15 Hidden Snapchat Hacks & Features You'll Wish You Knew About Sooner

15 Hidden Snapchat Hacks & Features You'll Wish You Knew About Sooner

Written by Lindsay Kolowich | @lkolo25

15 Hidden Snapchat Hacks &  Features

1) Use Snapchat for voice and video calls.

One of the biggest changes Snapchat made during its most recent update in March 2016 was the addition of a voice and video chat feature. There are two ways you can use voice and video chats: By sending 10-second recordings (of your voice or a video of you), or by "calling" them to start a live voice or video chat lasting any amount of time.

The voice and video call functionality is located within Snapchat's chat feature, so you'll need to open up a chat conversation with someone to begin. If you've updated your Snapchat app, you'll see the phone icon and a video icon below the chat box.

To leave a 10-second voice or video message, hold down on the voice or video call icon and it will begin recording immediately. When you release the button by picking your finger up from the screen, the recording will stop and send immediately with no do-overs. In other words, make sure you're ready to record and send the voice or video message before you begin.

To start a live voice or video call, just tap the voice or video call icon and it'll begin ringing the other person immediately. If they don't answer within a few seconds, you'll see a pop-up notification asking you if you'd like to send a voice or video message instead. These voice and video messages are identical to the 10-second voice and video messages described above.


Note: Voice and video chat will only work if both you and the person you're trying to call have updated their app to the most recent version.

Also, remember that there's no verification once you tap or hold down on one of the icons -- it'll start ringing or recording right away. (I learned this the hard way when I tapped the video icon accidentally.) Otherwise, it's a very intuitive and easy-to-use functionality.

2) Turn on two filters at once.

Can't choose between giving your photo a blue hue and letting your friends know you're going 0 mph? Thankfully, you don't have to make that difficult decision. You can use both filters at the same time with a very simple trick.

To add a second filter to a photo, all you have to do is hold the screen with one finger and swipe left or right with another to find your second filter. (To add that first filter, just swipe your finger left or right over your photo to rotate among them until you settle on one.)


3) Add, resize, and rotate emojis and stickers to your photos.

If you're looking to dress up your Snapchats outside of the text box, you can add an emoji (or five) and place them anywhere you want on your photo or video.

In addition to the emojis you're probably familiar with, Snapchat added 200 new stickers in May 2016 that are similar to the stickers that are so popular in other messaging apps like Facebook Messenger. These new stickers are super cute -- everything from cacti to snarky kittens to walruses celebrating Hump Day.

To access the emojis and stickers, start by taking your photo in Snapchat. Then, tap on the folded paper icon on the top of your screen next to the "T" text icon. Scroll through the available stickers and emojis until you find the one you want. Tap on it to add it to your photo, and then use your finger to move it around.

You can use two fingers to rotate it or resize it by pinching and zooming. Add as many emojis and stickers as you'd like.

To delete a sticker or emoji, simply drag it to the trash icon, which appears in place of the folded paper icon once you hold your finger down on the emoji in question.

Another creative way to use emojis on Snapchat? Create your own filters using some of the more transparent emojis by enlarging them until they cover the whole screen.


4) "Pin" emojis to objects in your videos.

In addition to adding stationary emojis and stickers to your Snapchat videos, you can also "pin" -- or attach -- emojis and stickers to different objects in your video. This allows the emoji to automatically move, rotate, and scale with whatever object you pinned it to.

To "pin" an emoji or sticker to an object in a video, start by recording your video in Snapchat first. Then, tap on the folded paper icon on the top of your screen, located to the left of the "T" icon.

Scroll through the available emojis and stickers until you find the one you want. Tap on it to add it to your photo, and then use your finger to move it, and hold it in one place above an object to "pin" it to that object.

5) Make your videos go in fast-forward, slow motion, or rewind.

Snapchat recently added features for videos allowing users to make them go in fast forward, slow motion, or rewind. These features work just like a filter, so to access them, record the video first and then swipe sideways to find them.

Here's how they work:

Snail icon = slow motion
Rabbit = fast-forward
Backward-facing arrows = rewind


6) Draw in black or white.

You may have noticed that the color palette in Snapchat's drawing tool doesn't offer black and white -- but that doesn't mean that you can't access both of those colors. All it takes is a few quick finger maneuvers.

To access the available colors, you're used to holding your finger down on the color palette and dragging it up or down. But to access black and white, you'll need to drag it toward the upper left corner of your screen (white) or the bottom right corner of your screen (black).

7) Change the color, size, and orientation of your text.

Think you're limited to white text? Turns out you can actually change the color of your text to whatever you want, including black (see previous tip).

