You may have heard people having
problems connecting with their friends on
Facebook, and perhaps you heard the word
“algorithm” thrown around. An algorithm is
a computer-based mathematic calculation
set into the Facebook program that presents
each user with posts that seem to coincide
with what the user’s favorite topics are, and
who their favorite friends are. That means
you’ll eventually see posts all the time from
friends you interact with regularly, and rarely
see posts from friends you rarely interact
84 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • January/February • 2022
with. While algorithm issues are primarily
experienced by businesses that advertise
with Facebook, they do happen to people,
too.
If you recall a friend you haven’t heard from
in a while, simply go to their page and click
“like” on any post, or maybe two. Then they
usually start to pop back up in your feed.
And then there’s the old question of
Facebook reading people’s minds that
happens because of algorithms. You might
know by now that if you search Amazon,
(the blue silhouette of a person with a + sign),
an “emotion tag” (orange/yellow smiley face),
a check-in of your location (red upside down
raindrop with a white dot in it), host a Q & A
(microphone symbol) and possibly a “live”
video option.
Adding a photo is self-explanatory. That is the
button you will hit to link to your computer to
fi nd the photo or video you want to add that is
stored on your computer. If there is someone
who you are friends with that you would like to
tag in the post, click on the little blue person
and search for their name. Sometimes you
can tag people who aren’t on your friends list,
but only if their account is set up that way. An
emotion tag is seldom used anymore but was
once the staple of a Facebook post. It will give
you numerous option such as “happy,” “loved,”
“sad,” “grateful,” and more. You can also choose
an activity such as “celebrating,” “eating,”
“drinking,” “traveling” and many others. You
can still add your own message in with these
options.
Tagging your location is an interesting thing
to do, because your post will be connected
via Facebook to the place that you tag. For
instance, if you type in “Royal Street, New
Orleans” you will fi nd that you can conduct a
search on that location on the search bar (upper
lefthand corner) and fi nd all the other posts that
were tagged at that location. Yours will show up
there as well.
The “host a Q & A” option is rarely used,
but it is an interesting one. It allows you to
ask a question of your friends and puts their
responses in poll form, so you can see which
answers are most popular. People can add their
own responses in by category if no one has
responded with their particular answer yet.
Lastly, you once again have the three dots
option under your comment bar. When you
click it you will not only see the options we
just discussed, but also the options of posting
a .GIF, a live video or starting a fundraiser.
When clicked, the fundraiser option will pop
up a search bar, so you can search non-profi t
organizations.
Be careful with the live video option. Live
means live, and sometimes accidents (such
as profanity, etc.) happen. If so, Facebook will
eventually take the video down and you will be
warned not to do it again. However, live video is
a fun way for people to see what you are seeing
in real time, but make sure when you end the
video to click “save,” or it won’t stay on your
page.