Guide To Facebook’s News And Live Feeds

Have you noticed that Facebook has re-designed the Home Page?

It now displays a News Feed and a Live Feed..

Since this re-design, did you know that Facebook has already chosen which of your friends will be displayed in these feeds and which will be hidden?

You probably haven’t noticed, but Facebook has decided that a lot of your friends won’t be appearing in your News and Live feeds.

This guide will show you how to fix this.. so that all your friends re-appear in your feeds.

What’s the Difference Between News Feed and Live Feed?

Facebook has introduced two views of your News Feed,

1. A summary of activity that has happened in the last day
2. A real-time view that shows you what is happening right now

News Feed

The News Feed displays the most interesting things that have happened in the last day..  a summary of what has been going on.

Stories are displayed according what Facebook thinks you’ll enjoy.. based on a variety of factors including, how many friends have liked and commented on that story and how likely you are to interact with that story.

Live Feed

After you have caught up on what you have missed.. the Live Feed displays what is happening right now.

You will see posts and updates come through and display in real-time.

Like with the News Feed, Facebook has already determined which of your friends will be displayed, and which will be hidden, in your Live Feed.

Adding Friends Back into the News Feed

To add friends so that they re-appear in your News Feed.. scroll to the bottom of the News Feed page and click on Edit Options,

(NB – if the <Edit> button does not display.. try hiding someone first.. then when you scroll down it should now be displayed. To hide someone, please refer to the section below)

The following friends are hidden from your News Feed.. to add them back in, so their activity is displayed in your News Feed.. click on <Add To News Feed>,

Do the same for Pages and Applications.. by clicking on <Add to News Feed>.

Once you have added those items to display in your News Feed again.. click on <Close> to save your changes.

Hiding Friends in the News Feed

To hide any friends in your News Feed, just hover your mouse to the right of their story and click on <Hide>,

Adding Friends Back into the Live Feed

The friends and updates that are displayed in your Live Feed can be displayed independently of your News Feed.

Since Facebook’s re-design many of your friends now won’t display in your Live feed.. they have been hidden.

To unhide them and to choose for yourself who is displayed.. scroll to the bottom of the Live Feed screen and click on Edit Options,

(NB – if the <Edit> button does not display.. try hiding someone first.. then when you scroll down it should now be displayed. To hide someone, please refer to the section below)

Facebook has already determined which of your friends will appear in your Live Feed.. but you can change that so you can choose which friends to display.

You will notice that the Number of Friends section has been pre-populated with 250,

I don’t want to be capped at 250.. so I am going to change this to 5000 which is the maximum amount of friends that Facebook currently allows you to have,

That way, as my friends list grows over time I still get to see all of their real-time updates come through and not be capped at seeing only 250.

Next click on the View Recommended Friends link,

You will notice that some friends are displayed in light-blue and others in white,

The ones displayed in light-blue are those friends that Facebook thinks you want displayed in your Live Feed.

The ones displayed in white are those friends that Facebook thinks you don’t want displayed in your Live Feed.

So to choose who you want displayed in your Live Feed.. just click on those friends.. and they will turn dark-blue,

When you have selected those friends (I re-selected all of them) you want displayed in your Live Feed click on Back to Settings,

On the News Feed Settings, I am also going to remove everyone from the Hide section.. so that everyone’s updates will be displayed.. when this is done click on <Save>,

Hiding Friends in the Live Feed

Just like the News Feed above, to hide any friends in your Live Feed, just hover your mouse to the right of their story and click on <Hide>,

Finally..

So there you have it.. all your friends activities and status updates will appear in your News Feed and Live Feed.

And not just the ones that Facebook thinks you should have!

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