To change the color of your text, start by taking your photo or video, then tap the "T" icon at the top of your screen. Tap the "T" icon again to make the text larger and remove that shadowed background, and then tap the text itself to open up the color palette. Drag your finger along the palette to change the text color.

To change the orientation and/or size of the text, use two fingers to rotate it or resize it by pinching and zooming. You can move the text around to wherever you want on the screen simply by holding your finger on the text and moving it around.

8) Make your text fit neatly in one line.

If you're anything like me and hate when your text awkwardly goes just over one line, rest assured: You can actually resize your text so it fits neatly into a single line (or however many you'd like).

To resize your text, tap the "T" icon at the top of your screen, then tap on the text to get into text editing mode. Next, use two fingers to pinch-and-zoom to resize it while it still spans the width of your screen.

9) Exceed Snapchat's text limit.

Even though Snapchat recently extended their text limit on Snapchat to 33 characters, that's still not always enough. Luckily, there's a hack that's been going around for a little over a year now for how to exceed Snapchat's character limit.

To add extra text, you just need to type your long message into your Notes app (a native app for iOS users), copy it, and paste it into the text field in Snapchat. Alternatively, you can copy a range of blank text in your Notes app and paste it into the text field in Snapchat, and then write in your text.

10) Turn on "travel mode" to save data.

When I first started using Snapchat on a regular basis, I noticed right away that it was draining my battery faster than any of my other social media apps. Thankfully, Snapchat actually has a built-in feature to help conserve your data, in the form of "travel mode."

When you set your Snapchat app to travel mode, snaps and stories won't download automatically. Instead, you can choose when you want to load a snap or a story. It can also help reduce video lagging while you're recording videos using the app.

To turn your Snapchat app to travel mode, go to settings, which you can access by opening Snapchat, tapping the ghost icon in the top center of the screen, and then tapping the gear icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

Once you're on the settings page, tap "Manage" under "Additional Services" and toggle "Travel Mode" on.

11) Create your own geofilter.

In February 2016, Snapchat started letting anyone -- whether you're a business or an individual -- create custom "on-demand geofilters." On-demand geofilters are filters users can add when they take photos and videos from specific locations.

There are two different kinds of geofilters: a personal geofilter and a business geofilter.

A personal geofilter promotes a personal event or location like a birthday party, wedding, graduation party, and so on, and you can set them for up to 30 days. They can't include marks, logos, branding, or businesses.
A business geofilter promotes a business or a brand, like for an upcoming sale, an ad for a certain location, or something along those lines. Business Geofilters need to meet Snapchat's Business Guidelines.

To create them, you'll need to upload an image with a transparent background (or use one of Snapchat's premade templates), upload it to http://geofilters.snapchat.com, pick a date, time, and location for it, and submit it to Snapchat along with your payment. The Snapchat team promises to review submissions within one business day.

The announcement said this feature is available in the U.S., U.K., and Canada for now, with new locations coming soon. You can learn more about how to use them on Snapchat's website here.

12) Add music to your videos.

Here's a small tip that can make a big difference in your Snapchat videos. After all, the folks at Snapchat claim that sound is a big part of what makes Snapchat videos so appealing. In June 2016, they claimed that two-thirds of Snapchat's 10 billion daily video views are watched with the sound on.

Adding music can add a unique touch to your Snapchat videos, and it's simple to do. All you have to do is play the song you want through your favorite music player app (like Spotify or iTunes), and then record the video on Snapchat while the song is playing. The video recorder on Snapchat will pick up the music and it'll automatically become part of your video.

13) Turn the sound off in your videos.

Like I said before, sound is a big part of what makes Snapchat videos unique. Although the default settings for video on both Facebook and Twitter have the volume turned off, Snapchat has done the opposite: its default setting has the volume on.

"The nature of Snapchat, in terms of user-experience, plays into the prominence of sound on the platform," said Brian Nguyen, group communications strategy director at Droga5. "Users on Snapchat simply expect sound, whereas on Facebook, they don't."

But if you'd rather not have sound in your video, it's helpful to know that there is a way of turning it off. This might be best if you're recording a video that has unnecessary, loud, or jarring noises that don't add to the video in a way that you want them to.

To turn sound off on your video, first record your video like you would normally for a Snapchat video. Then, tap the microphone icon on the bottom left-hand side of your screen once so that the sound waves are replaced with an X.

14) Save a Story as a video clip by downloading it.

Anyone might want to save a Snapchat Story to view later, but this is especially true if you're working on Snapchat content for your business so you can show your team the Stories you've put together and view them later to see what styles worked well. You can save Stories by downloading them to your device. (From there, I'd recommend emailing it to yourself so you don't accidentally lose it.)

