Blog Lady's Internet Guide

One of the first questions a beginner to Facebook will probably have is, “Can I blog with Facebook?” followed by “How?” The answer is right around the left sidebar of your home page.

UPDATE Nov 2011:  Facebook increased the status update character limit three times this year: up to 500 in July; 5,000 in September; and now 60,000 in November.  This may make the Notes application redundant for some people.

Facebook Blogging: Short Video Demonstration

Facebook has its own blogging tool. It’s just called Notes.  Nothing fancy, but for the non-professional blogger who just has something to say that won’t fit in a status update, that’s just right.

Here’s a quick video tutorial on Facebook Notes.  Please pardon the rough quality.  I will post more, better videos to this blog soon.

How to Blog with Facebook Notes

To publish a note:

1. Go to the Facebook login page and sign in. Make sure you are on the home page.
2. Click Notes in the Apps section.  You may need to click More if you do not see it.
3. Click Write a Note.
4. Write a title for your blog post.
5. Write the content in the body.
6. Click Add a Photo to attach a picture if you want.
7. Click the Privacy button (if using Facebook as yourself, not a page)
8. Click Preview to get a preview of the note.
9. Click Publish to publish the note.

You can click Save Draft to save your post and finish it later or click Discard to throw away the post.

How to Edit an Existing Note

1. Click Notes in the Apps box on your home page. If you don’t find it, click More to expand the Apps section first.
2. Click My Notes.
3. Click the note title or click View Full Note.
4. Click Edit (a gray button with a pencil icon).
5. Edit the note as you need to.
6. Click Save.

You can edit anything you want in a Facebook note after it’s published: title, content, pictures, links–even who can view the note.  If you would rather delete the note, click Delete next to the Save button.

How to Comment on a Note

Your friends will appreciate it if you comment intelligently on their posts.  It makes the author feel somebody is reading and enjoying what he or she writes.  It’s also a good way to make new friends on Facebook when you join in a discussion.

1. Make sure you are logged in to Facebook as the person (or page) that you want to comment as.
2. Click Notes in the Apps box on the left.
3. Find the note you want to comment on in the middle column of the page.
4. At the end of the post, type your comment in the text box next to your profile picture.
5. Press the Enter key.

How to Put a Link in a Note

The Notes application accepts basic HTML markup that aren’t all displayed in its toolbar.  To insert a link, write the HTML code for links directly in the note.

For example:

Check out my <a href=”">new website</a>!

where <a href=”"> should contain the URL.

How to Control Who Sees Your Notes

Blog posts often reveal much about ourselves, so you want to make sure you share them only with the right people.  To customize your notes’ visibility:

1. Go to Notes.
2. Click My Notes.
3. Find the note you want to edit in the middle column.
4. Point the mouse over the top-right corner of the note.  Wait for the button with the gear and arrow appears.
5. Click the button and select the group you want to share the note with.
6. If you want to share with specific friends not in a single list, click Custom.  Enter their names in the Make this visible to list.  To hide, enter the names under Hide this from.
7. Click Save Changes.

How to Remove Odd Characters in Facebook Notes

Lately there seems to be a bug in the Notes application that causes code to appear in notes when you preview or publish them.  If this happens to you, see a post about how to get rid of weird characters in Facebook Notes.

Why Blog with Facebook Notes?

If you ever wanted to say something more than just a few sentences, you probably realized that the Facebook status doesn’t give you enough room.  Statuses are meant for quick updates, not long rants or rambling stories.  Save your epic posts for Notes.  (Please see update at the beginning of this article, however.)

And if you were a regular blogger in the past but now want to do your blogging and social networking in one place, Notes makes it easy. You can add pictures and links to your notes, just as with blog posts.  You can also import entries from your blog into Notes.

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Filed under: Facebook | Tagged: facebook blog, facebook notes, facebook video tutorials

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