Facebook's in-development "Moments" app could make sharing with small groups easier. Here's what we know, plus tips to manage friend lists now.

Kristin Burnham, Senior Editor, InformationWeek.com

September 17, 2014

3 Min Read

10 Tech Terms Millennials Don't Know

10 Tech Terms Millennials Don't Know


10 Tech Terms Millennials Don't Know (Click image for larger view and slideshow.)

Earlier this year, Facebook updated settings to help you share photos, links, or status updates with only the people you want. Despite these improvements, Facebook's bigger problem persists: As you connect with more friends, the social network's solution to manage them -- Lists -- remains inefficient and tedious to use. As a result, many users either share everything with everyone, or nothing with anyone.

But according to a new report, Facebook may have a better friend-management solution in the works. The app, codenamed "Moments," is designed to make it easier to share stuff on Facebook with specific groups of friends. Facebook employees are reportedly testing Moments now.

TechCrunch says Moments is similar to the mobile app Cluster, which lets you create a private space to share photos, videos, and notes with select friends. The app displays a grid with a few tiles, each of which represents a group of friends. To share with them, just tap the icon, TechCrunch reports. While Moments is a standalone app, it will integrate with Facebook in the same way that Messenger and Facebook do.

[Get a grip on your account. Read 10 Most Misunderstood Facebook Privacy Facts.]

When you post something to Facebook now, you have a few options to control with whom you share it. You can use Facebook's audience selector to choose a specific List -- if you have one already created -- or you can customize the post's privacy by typing in select friends to either share or not share it with. Neither of these options are simple or ideal, but an app like Facebook's Moments could solve -- or at least alleviate -- confusion over sharing.

Not everything Facebook develops or tests actually launches, so there's no saying whether Moments will actually make it to users. In the meantime, Lists are the best (and only) solution to help you share more privately.

To create a new Facebook List -- for close friends or family members, for example -- navigate to the Lists main page. Find this by clicking More next to the Friends subheading from the navigation bar on the left.

Facebook may already have lists that it created automatically based on information in your profile, such as family members and workplace networks you may belong you. You'll see those lists on that main page. To edit or rename a list, click it, then click the Manage List drop-down menu and make your selection.

fblist2final.png

To create a new list, click the button at the top of the Lists main page. Assign the list a name, and type in the names of friends you want to add. Previously, Facebook let you choose your friends from a list; that visual made it easier to create your lists instead of relying on memory, though it appears it has done away with that option.

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About the Author(s)

Kristin Burnham

Senior Editor, InformationWeek.com

Kristin Burnham currently serves as InformationWeek.com's Senior Editor, covering social media, social business, IT leadership and IT careers. Prior to joining InformationWeek in July 2013, she served in a number of roles at CIO magazine and CIO.com, most recently as senior writer. Kristin's writing has earned an ASBPE Gold Award in 2010 for her Facebook coverage and a Min Editorial and Design Award in 2011 for "Single Online Article." She is a graduate of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

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