Is Your Facebook Dirty?

Social media tools such as Facebook are overtaking the media and communication industry as we know it, but as great as these tools can be, they can also be misused without you even realizing it.

For anyone who has a Facebook, we are all familiar with the "News Feed" and other common settings. It is also true, for most, that we are familiar with those 50 or so people that we are "friends" with online that we don't actually know who show up in our News Feed.

This is a problem. Why do you care what someone you don't even know is changing their Facebook status to? Facebook is meant to be a social networking too, not a stalking device (although commonly used as one).

The good news is, there is a solution to this problem. You can clean up your "dirty" Facebook fairly easily, you just have to take the time do it.

One of the first things you can do is "Hide" anything and anyone you don't want showing up in your News Feed, and then click "Edit Options." From here you can see all of the people and things you have hidden and set any additional options, such as the maximum number of friends you want to show up in your News Feed.

Another thing you can do is organize your "friends." As I said before, I think most everyone who has a Facebook realistically doesn't know a majority of the people they are friends with, so take the time to organize them into a "Friend List." This will help you filter your News Feed as well as the chat box.

The final thing you can do to tidy up your beloved Facebook is to edit your settings so that all those pesky notifications about your best friend playing Farmville 24/7 do not show up in your News Feed. All you have to do is access your Application Settings and then choose "Show - Authorized" from the drop down menu. You may have applications listed that you didn't even know you had authorized.

These may sound like little, tedious things to do for something as simple as Facebook, but I guarantee it will make a huge difference. Facebook is supposed to be your personal social media tool, so take the time to personalize your settings and get the proper use out of it.