Facebook's new Page features

Every time I run one of my Facebook classes I can guarantee that Facebook will make some changes!  It happened again a few days ago when I was preparing for my latest class.  This time they're rolling out changes to business Page layouts.

How you post

The change you’re most likely to notice first is how you post.  For anything other than a text post you have a box to click.

Share a photo or video	To add an image or video to your post
Get bookings Get people to learn more	If you used either Book Now or Learn More as your Call to Action button, you will see this option.  It adds the same button and link as your Call to Action button to your post.
Get phone calls	Adds a Call Now button and link to your Facebook Page to your post
Get messages	Adds a Send Message button and a link to your Facebook Page to your post
Help people find your business	Adds a Get Directions button
Create an event	Create an event and post to promote it
Create an offer	Create an offer and post to promote it.  Adds a Get Offer button to your post.

This option has been appearing and disappearing from the Pages I manage for the last month.  So look out for it, but don’t necessarily expect it to stay – yet!

New tabs

Look down the left side panel of your Page and you may notice some added tabs.  

Services

If you are a service-based business you can add a description and price for your services to your Page.  Just click on Services and add your description.  When you’re finished, click on Visible to display your services on your Page.

 Shop

You can now sell products from Facebook without using a third-party app.  

 

 

• Click on the Shop tab; and accept Facebook’s Terms and Conditions
• Choose how people are going to buy from you – let people send you a message to ask questions and arrange purchases, or send them to another website to complete their purchases.   
• Select the currency
• Add a description of what you sell
• Then you can start adding your products, with a photo or video and details.  At the moment, you can only sell physical products, not services or digital downloads.

If you don’t see these new tabs, click on Manage Tabs at the bottom of the Tab list.  At the bottom of the Edit Page screen click on Add a Tab.  Click on Add Tab next to the feature that you want displayed. 

This screen is also where you can hide tabs you don’t want displayed (just click on Settings, next to each Tab), and where you can rearrange the order of each tab; just click and drag it up or down the list to its new position.

Page Templates

 

While you were on the Edit Page screen, you may have noticed the new Templates section.  This is not available on all Pages yet. 

The Templates give you an easy way of changing your Page layout to suit a particular business type.  You can choose from seven templates, each of which adds different features to the Page.  Instead of choosing the Tabs you want on your Page yourself, you’re letting Facebook choose which are most suitable for your business type.  On some templates the Call to Action button (called the Primary Button in Templates) is also chosen for you.

Standard

Venues

Professional Services

Shopping

Gaming

Politicians

Restaurants & Cafes

Select View Details to see what features are added with that template.  Applying a template only changes the tabs on the left side panel and the buttons under your cover photo.

Select Apply Template if you want to make this change. You can change back to the Standard Template or to any other template whenever you like.

Have you noticed these changes or any other new features on your Page?  

Stop iPad game distractions at school

Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do to prevent your child playing games on their iPad at school.  Hopefully the school will have restrictions in place and your child abides by them. 

The perfect solution would be an app that allows you to lock a folder full of apps.  Then you could have the passcode and only unlock that games folder when your child is home.  However, the apps that allow that feature are only available to you if you jailbreak your iPad.   

  

I don’t recommend jailbreaking your iPad because it terminates your warranty, and also opens the iPad, and your child, to security issues and apps that you might not want them accessing.  Jailbreaking is a technical process, and not for the novice; each time there’s a software update you’ll need to re-jailbreak the device, and there is also the risk of permanent damage being done to the device.

So, what can you do to make sure that their games aren’t distracting your child every time they open their iPad?

Turn off notifications

Turn off notifications on the games your child plays, so they won’t be distracted by announcements of approaching tournaments, new levels or prizes they can collect in their favourite games.

• To see what Notifications are appearing on the iPad, swipe down from the top of the screen.

To turn off Notifications:

1. Go to Settings

2. Select Notifications

3. From the list of apps that appears on the right of the screen, you’ll need to select each of the games individually to access their Notification settings

4. Swipe next to Allow Notifications to turn off all notifications for each game/app.

• Be careful which apps you switch off notifications for – they might need their calendar or reminder app notifications!

