Tagging appropriate people and pages in your Facebook posts is often something we encourage to increase your views and online presence. What is a Facebook tag? Tags identify someone in a post or photo. A tag notifies that person that they have been mentioned and links to their profile. There are times when Facebook tags cause problems. Have you ever had someone tag you or your business in something that you’d rather not have on your Facebook Timeline? I have. It may seem overwhelming, but there are a few tricks to help you manage this communication.
Timeline Review
Have you ever heard of “Timeline Review”? This can be a helpful tool that allows you to approve what appears on your timeline before it automatically shows up for the Facebook world to see. You can set this up so that every time you are tagged it will not post on your timeline until you approve it. If someone tags you, but they are not a current Facebook friend it automatically goes into Timeline Review. It will not post until you approve it.
How to setup Timeline Review:
- Click the arrow in the upper right corner of any Facebook page when you are signed in.
- Select Settings.
- In the left column, click Timeline and Tagging.
- Find “Review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline?”
- Click edit on the far right.
- Selecting “Enabled” will turn Timeline Review on.
- Repeat the process and select “Disabled” if you’d like to stop Timeline Review.
Removing Tags
If you don’t have Timeline Review turned on and want to remove your name being tagged from a post that can be done. In the upper right corner of each post there is a small arrow that opens a drop-down menu. Click it and the following menu appears:
If you want to completely remove yourself from being tagged in the post click “Remove Tag”. When you just want it to be removed from your timeline, but are OK with being tagged in the post on the person’s or business’ post on their page, click “Hide from Timeline”. If it is something extremely inappropriate you can click, “Report post” which will send a notification to Facebook and can result in the post being completely removed from Facebook and in some cases can cause the poster’s profile to be removed from Facebook completely.
Reputation Management
The Timeline Review feature may be useful in managing your business reputation. This ties into a recent blog post I wrote, Online Reputation: A Love-Hate Relationship. While you want people to interact with you and post on your page with real, current topics this content needs to be monitored. Responding to negative posts appropriately can build your credibility, so you don’t necessarily need to delete posts that aren’t exactly what you’d like to see. I’d reserve this ability for the inappropriate posts, spammers or people that randomly tag anyone and everyone on posts. We all know an offender!
Positive Tagging
Overall tags are good, not bad. Here are few tips on how to appropriately use Facebook tags.
- Photos – Are you posting an appropriate photo with someone in it. Tag them.
- Location – Are you at a business and you have something to share about your experience? Tag them.
- Event – Are you participating in an event with people or that is sponsored by a business? Tag them.
Facebook offers guidelines on proper tag usage. They specifically state that you must not inaccurately tag content, so don’t tag others or yourself in photos that they are not in.
Also, when a Facebook page is setup there are two different tagging settings. One only allows people who manage the page to tag photos posted on it. The other setting allows people and other pages to tag the page. If you are trying to tag something, but it isn’t being allowed there may be a reason for that.
As with everything there is more than one way to do these things and every situation is different. Don’t get discouraged just keep trying! There are posts and pictures that can be tagged. Depending what device you are using can impact exactly what you are seeing. This topic is only related to Facebook and doesn’t even get into tagging on Twitter, Instagram and all the other social media options. Be courteous. If you wouldn’t want the item on your Facebook wall it is probably best not to post or tag others in it. Use the power of tags on Facebook to share with friends, highlight businesses and events. Information travels fast, use the good of Facebook tags.
