjoyed this book, and the author, enough that as soon as I put it down, I went to the computer and bought another book by the same author.

As it turns out, the author is 81 years old and has written many novels (and won many awards). His newest book (which sounded very interesting) turned out to be book 6 in a series. So I went and ordered book 1 of the series: A Talent for War (Time Travelers Never Die is a stand-alone novel and not related to this 6 book series). I'm excited to find a new author to read and hope this next book of his will be just as good.

My Rating: 4.2/5

My Recommendation: Read this book if you enjoy time travel stories. It was well thought-out and well executed. I didn't give it a 5 only because, while I loved this book, I can't say it's on my top list of best books ever. I just can't bring myself to categorize it with other great books that I've given a 5 to. This is likely due to some sections that seemed a bit slow in travelogue style. But don't let that sway you. It is fun and WORTH READING! :) Enjoy.