Sort Facebook Friends for Your Genealogy Research

After you've connected with a few friends, you may find that you want to categorize them. This makes it easier to post genealogical triumphs and questions to only those friends with whom you share a research interest. It also makes it easier to restrict posts to only family members, if you so desire. To set up specific lists in Facebook, follow these steps:

1. If you're not already signed in to Facebook, fire up your computer, open a web browser, and head over to Facebook.
2. Click the Home link in the top navigation menu (upper-right).
3. Click the Friend Lists link on the left side of the screen. This takes you to a page displaying the default and existing lists for categorizing your friends. The defaults are Close Friends, Family, and Restricted.
4. Click the Create List button at the top of the screen. The Create New List dialog box pops up.
5. Type the name of your list in the List Name field.
   For example, we might type the word Genealogy in the List Name field if we want a category of genealogy friends, or we might type a surname if we want to track our friends who share a family line or research interest.
6. Start typing a friend's name in the Members section. Facebook starts anticipating the name you're typing and offers suggestions. Click your friend's name if it comes up.
7. Repeat Step 6 as many times as you want, adding all of your friends who you want to include in this list.
8. After you've added everyone you want, click the Create button. The page for your new list opens and offers you the opportunity to post a status to the friends in this list, or add photos to share with this group.

Return to this page anytime you want to post messages restricted to these specific friends who share your genealogical interests, or to add more friends to the list.