FYI, this is where you can choose how and where you receive notifications from apps; you can choose where on the screen they appear and whether there is a sound notification as well.

Get to know your iPad

Setting up your child's iPad for school

Getting to know the iPad

If your family is new to iPads then you need to get to know the device.  Hopefully your child will receive some instruction at school, but it's also a good idea for you to know where to turn if your child needs help.  There are a few places you can try:

On the iPad there is a pre installed app – Tips. This app gives you single screen tips to help you get to know your iPad. Just swipe to see the next tip.  There is also a link in Tips to the iPad User Guide, which you can download for free from the iBooks Store.

If you want to know all about the latest updates and features you can download the Tips & Tricks - Secrets for iPad app. This gives you in depth information, app and hardware reviews, notifications about new apps, updates and features – basically EVERYTHING you could possibly need to know about your iPad.  There is a free version and a pro version for $7.99.

• Free iPad tutorials are available at http://www.gcflearnfree.org/devices/ipadbasics

Add your contact details to the iPad lock screen

Setting up your child's iPad for school

It's all very well having a passcode on your child’s iPad so no one but them can access it, but what if it gets lost? Sure, you can use Find My iPhone, but if it's just been left somewhere at school and needs to find its way back to your child you need to make sure it is identifiable.

Your identification choices are:

•  Add their name and a contact number to the iPad case/cover – great as long as the iPad stays in the case
• Engrave their name and a contact number on the iPad back (a permanent option, but hidden if the iPad is in a case)
• Add their name, year, class number, contact number (or any other information you want) to the lock screen, so it's the first thing that is seen when the iPad opens.  This is the easiest option, and it’s also one you can change whenever you need to, ie. change of year, change of phone number etc.

 How to customise the iPad lock screen

You don't need to install an app to add your choice of information to the lock screen. You can use any method you like to create an image that you can save as a photo which can then be chosen as the lock screen image.  You could even handwrite it and then take a photo of the paper with your child's iPad.

Alternatively, and the method I used for my boys’ iPads, was to create an image in PowerPoint.  It is likely that one of the apps you needed to download was either PowerPoint or Keynote, so why not use what you already have.  Just select a nice theme and create one slide with the text you want. Run the slide show and take a screen shot of that one slide.

I’ll run you through the instructions using the PowerPoint app, although it’s almost identical with Keynote:

1.     Open PowerPoint and select a theme your child likes

2.     Double tap each placeholder (text box) and type your text.  You can move the position of each placeholder by tapping it once so you see the solid frame around it, then dragging it to its new position.

TIP:  If you’re using Keynote, the first slide doesn’t always feature the theme you chose, so add a second slide and use that one to create your lock screen image.

3.     Once you are happy with your slide, tap the play button, in the top right corner

4.     Wait a second for the tool bar at the top of the screen to disappear so your slide takes up the full iPad screen, then take a screen shot.  To take a screen shot on the iPad just simultaneously press the home and power buttons.

5.     The image has now been saved to Photos on the iPad.

To set your image as the lock screen:

1.     Go to Settings

2.     Select Wallpaper

3.     Select Choose a New Wallpaper

4.     Tap on Screenshots

5.     Tap the image you just created

6.     If it doesn’t fit the screen perfectly you can adjust it by pinching and stretching to adjust it on the screen

7.     Make sure Perspective Zoom is Off if you’ve adjusted the image

8.     Tap Set Lock Screen

That’s it – your lock screen is done!  

Prepare your child's iPad for school

Coming this week:

If your child is using an iPad for school you will most likely have been provided with instructions for settings up the device, a list of apps to download.  Once that's done and you've downloaded your child’s etextbooks, that's it - or is it? 

This week I'll be posting about some other settings and features you might like to consider, for example:

• How to add your child's name and contact details to the lock screen
• How to stop games distracting your child while they're at school

Come back tomorrow for the first post of this special series on preparing your child's iPad for school.