Facebook status
What is a Facebook status?
A Facebook status is a social media update feature that enables users to discuss their thoughts, whereabouts or important information with their friends from their Facebook profile.
Similar to a tweet on the social networking site Twitter, a status is usually short and generally gives information without going into too much detail.
When an active status is updated, it posts on the user's personal Facebook page wall, as well as in the news feeds of their friends.
Statuses can be updated from a web browser, mobile site or text message.
What is the benefit of using a Facebook status?
Facebook status updates enable users to communicate with their friends and followers in a quick and easy way.
They can share their thoughts, plans or anything that's on their mind without having to write a long post or message. As Facebook friends or family on their friends list use Facebook and are scrolling the news feed, they see what the user is up to.
Plus, since statuses appear in news feeds, friends and followers can see updates even if they don't have time to visit a user's profile page.
Social media is an important marketing and promotional tool for businesses. They and other organizations use the Facebook status -- as well as tweets and posting to other social media (LinkedIn, for example) -- as part of their promotional and marketing efforts.
What information can be included in a Facebook status?
A Facebook status can include text, links, photos or videos.
Users can also tag friends or pages in statuses by using the @ symbol followed by their name.
For example, if they want to let their friends know that they're going to see a movie, they could write a status like: "Heading to the movies with @John and @Jane."
Businesses often use Facebook status updates to inform customers of new products and services. They also use them as a means to interact with users, for example, and learn from their experiences.
How often should I update my Facebook status?
There's no set rule for how often a user should update their Facebook status.
Some Facebook users prefer to post several times a day, while others only post once or twice a week.
The important thing is to only post updates that are interesting, useful or entertaining to friends and followers.
If a user starts posting too much or posting irrelevant information in the Facebook news feed, they may find that people start unfollowing or hiding updates from their news feed.
Facebook status privacy concerns
Some users have expressed concern about the privacy of their Facebook statuses. By default, statuses are visible to anyone who can see your profile.
However, they can change the privacy settings for each status update so that only specific friends or groups can see it.
To learn more about controlling the privacy of a Facebook status, check out Facebook's Privacy Basics page, which explains how you can change privacy settings for future status updates.
See also: social media influence, social networking, social media policy, social listening, social media manager, Facebook Connect, Facebook Live, Facebook Messenger, Facebook event, Facebook "fan," Facebook group and Facebook Marketplace.