To save an entire Story as a video clip, open up Snapchat and go to the "Stories" view, which you can do by swiping right from the default camera view. Your Story will appear at the top.

Tap the three dots on the far right-hand side of the screen to bring up the download button to the left. Then, tap the download button to save the entire story.

To save one Snap on your Story as a video clip, open up Snapchat and go to the "Stories" view, which you can do by swiping right from the default camera view. Your Story will appear at the top.

Then, tap on your Story and swipe up on the Snap you want and hit the download button at the top of the screen.

15) Delete single snaps from a Story.

If you've published a snap to your Story, you can still go back to it and delete it at any time -- even if you've published other snaps after it.

To delete a snap form a Story, simply open up Snapchat and go to the "Stories" view, which you can do by swiping right from the default camera view. Your Story will appear at the top. Swipe up on the Snap you want to delete and hit the delete button.

There you have it. We hope these tricks and features help you use Snapchat to connect with your friends, fans, and even customers in a way that's low-cost, but highly personal and engaging.

Happy snapping!

15 Hidden Snapchat Hacks & Features You'll Wish You Knew About Sooner

The Lucky Seven: The Fonts Most Used by Graphic Designers

The Lucky Seven: The Fonts Most Used by Graphic Designers

One of the first decisions you must make regarding your sign is what font you’ll use to get your message across. Even the most compelling copy is going to fall flat if the wrong font is used — and by wrong we mean it’s difficult to read, from a distance or even up close.

According to Just Creative, there are seven fonts used most often by professional graphic designers, with the following six being appropriate for signs:

The seventh most popular font is not a great choice for signs, but is more appropriate for formal copy such as that seen on wedding invitations:

When you work with us at Signarama—Kearny Mesa, rest assured that we’ll make sure the fonts used on your signs are appropriate for your business and message and readable by your target audience. Let us know how we can be of service.

The Lucky Seven: The Fonts Most Used by Graphic Designers

12 Simple Hacks to "Undo" Those Embarrassing Tech Mistakes

Written by Lindsay Kolowich | @lkolo25

In this fast-paced world, when we're firing off emails, posting status updates, and sending messages a mile a minute, we've all pressed "send" or "delete" sooner than we've intended at one time or another.

From posting a photo of my "amazung view of the muntains" to sending an email prematurely, I know that feeling of regret all too well.

We're all trying to maintain control of our online footprint as best we can. But with so many opportunities to mess up on the web, it's easy to make silly tech mistakes from time to time.

Luckily for us, there are ways to correct some of these embarrassing slip-ups. I consulted my colleagues and scoured the web to find the following tech hacks that are so simple and yet so life-changing, you won't believe you ever lived without them.

1) How to Un-Send an Email on Gmail

Have you ever sent an email and immediately wished you could take it back? If you use Gmail, you totally can. Technically, the un-send feature in Gmail doesn't actually un-send your email -- what it really does is delay the sending of your message for a few seconds, giving you the option to undo the send while the clock is ticking. All you have to do is enable the feature via Gmail Labs. Here's how to do it ...

Step 1: Go to Settings from your Gmail homepage. The General tab should be open by default. If not, open it.
Step 2: Scroll down until you see the Undo Send section. Click the check box next to "Enable Undo Send," and choose your cancellation period. You can make it five seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, or 30 seconds.
Step 3: Don't forget to click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen. (For you non-Gmail folks, I tried looking for solutions in Outlook and other email clients but couldn't find any that actually worked. If you know of any, feel free to share tips with readers in the comments section.)

2) How to Restore Tabs in a Web Browser

If you're like me and keep 10+ tabs open on your internet browser at once, it can be a little devastating when you accidentally close a tab without meaning to -- or, even worse, when you close all of them at once.

That's why I rejoiced when I heard about this hack for Chrome and Firefox, which lets you recover one or of all your previously opened browser tabs without having to dig through your web history. (It doesn't work if you quit the application altogether.) It's simple: On a Mac, hit Command-Shift-T. On a PC, hit Ctrl-Shift-T.

3) How to Recover an Unsaved Word Document

This is the worst. Has Word ever crashed on you? Or maybe your computer died and you lost hours -- or even days -- of work? In some cases, you can recover that lost file the way it was at the moment you lost it. Unfortunately, if you never saved the document in the first place, you're out of luck -- but that means you need to get into the habit of saving documents the moment you start them.

If your version of Microsoft Office has AutoRecovery, you can recover a file that's been autosaved by looking in the AutoRecovery folder the next time you open Word. Here are the instructions for Mac, and then for PC.

For Mac:
 
Open Microsoft Word and go to File, then Open Recent -- and your file will (hopefully!) be listed in the Open Recent list.

