10 Awesome Ways To Hack Facebook Status Updates

There is more than one way to share a Facebook status. Avoid the mundane and try something new with our top 10 tips and tricks. Learn how to tag friends, add symbols and toggle the language options. Use apps to add a dislike button or schedule status updates. The possibilities are endless. Find out how to build a better Facebook status below.

1. Tag Others In Your Status Update

Type “@” before someone or something’s name in the status bar. An auto-generated drop-down list of those in your social circle starting with that letter will appear. It works with people, pages, events, brands and companies. Click the name you want, finish the update and hit share. The name becomes a hyperlink and the status shows up on that person’s wall, too.

2. Hide Status Updates From Certain People

On the other side of the coin, you can control who can read your status updates with Facebook’s privacy settings. Click on the padlock next to the “share” button and you can select whether your status update can be seen by everyone, friends of friends, or only friends. Or you can customize it with specific friend lists or individual people, which can be useful for work, special interest groups or if you’re planning a surprise party.

3. Add Symbols

Facebook chat allows for emoticons like the well-known yellow smiley but the status bar does not. The only symbol you can make with shortcut keys is a heart by typing in 3. Instead, you can copy and past universal symbols or Windows users can input various alt + number combinations on a numerical keypad (it doesn’t work on the top row of numbers).

4. Change Your Language

Facebook is offered in many different languages but did you know you can change your Facebook display to “pirate” or upside down English? Pirate makes your status your “plank,” where you can share or “blabber t’ yer mates.” What you type in the status bar won’t become pirate or turn upside down with these options. Just the display will change.

5. Add A Dislike Button

You can’t go anywhere now without seeing a “like” button, but apps like Status Magic can add some more variety to what you think of statuses. You can add a “dislike” button or other emotions such as “disagree,” “love,” “hate” or “LOLs” to any status updates posted with the app.

6. Schedule Status Updates

Social media services like TweetDeck, HootSuite, SocialOomph, Sendible and Later Bro offer a free way to schedule your status updates. Each one is a little different but all require you to sign in with Facebook Connect. Just select your time zone, type your status, set the time of when you want to post and you’re ready.

7. See Worldwide Status Updates

OpenBook allows you to see Facebook status updates of users from around the world, by collecting posts from those whose privacy levels are set to everyone. You can search by gender and keywords on a given topic.

8. Check Your Stats

Status Statistics lets you know how many times you have updated your Facebook status and much, much more. It analyzes your updates and provides a list of how many statuses you have written, the average word count and how many times per day you post. It creates a graph to show what time and what days you normally update and allows you to search for old statuses without having to scroll down your history.

9. Turn Your Status Updates Into A Word Cloud

Status Analyzer 3D takes your status updates and makes a word cloud. It generates a list of words you commonly used and creates a colorful visual.

10. Update Through Firefox

FireStatus allows you to update your status among other features for multiple social networks like Facebook through a Firefox extension. It displays updates from the social networks through notification pop-ups on your desktop.

Readers, do you or will you use any of these tips and tricks?

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