Friend Lists on Facebook

I noticed yesterday when I went to go accept a friend request that Facebook changed the acceptance slightly. Now you have the option of choosing whether or not a friends messages should appear in your news feeds. By unchecking the box, there messages won't show up. This is great for those people who you really don't want to pay attention to, but want to have sometime of social networking relationship.

The other thing on friend acceptances or even friend requests is a drop down menu that says "Add to list..." This gives you the option of adding friends to specific lists. This is a really useful tool in trying to keep track of the friends you have. If you use your profile for work, then you can create all sorts of lists. For instance an alumni director can classify Facebook friends by graduation year, occupation, interests, committees, etc. Then you can click on that list and see news feeds that are specific to that list.

 

You can even set specific privacy preferences based upon the list. So if you don't want one group to see something, then you can prevent them from doing so. I would suggest going through your friends and placing them on a list or two to help manage your relationships.

Resources
Facebook Testing Friend Confirmations That Emphasize SMS And News Feed