Alternatively, you can find it by opening your Finder and looking in /Users/username/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 AutoRecovery. (Note that you have to replace username with your personal username.)

To eliminate the guessing game in the future, you can take the precaution of choosing exactly where you want Word to autosave files. To do this, go to Preferences in the Word menu and click File Locations.

Choose AutoRecover files.

Click "Modify...". Then choose where you want your files to autosave. You can also create a new folder specifically for autosaved files.

Finally -- one more Microsoft Word tip! -- there's a feature on some Office applications that lets you save your files automatically on a regular basis. You can set up exactly how often you want your files saved. Just make sure you don't use AutoRecover in place of actually saving your files. Here's how to customize it:

On the Word menu, click Preferences. Click Save (in the Output and Sharing section).

In the "Save AutoRecover info every..." box, enter how frequently you want Word to autosave your documents. Click OK.

For PC:

Step 1: Open Microsoft Word and go to File, then Open, and click Recent Documents from the dropdown menu.
Step 2: Scroll to the end of all your recent documents, and then click Recover Unsaved Documents. Step 3: If you find the Word Document you're looking for, double-click to open it, and then save it immediately. Alternatively, you can find it by searching your computer.

If you have Windows 8.1 or Windows 8 ... 
 
Step 1: Press the Windows logo key + E to open Windows Explorer.
Step 2: In the Search This PC box, type the document name and press ENTER. (If you're unsure of the document name and don't have a ton of documents to sort though, you can also just type .docx in the Search This PC box and press ENTER and look through all your documents by date.)
Step 3: If you see the Word document you're looking for, double-click the document to open it.

If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 ...
 
Step 1: Click Start , type the document name in the Start Search box, and press ENTER. (If you're unsure of the document name and don't have a ton of documents to sort though, you can also just type in .docx and press ENTER and look through all your documents by date.)
Step 2: If you see the Word document you're looking for, double-click the document to open it.

4) How to Edit a Facebook Post, Status, or Caption
If you write a post, status, or caption on Facebook that you want to change later, you can edit it via an internet browser. (Unfortunately, you can't yet change it via Facebook's mobile app.) Here's how to do it in a browser:

First, hover your mouse over the post you want to edit. A small, grey arrow will show up in the top, right-hand corner of the post.

Click the arrow and choose Edit. Edit away! Click Done Editing when you're finished. Note that edited posts will be labeledEdited, as shown below.

5) How to Undo Typing on an iPhone to Recover Deleted Text
Did you accidentally erase something you just typed? To get it back, you need to Undo Typing. All you have to do is shake your phone, and a window will pop up prompting you to Undo Typing. Click Undo, and you'll get that text back.

Be warned, though: The "undo" feature only seems to give back text you've deleted by selecting the text and then pressing delete -- not if you've deleted it letter-by-letter. See it in action: Image Credit: Chris Wade

6) How to Undo Typing on a Computer 
This keyboard shortcut never gets old. Ever delete something you typed out, but really wish you didn't? Undo typing on a Mac by pressing Command + Z, or on a PC by pressing Ctrl + Z. It'll "undo" whatever the last thing you typed (or deleted) was. Alternatively, you can click Edit from the menu at the top of your screen and choose Undo Typing. You can repeat this action several times to keep undoing the last few key stroke sequences you made.

7) How to Redo Typing on a Computer 

Change your mind and want to "redo" the typing you just un-did? In most applications, there's a shortcut for that, too. Redo typing on a Mac by pressing Shift + Command + Z, unless you're in Microsoft Word, in which case press Command + Y. On a PC, press Shift + Ctrl + Z, unless you're in Word, in which case press Ctrl + Y. Alternatively, you can click Edit from the menu at the top of your screen and choose Redo Typing.

8) How to Unsend a Text Message on iPhone, Android, or Blackberry 

Have you ever sent a text message you wish you could take back? There's an app for that! TigerText is a free app that lets you recall your text message at any time -- even after the person has read it. This app can also encrypt your text messages, set them to self-destruct after a chosen period of time (kind of like SnapChat), and can let you know when your texts are read by the recipients. You'll need to download the app, connect it to your email address and phone, and create a password. This solution only works if both you and the recipient have the app installed, but I still thought it was cool enough to share.

9) How to Un-Send an iMessage

Without TigerText, you can't un-send an iMessage on an iPhone once it's been delivered. But if you're quick enough, you can stop it from sending while it's still in the process of sending.

