Facebook for Android is the official Facebook application for Android devices. At the time of writing this article, the application is at version 3.2.1 (available on the Google Play Store) and is an excellent integration of Facebook for mobile phones and tablets that use this operating system.
After seeing the 10 tricks for iPhone iPod Touch and iPad or the tricks for iOS devices, we now see 10 useful tips collected by Mashable for Android users.
Some of you may already know some of them but I assure you that most Android users do not know all the potential that this application offers. Browse the tricks and comment on the article by writing the ones you didn’t know.
10 Interesting Facebook Tricks
Change the order of the news
By default, Facebook leads us to receive the “main news”, organized according to an algorithm called Facebook Edgerank. From a hidden setting, however, you can organize the news and receive it in chronological order. The display will always be managed by the algorithm but at least the news will be displayed from the most recent to the least recent.
Open the Facebook application on your Android phone or tablet and click on the three-line icon in the upper left. Then click on the gear wheel icon and choose the view for more recent news.
Change news order
- Install the Facebook widget
- On Android, in addition to applications, you can place widgets on the screen and few know that Facebook also has one. Hold your finger on the screen and browse through the widgets to add the Facebook one.
You can write a status update, add a photo or make a registration to a place directly from the home screen without having to open the application.
Facebook android widget
- Edit your favourites
- Favourites are a great way to organize pages, groups, applications, friend lists and interests on the left column on both the Facebook app and the facebook.com homepage.
From the application click on the three lines at the top left; scroll down and choose “Edit favorites” to select or deselect links to applications, pages etc. at the top.
Edit favorites
Click on the stars to remove them or add them at the top.
Favourites facebook android
- See the last time friends logged into chat
- Both from a computer and from the Facebook application it is possible to see the last time friends were online chatting on Facebook.
Click on the icon at the top right of the application to see next to each friend the mobile phone icon with the time since the last connection on Facebook.
Last connection time
Are you wondering how to hide this value from friends? Just log out of the chat when you finish chatting. Press the icon at the top right (the three horizontal lines) and scroll down to click on “Account”.
Choose “Application settings” and remove the flag under “Chat availability” to disconnect and not allow others to see how long you have not connected on Facebook.
Android Facebook chat availability
- Turn off notifications
- One of the things that annoy Facebook most for Android is the push notifications sent by the application every time something happens on Facebook (a like, a comment, a share, or even an invitation to an event etc. etc.).
To disable them I have already written a guide, read how to disable Facebook notifications on Android.
The process is simple; from the menu at the top left scroll down to the Account item. Click and open the application settings. Then disable all notifications by removing the check under “Notifications” or choose one by one the types of notifications to be received.
Notification settings
- Share on Facebook from any application
- On Android, you can share photos, links or videos from any application. Just click on the share button to see a screen like the one in the image, which allows you to share the content on other applications.
Share Facebook Android
- Access application settings from any page
- To access the Facebook app settings, you don’t necessarily need to go to the account -> Application settings from the top left menu.
Just press the options button on any Android device. On Samsung Galaxy is the button on the bottom left of the screen; pressed inside the app it will show a menu that allows you to access the settings, from any page, profile or part of Facebook.
Facebook Android settings
- Promote posts
- For administrators of pages that use Facebook advertisements, it is useful to know that it is possible to promote posts directly from the Facebook application, without having to use the computer.
Below each post on your pages, you will find the link to highlight the post and sponsor it to fans and friends of fans.
Sponsored news
- Speed up Facebook on your mobile phone or tablet
- After some time the Facebook application could become slow, and browsing pages, photos and profiles could be unnerving, this is due to the data cached by the application.
To speed up the application it is possible to empty the cache. Access the device settings on the Other -> Application Management tab and from the Facebook application page press the “Clear cache” button (the “delete data” button instead deletes all your information from the application “).
Clear application cache
If the application does not close due to some error/problem, a “forced shutdown” can be performed from the same screen.
- Don’t you like the official app? Try this
- Android-fast-widget
- The Facebook app despite the advice in point 9 is always too slow for your taste. I invite you to try this: Fast for Facebook. It makes Facebook fast, and unobtrusive and is an application downloaded by millions of people in a short time.