A Grinch’s Guide to Enjoying Facebook
February 18, 2010 by Mike Knapp
Filed under Practical Helps
I hate Farmville. Does that make me a bad person? If you think so you’d better stop right here and exit this post, because you will find my next statements to be nothing short of blasphemous. I also hate Mafia Wars, Café World, Zoo, Pet Society, receiving roses, drinks, pieces of Flair and being poked. Neither do I really care who becomes friends with whom, to what pages they become abject fans and devotees, or their ability to quote song lyrics rather than creating an original status.
Hi, I’m Mike, and I’m a grinch…a Facebook grinch. Fortunately, I have the right to be a grinch, just the same as others have the right to fritter away precious minutes and hours of their lives. Someday on their death beds their life will flash before their eyes and they’ll see hours, weeks, months and yes, some will even see years of Farmville filling their past like an barren wasteland. In that day they may, they just may, feel the same way about it as I.
Wow, after that blurt I feel better! I have been asked by several friends to unveil my secrets to Facebook bliss, so without further ado we will proceed.
First, you really need to use Firefox as your Internet browser. Just dump Internet Explorer – it’s a virus magnet. Just google Firefox, download and install it. Then follow these links and install them.
1. Adblock Plus Just install it and my advice is to use a filter subscription; you’ll find a link to it on the page. Since installing this I NEVER see ads on Facebook, Myspace or any other website. It is perhaps the single coolest internet gadget I’ve ever seen.
2. Facebook Filter 1.2.3 This little jewel runs a close second to Adblock. It gives you options to hide when friends become friends with someone else, become a fan of, joined a group, tagged in an album, etc., etc., etc., INCLUDING hiding applications and setting your page to default to the Most Recent news feed.
That’s it! Simple. Awesome.
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In my next “practical helps” blog (look for the tab on the blog homepage) I’ll discuss Social Bookmarking.