How? By putting your phone in Airplane Mode to stop the text from sending. iMessages send pretty quickly nowadays, so you don't have much time ... meaning you'll probably want to practice if you ever plan on trying this in the future. Here's how to do it:

Step 1: As soon as you realize your mistake, press the Home button.
Step 2: Go into the Settings app. (It may not be in the same place on your iPhone as it is here.)
Step 3: Switch on Airplane Mode by sliding the button to the right so it turns green. If it works, a small airplane will appear in the top, left-hand corner of your iPhone screen.
Step 4: Go back to the text message. If it failed to deliver, then it worked! You can delete it if you want.

(You can usually turn your phone on Airplane Mode by simply swiping up from the bottom of your screen -- but note that you can't do this while you're texting, which is why you need to go into Settings instead.)

10) How to Rewrite Your Instagram Caption
Can't think of a super clever Instagram caption on the spot? Not to worry: You can always edit (rewrite) your caption later. Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Open the picture on your phone and tap the ellipsis.
Step 2: Choose Edit from the menu that appears.
Step 3: Edit the caption to your heart's desire, and to save it, press Done.

Note: To delete your caption entirely, follow the steps outlined in #11. When it comes to deleting the caption, Instagram treats captions like it does comments.

11) How to Delete Instagram Comments
You can delete Instagram comments and delete your own Instagram caption using the same trick. Here's how to do it:
Step 1: Open the picture on your phone and tap the thought bubble icon.
Step 2: Hold down your comment for about two seconds, and swipe to the left. Tap the trash can.

You can also do this with any comment on your photo. You can also do it with any comments you make on other users' photos.

12) How to Undo a Retweet on Twitter
Ever retweeted a post on Twitter, and later decided you want to remove it from your Twitter feed? It only takes one click of a mouse. If you used Twitter's retweet feature, the same retweet button you clicked (the rotating arrows) will undo your retweet.

It won't delete the tweet from the original poster's page, but it'll remove it from your own feed.

If you retweeted with a comment, you can remove the retweet by clicking the "delete" link located beneath the tweet, just as you would delete a regular tweet from your profile.

12 Simple Hacks to "Undo" Those Embarrassing Tech Mistakes

12 Simple Hacks to "Undo" Those Embarrassing Tech Mistakes

12 Simple Hacks to "Undo" Those Embarrassing Tech Mistakes
Written by Lindsay Kolowich | @lkolo25

In this fast-paced world, when we're firing off emails, posting status updates, and sending messages a mile a minute, we've all pressed "send" or "delete" sooner than we've intended at one time or another.

From posting a photo of my "amazung view of the muntains" to sending an email prematurely, I know that feeling of regret all too well.

We're all trying to maintain control of our online footprint as best we can. But with so many opportunities to mess up on the web, it's easy to make silly tech mistakes from time to time.

Luckily for us, there are ways to correct some of these embarrassing slip-ups. I consulted my colleagues and scoured the web to find the following tech hacks that are so simple and yet so life-changing, you won't believe you ever lived without them.

1) How to Un-Send an Email on Gmail
Have you ever sent an email and immediately wished you could take it back? If you use Gmail, you totally can. Technically, the un-send feature in Gmail doesn't actually un-send your email -- what it really does is delay the sending of your message for a few seconds, giving you the option to undo the send while the clock is ticking. All you have to do is enable the feature via Gmail Labs. Here's how to do it ...

• Step 1: Go to Settings from your Gmail homepage.The General tab should be open by default. If not, open it.
• Step 2: Scroll down until you see the Undo Send section. Click the check box next to "Enable Undo Send," and choose your cancellation period. You can make it five seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, or 30 seconds.
• Step 3: Don't forget to click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen.

(For you non-Gmail folks, I tried looking for solutions in Outlook and other email clients but couldn't find any that actually worked. If you know of any, feel free to share tips with readers in the comments section.)


2) How to Restore Tabs in a Web Browser
If you're like me and keep 10+ tabs open on your internet browser at once, it can be a little devastating when you accidentally close a tab without meaning to -- or, even worse, when you close all of them at once.

That's why I rejoiced when I heard about this hack for Chrome and Firefox, which lets you recover one or of all your previously opened browser tabs without having to dig through your web history. (It doesn't work if you quit the application altogether.)

It's simple: On a Mac, hit Command-Shift-T. On a PC, hit Ctrl-Shift-T.

3) How to Recover an Unsaved Word Document
This is the worst. Has Word ever crashed on you? Or maybe your computer died and you lost hours -- or even days -- of work? In some cases, you can recover that lost file the way it was at the moment you lost it. Unfortunately, if you never saved the document in the first place, you're out of luck -- but that means you need to get into the habit of saving documents the moment you start them.

If your version of Microsoft Office has AutoRecovery, you can recover a file that's been autosaved by looking in the AutoRecovery folder the next time you open Word. Here are the instructions for Mac, and then for PC.

