Facebook Now Lets You Edit Comments

We’ve all done it. Your friend uploads a picture of their new puppy to Facebook, and you somehow manage to leave a comment congratulating them instead on their “new pappy.”

So what do you do? Until now, the only thing Facebook would let you do to correct the error was delete the comment and start again.

But starting Thursday the site is also now offering the ability to edit your comment — and change that pappy back to the puppy you intended in the first place. The edit option appears in the form of a small pencil icon on the right side of your comment. Clicking on the pencil will bring up a drop-down menu with the option to edit your comment as well as the option to delete it entirely.

Facebook told Mashable the site will also be “showing the editing history for a comment so that subsequent commenters or likers have the full context of the conversation.” That way if someone responds to a comment that gets edited commenters in the future can see the history of the conversation and not get lost.

The editing ability went live on Thursday evening, and will be gradually rolling out to all users over the next few days.

Has the comment editing system kicked in for you yet? Let us know in the comments.

Now You Can View Facebook Events on a Calendar

All your events on Facebook can now be viewed on a calendar.Originally created during one of Facebook’s company hackathons, the new feature gives you the option to see upcoming events — as well as things like friends’ birthdays — on a calendar rather than in Facebook’s traditional list format.

“A couple of us felt there should be a better way for people to see their friends’ birthdays a few days in advance and make plans for the weekend. So we built it,” Bob Baldwin, the Facebook software engineer behind the project said in a blog post on the site.

“Before a recent hackathon, a few of us created a Facebook group called ‘Social Calendar Dreamers’ to spark discussion around making Events more visual,” wrote Baldwin. “At the next hackathon, engineers from the events, photos, messages and other teams hacked through the night to build a better way to view events. By 6 a.m., we had a prototype that worked.”

The new list and calendar view makes it easier to see upcoming birthdays, events, and suggested events. Suggested events are added based on a number of factors such as your friends, pages you like, places where you’ve checked in and the apps you use on Facebook.

You can respond to event invites directly from the calendar view page, without having to ever visit a separate event page.

Calendar view is gradually rolling out to all Facebook users. You can check it out by going to your Events page on Facebook and then clicking the “Calendar” tab on the top left side of the screen.

“The great thing about hackathons is that you get to dive straight into building a concept with your friends without having any concrete plans or directives,” says Baldwin. “It’s pretty cool that a night of hanging out and hacking on an idea can turn into something that my friends and everyone else on Facebook can use.”

Do you have Calendar view for events yet? What do you think of the new look? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

6 Ways to Stay on Top of Social Media

To be successful in social media and community management you need to keep track of the constant changes to that ecosystem. That’s because everything you know about Facebook, Twitter, and other social spaces today will somehow be different in six months. Layouts will be altered, features will be added or removed, and new social networks may pop up.

So how should you keep track of all these moving parts? Here are six tips for staying on top of social media.

1. Blogs

There are hundreds of blogs focused on social media. Keep it simple by signing up to RSS feeds and spend twenty minutes every morning catching up on your social media news. Stick to blogs that are updated daily and focus on providing content in social media and technology.

Consider adding these blogs to your RSS feed to get started: SocialTimes, Social Media Examiner, TechCrunch, and SocialMediaToday.

2. Webinars

Webinars are often offered by agencies and make for good social media resources. You can find webinars by searching on Twitter or registering on directories that list the week’s webinars. You can also attend paid webinars that go beyond the basics. In either case, you can find a good starter list at webinarlistings.com.

3. Trending Topics

Yes, reading your blogs in the morning is effective but information travels fast so pay attention to what’s trending on Twitter, too. First, make sure that you check your Twitter trend settings. Certain settings will spit out tailored trends, which you should probably avoid.

Also, if you don’t understand why a certain word or phrase is trending you can check out whatthetrend.com for explanations.

4. Newsletters

Not all newsletters are spam. Some are actually worth signing up for. If you’re OK with getting a daily newsletter, check out SmartBrief. If you prefer a weekly roundup then take a look at SocialFresh. These newsletters curate the best social media content from the web and create original highly informative articles as well.

5. Meetups and Tweetups

Whether in person at a meetup or virtually at a tweetup, chatting with like-minded individuals will keep you on your toes, help you predict what’s coming next, and teach you new things about how others are behaving in social media. To find a group of social media fanatics near you check out Meetup.com.

6. Training and Certification

If you are serious about educating yourself in the social space you may consider signing up for a training program or certification course. Whether you are looking for a six-week crash course or an ongoing education program, resources are available. To start, you can check out WOMM-COM and HootSuiteU.