Uploading photos and messages may sound
easy, but sometimes it isn’t. For example, when
you’re trying to upload a photo that is very
large, like a .TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
or .HEIC (High Effi ciency Image Container) fi le
instead of an appropriately-sized .JPEG (Joint
Photographic Experts Group), it might not work
or will take a very long time. The .TIFF and .HEIC
types of fi les are very large and sometimes
won’t upload at all, depending on the speed of
your internet.
If you have an Apple phone and download
photos from the phone to the computer, they
often come up as .HEIC fi les. Open those fi les
in your basic computer photo program, click
on “duplicate” under the “fi le” category on the
top of your screen, then save the duplicate as a
.JPEG. That way you can send them with ease,
and without too much quality loss.
Another fun thing to send is a .GIF (Graphics
Interchange Format). This is a photo fi le that
moves in a loop. If you try to send one and
all that comes up is a box with words or a
thumbnail of a still shot of the .GIF, go back
to the fi le and right click. Choose the option
“copy image address” and paste that directly
into your friend’s post. You can also add a .GIF
fi le by going to the comment bar of a friend’s
post and clicking the square on the righthand
side of the bar with the word GIF in it. Other
options for comment add-ons are there as well,
including emojis (click the smiley face), the little
camera (which adds a photo of your own, and
will prompt a search of your computer server
to fi nd it) or a sticker (the square with four dots
and the corner turned up on the far right).
You will notice when you decide to make a
post and click on the bar on top of the feed
to make a comment that there are numerous
options below the box that says, “What’s on
your mind?” You have the ability to add several
things to your post, including adding a photo
or video (the green circle with a mountain and
sun on a square), tagging people in the post
to public and you have to change it back to
“friends” when you post those photos. You can
change it after the fact by clicking on those
three dots on the upper righthand corner of the
post.
Those three dots come in handy in many
ways, so keep them in your memory bank. If
you see a post from a friend and you want to
make sure to see all the comments, you can
also click those dots on their post and choose
the “turn on notifi cations” option. If you have
a friend or family member who posts a little
too much for your liking and they are taking
up most of your feed (the word for the scroll of
posts you receive on your home page, or the
word for your own set of posts), you can choose
the “unfollow” or “snooze” options. You can still
go to their page to see what they’ve been up to,
but their posts won’t bombard your feed.
The three dots on other posts in your feed
can also be used to report a post if you feel it
doesn’t belong on a family-friendly forum or to
save the post for you to look at later. If you do
that, you can fi nd those posts on the lefthand
side of your home page in the “saved” category
that is marked with a purple ribbon.
If it’s a post that you have created, the three
dots are just as useful. By clicking them you can
pin the post to the top of your page, where it
stays without moving from the top unless you
unpin it. You can save or edit posts, edit your
audience (from “public” to “friends” to special
groups of viewers you have created) and you
can delete the post.