For Mac: Open Microsoft Word and go to File, then Open Recent -- and your file will (hopefully!) be listed in the Open Recent list.

Alternatively, you can find it by opening your Finder and looking in /Users/username/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 AutoRecovery. (Note that you have to replace username with your personal username.)

To eliminate the guessing game in the future, you can take the precaution of choosing exactly where you want Word to autosave files. To do this, go to Preferences in the Word menu and click File Locations.

Choose AutoRecover files.

Click "Modify...". Then choose where you want your files to autosave. You can also create a new folder specifically for autosaved files.

Finally -- one more Microsoft Word tip! -- there's a feature on some Office applications that lets you save your files automatically on a regular basis. You can set up exactly how often you want your files saved. Just make sure you don't use AutoRecover in place of actually saving your files. Here's how to customize it:

On the Word menu, click Preferences. Click Save (in the Output and Sharing section).

In the "Save AutoRecover info every..." box, enter how frequently you want Word to autosave your documents. Click OK.

For PC:

• Step 1: Open Microsoft Word and go to File, then Open, and click Recent Documents from the dropdown menu.
• Step 2: Scroll to the end of all your recent documents, and then click Recover Unsaved Documents.
• Step 3: If you find the Word Document you're looking for, double-click to open it, and then save it immediately.

Alternatively, you can find it by searching your computer.

If you have Windows 8.1 or Windows 8 ...

• Step 1: Press the Windows logo key + E to open Windows Explorer.
• Step 2: In the Search This PC box, type the document name and press ENTER. (If you're unsure of the document name and don't have a ton of documents to sort though, you can also just type .docx in the Search This PC box and press ENTER and look through all your documents by date.)
• Step 3: If you see the Word document you're looking for, double-click the document to open it.

If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 ...

• Step 1: Click Start , type the document name in the Start Search box, and press ENTER. (If you're unsure of the document name and don't have a ton of documents to sort though, you can also just type in .docx and press ENTER and look through all your documents by date.)
• Step 2: If you see the Word document you're looking for, double-click the document to open it.

4) How to Edit a Facebook Post, Status, or Caption 
If you write a post, status, or caption on Facebook that you want to change later, you can edit it via an internet browser. (Unfortunately, you can't yet change it via Facebook's mobile app.) Here's how to do it in a browser:

First, hover your mouse over the post you want to edit. A small, grey arrow will show up in the top, righthand corner of the post.

Click the arrow and choose Edit.

Edit away! Click Done Editing when you're finished. Note that edited posts will be labeledEdited, as shown below.

5) How to Undo Typing on an iPhone to Recover Deleted Text
Did you accidentally erase something you just typed? To get it back, you need to Undo Typing. All you have to do is shake your phone, and a window will pop up prompting you to Undo Typing. Click Undo, and you'll get that text back.

Be warned, though: The "undo" feature only seems to give back text you've deleted by selecting the text and then pressing delete -- not if you've deleted it letter-by-letter. See it in action:

Image Credit: Chris Wade

6) How to Undo Typing on a Computer 
This keyboard shortcut never gets old. Ever delete something you typed out, but really wish you didn't? Undo typing on a Mac by pressing Command + Z, or on a PC by pressing Ctrl + Z. It'll "undo" whatever the last thing you typed (or deleted) was. Alternatively, you can click Edit from the menu at the top of your screen and choose Undo Typing. You can repeat this action several times to keep undoing the last few key stroke sequences you made.

7) How to Redo Typing on a Computer 
Change your mind and want to "redo" the typing you just un-did? In most applications, there's a shortcut for that, too. Redo typing on a Mac by pressing Shift + Command + Z, unless you're in Microsoft Word, in which case press Command + Y. On a PC, press Shift + Ctrl + Z, unless you're in Word, in which  case press Ctrl + Y. Alternatively, you can click Edit from the menu at the top of your screen and choose Redo Typing.

8) How to Unsend a Text Message on iPhone, Android, or Blackberry 
Have you ever sent a text message you wish you could take back? There's an app for that! TigerText is a free app that lets you recall your text message at any time -- even after the person has read it. This app can also encrypt your text messages, set them to self-destruct after a chosen period of time (kind of like SnapChat), and can let you know when your texts are read by the recipients. You'll need to download the app, connect it to your email address and phone, and create a password. This solution only works if both you and the recipient have the app installed, but I still thought it was cool enough to share.

9) How to Un-Send an iMessage
Without TigerText, you can't un-send an iMessage on an iPhone once it's been delivered. But if you're quick enough, you can stop it from sending while it's still in the process of sending.

