Out of Sight, Out of Mind

8 unseen Facebook features we should know about

Using Facebook has become a daily routine for most of us. Personally, I would often turn my smartphone upon waking up just to browse through my Facebook Newsfeed. Facebook has been the primary mode of communication between friends and family.

We use it to chat, see updates from daily posts and we also use this to connect with old friends and acquaintances. But while a lot of us may seem familiar with Facebook, there are still things that are kept hidden. Most of these are features that we can use to improve our account's security or to add a bit more customization to our profile. Hence, we need to find out and explore. Here are 8 of Facebook's hidden features that we can find and utilize:

1 Seeing "Other" Messages

You would often be sent a notification every time a friend on Facebook sends you a message. But what about those messages coming from "outside"? Sometimes, there are messages that you don't see in the messages list. These hidden messages are from people who are not your friends on Facebook. The message may be just a spam; but it can also be from a long-lost friend. And so, it is still important to check these unseen messages from time to time. Who knows, a friend or a relative wants to reconnect with you.

You can find hidden messages by clicking the messages icon on the top right corner and then once the "Recent" messages list pops up, you can see "Message Requests" right next to the word "Recent". Clicking on this, will reveal messages that are filtered. This means those that are sent by real people and not spam accounts. Just turn off the filter by clicking "See filtered requests" at the bottom of the list.

2 Add More Security with Login Approvals

Facebook accounts are prone to hacking. Some hackers use Facebook accounts to gather information and use it for evil purposes like sending fake identities to banks just to get through the companies' system. To prevent this, Facebook has added several hidden security features to strengthen your Facebook account's protection, and one of these features is adding log-in approval.

Log-in approval will allow your account to be accessed only through devices (such as laptops, smartphones, or tablets) that you regularly use. Once your account is accessed through a device that you have never used before, Facebook will send a special code through your phone that will act as a password. This feature prevents strangers from accessing your FB profile from their devices. To activate this feature, simply go through Setting, and click on the Security icon. You will then see a lot of security features. Click on Login Approvals and follow succeeding steps to activate the feature.

3 Customizing News Feed Preferences

The Newsfeed is what we often see first when we open our Facebook account. And while some posts are informative and entertaining, a few of them can get pretty annoying, especially if these posts are shared by a single page or friend.

You can customize what you want to see on your Newsfeed by customizing your Preferences. Activate this feature by placing the cursor towards "News Feed" found on the upper left corner of the screen. A gear icon will appear. Click on this and a window will open revealing your Preferences. Through this window, you can customize the posts that you want to prioritize, the people that you want to unfollow (to hide their posts) and many more.

4 Secretly unfriend someone

Much like the News Feed Preferences, the "Unfollow" feature can be used if you want to mute posts from a certain friend. If he/she constantly posts something distracting or uncomfortable for you, you can hide their posts by going to their account, click on the "Following" button right next to the "Friends" button. A window will pop up and it'll show an option to "Unfollow *name of the friend*". Click on this option and his/ her posts will no longer appear on your News Feed.

5 Log out remotely

Did you forget to log off your FB account from a computer in an Internet cafe? Have no worries because Facebook has a remote log out feature. Just go through Settings, click on Security, and then click on "When You're Logged in", it will show you the places where you last logged in your account. Click on "End Activity" and FB will automatically log out your account from that computer.

6 Stop receiving game requests

Do you constantly receive notifications from your friends inviting you to play a game of Candy Crush or any other game? You can stop receiving these unending game requests by simply going through Settings and then Notifications. Click the "On Facebook" button and you will see "App requests and acitivity". Click on Edit and it'll show you a list of pages and apps that often sends you requests. Look for the apps and games that you want to deactivate. Change its app/ game setting to Off and it will no longer send you game notifications.

7 Play hidden games on Messenger

There are a few hidden games that you can play on Messenger while waiting for a reply on your chat box. Messenger has a chess game that you can play by typing "@ fbchess play". Simply type the code and a chess board will then appear below. The mechanics of the game is a bit complicated; but you can easily read the instructions by typing "@fbchess help".

There is also a basketball shooting game that you can play by sending a basketball emoji to someone. Tap the emoji you just sent and the screen will show a ball with a basketball hoop at the top. You can control the ball by swiping the screen.

8 Saving posts for you to view later

Do you often find an interesting post or video but can't read or watch it at that very moment because you are on the road or at work? "You can save these posts to view later on through the Save Post/Link feature. Save a post by clicking on the down arrow icon on the top right corner on the post. From the window, save Link (or save Video) and it will automatically be stored in your profile's "Saved" folder. The Saved folder can be found on the left corner of the Facebook Homepage, just below the Messages and Events buttons.