Mastering Social Spotting: 3 Techniques for Shout-Outs in FB

Wondering how to tag someone on Facebook?

Tagging is an important part of any social media service, as it allows you to notify others that you’ve mentioned them. This helps increase the reach of the post, can make it easier to find in the future, and provides a link that people can click to see that friend’s page.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can tag others on Facebook. Keep in mind that your friends’ privacy settings may affect the effectiveness of some methods, so not all will work the same for all friends.

1. Tagging in Status Updates and Comments

When you post a status update, you can tag your friends by typing an**@** symbol followed by their names. As you type, a small window appears and updates automatically to show the best match for the text you’ve entered.

Click someone’s name (or use the arrow keys andEnter) and it will appear highlighted in blue on your post. This means you’ve successfully tagged them.

In addition to your own friends, you can also tag other people and pages on Facebook. This includes friends of friends, business pages, and similar. The same method works for tagging others in comments across Facebook, too.

Just be aware that if your post privacy is set toFriends , tagging someone makes your post visible to their friends as well. You’ll see the post privacy button change toFriends (+) to reflect this—seeour guide to Facebook symbols if this is new to you.

2. Tag Who You Were With

Facebook allows you to add several elements to your posts, including feelings, location check-ins, and similar. One of these lets you mention that you were with certain friends.

To use it, click theTag Friends option, which looks like a blue silhouette of a person with a tag next to it. This brings up a search box where you can enter a friend’s name. Use the box to select one or more of your friends here. Be aware that unlike the above, you can only tag your own friends using this method, since you’re claiming that you were with them.

ClickDone when you’re satisfied, and you’ll see a new[Your name] is with [friend’s name] line at the top of your status. Enter your post as usual and people will see this line to explain who you were with. Like the above, this allows friends of your friends to see the post.

The above method of tagging people makes the most sense when mentioning someone in what your status says or making sure they see it. This option is more useful for letting people know your friends were actually with you.

3. Facebook Photo Tagging

Tagging friends in Facebook photos will add their name to aWith line in the photo’s description. It also lets others easily identify them by mousing over their face in the picture.

In addition, photos that you’re tagged in appear in thePhotos of You tab on thePhotos section of your Timeline. Like both of the above, tagging someone allows their friends to see the photo too.

To tag an existing photo, open it—the image can be yours or someone else’s. Click theTag icon in the top-right, then click on a face in the image. Below the box, enter the name of a friend; friends of friends and pages also work.

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Depending on the privacy settings of the person you tagged and the owner of the photo, they may have to approve the tag manually. And you might not see the tag option at all on other people’s photos if they have disabled the option to let other people tag their images.

If you want to add tags to your own photo when you upload it, click theEdit button at the top-left of the image when you have the post open. ClickTag photo from the left side, then follow the same steps to click on faces and enter names.

Facebook Tagging Made Easy

The above three methods are the main ways to use the tagging feature on Facebook. Use the**@name** method anywhere you want to highlight a friend or bring their attention to a post. Don’t forget that you can always share a link to public Facebook posts if you want them to see something, too.

Meanwhile, you might want to make sure your own Facebook privacy settings are set up so you don’t get unnecessary tags.