How? By putting your phone in Airplane Mode to stop the text from sending. iMessages send pretty quickly nowadays, so you don't have much time ... meaning you'll probably want to practice if you ever plan on trying this in the future. Here's how to do it:

• Step 1: As soon as you realize your mistake, press the Home button.
• Step 2: Go into the Settings app. (It may not be in the same place on your iPhone as it is here.)
• Step 3: Switch on Airplane Mode by sliding the button to the right so it turns green. If it works, a small airplane will appear in the top, left-hand corner of your iPhone screen.
• Step 4: Go back to the text message. If it failed to deliver, then it worked!

You can delete it if you want. (You can usually turn your phone on Airplane Mode by simply swiping up from the bottom of your screen -- but note that you can't do this while you're texting, which is why you need to go into Settings instead.)

10) How to Rewrite Your Instagram Caption
Can't think of a super clever Instagram caption on the spot? Not to worry: You can always edit (rewrite) your caption later. Here's how to do it:

• Step 1: Open the picture on your phone and tap the ellipsis.
• Step 2: Choose Edit from the menu that appears.
• Step 3: Edit the caption to your heart's desire, and to save it, press Done.

Note: To delete your caption entirely, follow the steps outlined in #11. When it comes to deleting the caption, Instagram treats captions like it does comments.

11) How to Delete Instagram Comments 
You can delete Instagram comments and delete your own Instagram caption using the same trick. Here's how to do it:

• Step 1: Open the picture on your phone and tap the thought bubble icon.
• Step 2: Hold down your comment for about two seconds, and swipe to the left. Tap the trash can. You can also do this with any comment on your photo. You can also do it with any comments you make on other users' photos.

12) How to Undo a Retweet on Twitter
Ever retweeted a post on Twitter, and later decided you want to remove it from your Twitter feed? It only takes one click of a mouse. If you used Twitter's retweet feature, the same retweet button you clicked (the rotating arrows) will undo your retweet.

It won't delete the tweet from the original poster's page, but it'll remove it from your own feed.

If you retweeted with a comment, you can remove the retweet by clicking the "delete" link located beneath the tweet, just as you would delete a regular tweet from your profile.

12 Simple Hacks to "Undo" Those Embarrassing Tech Mistakes

7 Things You Must Do To Maximize The Value Of Your LinkedIn Profile

 By William Arruda , CONTRIBUTOR

 You’ve done all the hard work to create a stellar LinkedIn profile. You have a professional headshot, a compelling headline and a complete, authentic summary. When LinkedIn says your profile is “all-star,” it’s time to turn your hard work into a tool that will advance your career. Here are seven actions to take (in four categories) to maximize the value of your perfect profile:

 1. Make it visible. You don’t want to be the world’s best-kept secret, wasting all that effort you spent building the online representation of the real you. I recommend making every element of your profile visible to everyone. Through the Privacy and Settings option, you can choose to share your entire profile or just a few elements with public viewers. Allow anyone to see your public profile. What’s the value of creating your profile if you don’t showcase it?

 2. Keep it current. The more interaction you have with your profile, the more likely it will be seen by others. In fact, according to LinkedIn, you should “update your status at least 20 times per month in order to maximize your reach to approximately 60% of your unique audience.” Stay connected with your contacts by updating your status regularly – letting others know what you are working on and the events you are attending, along with sharing links to the content you find interesting. Direct People to it Sure, people can find your profile through LinkedIn searches – publishing all the right keywords is essential for attracting people you didn’t even know were looking for you. I call it planned serendipity. But you need to go beyond the random and unplanned connections. You need to send people to your profile so they can learn more about you. There are two easy ways to get people to check out your profile:

 3. Use a QR Code. You want people to learn more about you after meeting you at a networking function. Make it easy for them to get to your profile by creating a QR (quick response) code that links directly to your profile. Add your QR code to business cards, your resume, and your pitch letters. You can also create stickers with your QR code and add them to your name badge at networking functions.

 4. Create LinkedIn buttons. Use the LinkedIn buttons to direct people to your profile. Under “Privacy and Settings” you can access your public profile settings (on the right side of the screen). At the bottom of the box, there’s an option to create what LinkedIn calls “your public profile badge.” This lets you choose from a series of button options that you can add to your email signature, Blog, Website, etc. Repurpose it LinkedIn provides a valuable, one-stop-shopping resource for people who want to know more about your expertise. But the act of putting your profile together is also a valuable, one-stopshopping exercise in getting clear about your personal brand message and defining and documenting your career success. Now that you have all that content in one place, leverage that work for other applications. In personal branding, we have a technique we call “being lazy,” which means repurpose and reuse content. This helps ensure consistency and saves time and effort. Here are three ways to maximize the effort you put into build your amazing LinkedIn profile:

 5. Get a copy of it. You can export your profile to Word or PDF document to use in your career marketing activities. Here’s how.

