Ricky Says

Question: hi i have question, i just downloaded facebook mobile onto my blackberry and my friends have facebook on their blackberry but they get a little icon with an f on the top of their screen when they get a notification or friend request or message and i just get a text from a code. How would i be able to recieve that little blue f icon on the top of my blackberry and not just recieve a text from a 5 digit code? Please help me out!!! thank youu!!

Answer: I received some great tips from a couple people who deserve the credit, so please read their answers below.

Many thanks to Dennis for the step-by-step instructions and also to @powerwheelz.

If you're wondering where to get the Facebook app for your Blackberry, here's the link, and here's the Blackberry Facebook User's Guide.

I've been snapping pictures left and right with my new Canon Powershot, especially now that the holiday season is underway and I've been on vacation all week - plenty of photo opps with Thanksgiving dinner and the kids helping me put up Christmas lights.

I wanted a way to share these pictures with friends and family using all free tools (preferably a single software program), and what better place to do that than Facebook?

Google's free Picasa photo editor can import photos from your camera's SD memory card, and you can install a plugin that will let you upload photos directly from Picasa to Facebook (notice the Facebook button in the Picasa toolbar shown below).

Here's how to install the Facebook plugin in Picasa so you can upload photos directly from Picasa to Facebook:

1. Open Facebook in your web browser and click "Applications" in the lower left side of your Facebook home page. Then click "Browse More Applications" in the popup menu.

2. Enter "picasa" in the application search field on the top left of the page, and select the first match named "Picasa":

3. Click on "Go to Application" to configure the Picasa plugin.

4. Install the Picasa plugin, which will install the Facebook button in Picasa.

I showed you a while ago how to link your Facebook account with Twitter, so that whenever you posted something to Facebook it would automatically show up on Twitter.

However, I quickly discovered that many of my personal Facebook updates were "TMI" for my Twitter followers, and my business-related tweets were gobbly-gook to my Facebook friends. So I turned off the Facebook-Twitter integration.

Recently I discovered a better (and free) tool for handling Twitter and Facebook integration: TweetDeck

TweetDeck lets you create links to both your Twitter and Facebook accounts, and then lets you identify which service(s) your updates will be sent to. So you can post to just Twitter, or just Facebook, or you can update both Twitter and Facebook in one shot. That's the kind of control I was looking for!

Here's how you can set up Facebook and Twitter in TweetDeck:

1. Download and install a free copy of TweetDeck if you haven't done so already.

2. Click the Settings button in TweetDeck.

3. Select the Accounts tab and click "Add New Account".

4. Click the "Add Your Facebook Account" link and enter your Facebook account information.

You'll be asked to allow access to your Facebook account, and to allow TweetDeck to publish to your Facebook acount.

5. Type in your tweet like you normally would, and choose both Facebook and Twitter in the "From" section in TweetDeck.

A few days ago my wife complained to me that her Facebook page looked different and she didn't like it at all. She asked me if I could figure out how to get the old one back.

I assumed she had probably accidentally clicked something to agree to let Facebook use her as a guinea pig, but I couldn't figure out how to get her old Facebook back. Mine was still the old one too.

Well, that all changed this morning, when I logged into Facebook like millions of other users and discovered that I've been switched over to the new Facebook too.

I'm not sure if I like it yet or not. All I see so far are rounded corners on user avatars, and have read lots of complaints about bugs and scripting errors. There are even Facebook groups that are being created by users who think the new look just plain sucks.

Oh, and the question has changed to "What's on your mind?", and "What are your thoughts?" (I've seen both today, so I think they're testing each one to see what users feel about it).

Is that what this has turned into? What we're thinking about?

I like the good ole' "What are you doing?" much better. It feels a lot less touchy-feely. And to me it's a better subject to learn what my friends have been up to, which keeps me connected. I learn their thoughts along the way, while they describe what they're doing, and that feels like a better starting point to me then jumping right into how we're feeling about things.

Many people just want things back to the way it was, which was awesome. Facebook membership has been growing extremely fast lately, and it's a great way to connect with old friends and stay connected with existing friends.

What do you think?

Do you want the old Facebook back, or do you like the new look and feel? What do you like about it?

Question: I've seen people's blog posts showing up in their Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. How do they do that?

Answer: (this question is waiting for an answer. If you know the answer, please feel free to use the comment form below and be sure to leave your name and a link to your website, so I can give you credit for your answer)