How to Get Noticed on Facebook

Social networking has completely changed the picture of communication and what communication means to us. Social networking website like Facebook provide with the perfect amalgamation of communication, networking and entertainment to people who love to surf the net.

From dating tips to online games like Farm-ville, Mafia Wars, to pages that support a political issue or a social or environmental cause, Facebook caters to everybody's needs and interests.

Use your profile picture to catch everyone's eye! Let the picture be interesting. Let it ring with a friendly bell. Most importantly,

let it be unique and different from the kind of pictures people usually upload. Also remember to keep updating your profile picture once in a while. Thing like a new hairstyle, a new dress are the perfect reasons to update your profile picture. They will fetch you loads of comments and 'like's!

Make your 'About You' as interesting as you can. But do not write an essay! Keep it short, simple, crisp and interesting. If your literary skills are not very flattering, do not worry. Catch hold of a friend who has a flair for writing and get an 'About You' written from him/her.

Make sure you give the usual details like what kind of a person you are, what kind of people you like to socialize with, etc. If possible, leave a cue for someone to start a conversation with you in your 'About You'. Say something that will intrigue a person visiting your profile and will make him/her add you to your network.

The kind of videos and links you share on Facebook can speak volumes about your interests, your hobbies, your likes and dislikes. So make sure you use this to your advantage.

Post videos of latest songs by your favorite artists. Post trailers of movies you are looking forward to, or those of old movies you have already seen and really like. This is going to give people an opportunity to start up a conversation with you. You can even share details about your company, or your firm on Facebook.

Sharing the link to your company's website on Facebook could be one of the ways to get your business noticed on Facebook. You can even advertise your business of Facebook. However, make sure you find out about the advertising costs before you do that.

Keep them informed! Let people in your network know what is going on in your life. Social networking is all about keeping a tab on those you know, your near and dear ones! Make sure you assist them in their pursuit to do the same. Bought a new car? Share a picture.

Got admitted into the University of your dreams? Brag about it! Watched a movie? Share a one-liner review or rating. If nothing else, why not put up a hilarious status? To add to all this, make sure you do this regularly, even if not daily. A stagnant profile lives by the adage 'out of sight, out of mind'. Don't let that happen.

This is something not many people do, so I guess this is going to be something new to you. Are you aware about 'Notes'? Why not use them to scribble your thoughts, ideas and experiences and share them with people in your network?

You can even tag people in notes if you want to specifically let someone know about something. This is pretty much like blogging; only because it is on Facebook, it will be a lot more visible than a blog.

All of you who love blogging can definitely give this a try. I do it too... and believe me, there is a lot of people out there who are reading what you write. More than you can imagine, in fact.

This is the most important tip I can give you. You will take the pains to refresh your profile picture weekly, you will see to it that you update your status every alternate day, you will take the time out to write a note at least once a month and share a video every once in a while.

But what is the point if all these things you do are not visible to anyone? Go edit your privacy settings pronto. This is so that even people not in your network will be able to view some (if not all) details about you, at least the bare minimum information to get them to add you to their network.

Last, but not the least, log in daily! You are obviously not going to be visible to people if you do not come online! What is the point of going through all the above steps only once and then totally forgetting all about it?

You may feel discouraged if in spite of taking so many efforts you are still unable to attract people. But do not get discouraged and stop logging in. Give people time; and till then, keep doing the above steps! It's not like you do it once and its over. Getting noticed on Facebook is an ongoing process.

This is a great way to keep people posted about the different places you have been checking into. You can click pictures and add a 'location' to the place; a kind of geo-tagging.

The new look of Facebook - known as Timeline - has an entire new app called Maps, where you can enlist all the places you hang out at, go shopping to, or like to dine at. Maps allow you to leave a virtual footprint across your city, state or country, so people can follow!

Another awesome facility in the new Facebook Timeline is to feature updates. Featuring an update makes it hard to be missed by people, since it is displayed across the breadth of your profile, from left to right, making it conspicuous.

The best part is, such an featured update remains so, unless you change the settings; and we all know some things are that special to remain special and important forever... right?

One important thing I would like to say is - act responsibly. Sharing hacking techniques, or displaying pornographic material on your profile is a totally un-cool way to get noticed. You do not want that kind of attention, do you? Much against what people believe, any publicity is NOT good publicity.

Also bad-mouthing someone online, indulging in gossip, or dumping your lover online is not cool, no matter how much of a Jack he may be. So refrain from doing such things. Finally, make your profile as complete as you can.

Do not skip on mentioning any details like the name of the school you went to, or what was your field of specialization for you graduate degree, or the name of your former employer, etc. All these details act as flags to help people notice you, so do not pull them down. Here's wishing you happy Facebook-ing!