Facebook keyboard shortcuts you didn't know existed

The mouse-and-keyboard combination for controlling computers has been around for decades, and so far, we haven’t found anything better. Despite the tech industry’s best efforts, touchscreens, motion control and other alternative controllers haven’t caught on. They often require too much energy, aren’t as precise or aren’t as versatile.

Of course, even though the mouse-and-keyboard combo works great, sometimes computer users favor the mouse when they would be better off using the keyboard. We’ve talked about keyboard shortcuts and how they can save you time and energy over moving the mouse around. For example, here are five keyboard shortcuts every computer user should know.

While there are a ton of shortcuts that are great for general computing, what about ones that are more specialized? Many programs and websites have them, and today we’re going to tell you about keyboard shortcuts you can use on Facebook.

These can help you more easily browse your Facebook News Feed, create posts faster and do more with just a few key taps. Keep reading to find out what you can do, or watch this quick video on the Kim Komando YouTube channel.

Scrolling through your News Feed (j, k)

The News Feed is where you can catch up on what your friends are doing and post your own items. For most, every time they log into Facebook, there are many items to scroll.

If you’re just skimming, your mouse’s scroll wheel works great; however, if you take a more deliberate approach, or if you don’t have a mouse with a scroll wheel, just hit the letter “j.” Each time you hit it, you’ll jump down to the next post.

Want to go back a story? Hit the letter “k.” You’ll see a blue border showing which post you’ve selected (it will gradually fade). Once a story is selected, you can use a few other shortcuts.

Hint: If you’re using the mouse, you can also click at the top of a post next to the poster’s name to select it (you’ll see a dotted border around the post).

Interacting with a post (l, c, s, o, enter)

When a post is selected (i.e., it has a blue or dotted border around it), just hit “l” (as in “like”) to like it. The first time you do this, it will ask for confirmation. You can approve it and turn off future confirmations.

To comment on a selected post, tap “c” to bring up the comment box, then tap “c” again and start typing. Hit Enter to post your comment, then hit “j” to move to the next post. If you want to move on without leaving the comment, hit the Esc key, then press “j” to go to the next post.

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Facebook has become a social media giant since it launched in 2004. The site is so popular, there are approximately 2 billion active monthly users worldwide. That’s amazing!

With that incredible number of active users, the site is bound to be a major target for cybercriminals. While a few of the scams you’ll find on the site are harmless, there are others that can actually cause serious problems.

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