Facebook continues to be a leading social media platform, but it could use some improvements. Thankfully, a variety of tweaks can smooth out and improve your experience on both the Classic and the New Facebook. For this article, we'll look at ways to customize Google Chrome with Facebook extensions.
Ready to improve your Facebook experience in every way? Then start using these Chrome extensions for Facebook.
1. VLC Video Downloader
VLC Video Downloader makes it easy to create video playlists and download videos from both the classic and the new Facebook. To start saving and downloading videos, follow these steps:
- Find a video that you want to save.
- Click on the video to enlarge it.
- The VLC Video Downloader extension icon will now show a number indicating a video has been detected.
- Click the icon to bring up a listing of all videos detected. Each time you open a video, it automatically appears on this list.
- You can choose to play the video, download it, or add it to your playlist. However, if you close your tab before adding the video to your playlist, it'll disappear.
- Once you add the video to your playlist, you can rename it, play it, and download it from anywhere.
Download: VLC Video Downloader for Chrome [Broken URL Removed] (Free)
2. Hover Zoom+
Hover Zoom+ lets you automatically enlarge images on Facebook. Simply hover your cursor over an image, and you'll increase its size.
In addition to making photos larger, you'll also be able to see entire images that are normally cut-off. This makes Hover Zoom+ a great option for previewing images on multi-photo posts. The extension's options also allow you to modify settings such as zoom delay, positioning, frame color, and more.
For more control, Hover Zoom+ comes with some useful hotkeys. While hovering over the zoomed image, you can automatically open the image in a new window, new tab, or even download it with a single keystroke.
Sadly, the extension doesn't work with New Facebook, so you'll want to swap to Facebook Classic (or find out how to get the old Facebook back).
Download: Hover Zoom+ for Chrome (Free)
3. Timely
Timely offers a simple accountability measure for those concerned about their productivity. If you want an easy way to chart how long you spend on either version of Facebook, look no farther.
When you open Facebook in a new tab, Timely starts two stopwatches. The right stopwatch displays how long it has been since you opened Facebook in a tab. The left stopwatch displays the total spent time on Facebook per day. Both stopwatches change color as you spend more time until both timers turn red.
If Timely alone doesn't help stop overindulgence, you should consider learning how to do a social media detox.
Download: Timely for Chrome (Free)
4. FriendFilter for Facebook
FriendFilter for Facebook makes it easy to manage your entire list of friends and track their interaction with your profile. Once you've installed the extension, simply follow the prompts to clarify which version of Facebook you're using, confirm your username, and sync your friend list. After that, you're free to swap Facebook layouts.
Once FriendFilter has access, there are two powerful data tools to work with. The Friends section breaks down friends into active and inactive based on their engagement with your profile. When you look at your friends, you'll see their full name and their engagement with your profile broken down into likes, comments, and shares.
You can go to their profiles from their name, whitelist them to prevent accidental removal, or unfriend them. With the ability to search, select all, or select none, you can quickly sort and select anyone.
Under the Dashboard section, you can view an activity chart that details likes, comments, and shares. There's also a friends chart that gives you data on active, inactive, whitelisted, and unfriended users. Additional data comes in the form of a top 10 friends list and a small statistics summary.
The only downside is that a FriendFilter Pro subscription is required to go past the default parameters for time, activities, comments, and shares.
Download: FriendFilter for Facebook for Chrome (Free, Subscription available)
5. Social Book Post Manager
Social Book Post Manager helps you manage your posts from your Facebook Activity Log. While it presently only works with Classic Facebook, the ability to batch delete, hide, unhide, and unlike posts makes it crucial for privacy.
Once on Classic Facebook, navigate to your Activity Log or auto-navigate there by clicking the extension and pressing OK. Next, click on the extension again to bring up all your filters. By default, it'll automatically select the current year and month.
To get the best results, you'll want to be as specific as you can be with the filters. Once you add a text filter, you'll see any results highlighted for added clarity. Once you select the delete, hide/unhide, or unlike button, it'll attempt to make changes to your posts.
If no results appear, the extension will let you know. If so, prescanning the page or lowering the speed can help increase the chances of finding your post. Before making any changes, do note that the backup button doesn't work and just takes you to your general account settings.
While this extension helps with privacy, don't depend on it to get off Facebook. You should instead look at how to permanently delete your Facebook account.
Download: Social Book Post Manager for Chrome (Free)
Enjoy Facebook With These Chrome Extensions
With these five extensions, you'll be able to control how Facebook operates on Chrome. These Facebook browser tools are completely optional and easy to disable when unnecessary.
If you'd still like to explore more enhancements, try these Chrome extensions to vastly improve your browsing experience.