 6. Turn it into a resume. LinkedIn Labs provides an option to turn your LinkedIn profile into your resume. First, you select your resume template, and then you can customize the content that you pull directly from your profile. This helps save time and ensures consistency between your on- and offline career materials.

 7. Create your own website. There are a number of services that will let you import your LinkedIn content into their platform so you can create your own custom website Your LinkedIn profile is one of the most important career marketing tools you have. Its value is amplified when you get more people to see it, and when you repurpose it to support your personal branding efforts.

 This article was written in the Forbes Leadership section by William Arruda who writes about personal branding.
 

7 Things You Must Do To Maximize The Value Of Your LinkedIn Profile

How to Build Your Brand With Instagram: 4 Tried-and-True Tips

Written by Nathan Chan | @nathanhchan 

 

Instagram is a platform that has demonstrated tremendous growth. In fact, the Instagram community grew to over 400 million users this past year.

Despite its impressive reach, many business owners are still overlooking its marketing potential. As a result, they're leaving high levels of engagement, brand awareness, and even profit on the table.

But why?

 In just 12 months, we used Instagram to gain 400,000 followers for Foundr -- which translated to over 70,000 email subscribers. At the end of that period, we were averaging 30,000 call-to-action clicks per month from Instagram, and converting 30% of the users who landed on our website from our Instagram page into email subscribers.

 We've seen it work ... now it's time for you to get in on the action. Here are four ways to use Instagram to build your business and brand.

 4 Surprising Ways You Can Use Instagram to Build Your Business & Brand

 1) Grow your Instagram following with strategic partnerships. One of the biggest frustrations for most marketers delving into Instagram is that they don’t know how to build a following. After all, without a large number of followers, how can it possibly be an effective marketing channel?

 But based on our experience since launching the Foundr Instagram account, growing you’re following is not as complicated as it might seem. There’s one tactic in particular that we used to quickly grow our Instagram following to 10,000 in just a couple of weeks: partnering with other Instagram accounts.

 To start, create a list of popular Instagram accounts that reach your target audience. When you’ve found them, you can then partner with them for what they call “shout-outs,” which can be either paid or unpaid. Here's how the two differ ...

 Unpaid Shout-outs

 Unpaid shout-outs are usually called "share for share." You share one another’s content, and you both encourage your followers to follow the other account. You get access to their audience, and they get access to yours.

 To start with free shout-outs, focus on accounts that have similar reach as yours. The owners of those accounts will be more receptive to a share for share partnership, since both sides will benefit about the same.

 But if you want to broaden your reach to accounts with bigger pools of followers, you may want to try paying for shout-outs. Here is an example of an unpaid shout-out partnership we did with Rich20Something, an Instagram account with a similar reach to Foundr’s:

 We each shared an image from the other account and encouraged our followers to follow them, too.

 Paid Shout-outs

 If you don't have a budget for social media, you may want to skip over this portion, but paid shout-outs can be a great way to gain thousands of followers -- and gain them fast.

 With paid shout-outs, you're aiming for accounts that have much higher numbers and a strong level of engagement (accounts where 2-3% of their followers “like” their content).

 Foundr spent about $100 on shout-outs in the first two weeks of our Instagram account, and it was $100 well spent. This became instrumental in getting us to our first 10,000 followers.

 Make sure to ask for a call-to-action in the shout-out, in which the account owner is actually asking their followers to take action on something. We’ve found the best strategy is to ask for their followers to follow your Instagram account.

 As you begin to gain your first few thousand followers, you can begin to drive those followers to your website, engage with your brand, and subscribe to your email list.

 2) Build your email list by converting your followers into subscribers.

 As you know, email marketing is crucial to a thriving business. Your email list is made up of your customers. These are your fans -- the people who will purchase your products and services.

 Instagram has been an important driver of email subscribers for Foundr, converting around 15,000– 30,000 followers into subscribers each month, depending on our promotions.

 If you’re familiar with Instagram’s limitations, you may be wondering how this is possible. After all, Instagram doesn’t allow links in photo descriptions.

 That’s where a well-crafted bio comes into play.

 Many businesses find it difficult to get followers to click the links in their bios because the tendency is to overload bios with ... well, junk. Break that pattern by writing your bio like you'd write a Tweet: short, useful, and packed with intention.

 Here’s what we’ve chosen as our bio:

 There’s a very simple secret: Within your bio, use a very specific call-to-action with a memorable URL that takes users to a unique page on your website.

 Then convert those visitors by ensuring the page they land on is packed with value. We go out of our way to ensure we deliver a ton of value to each visitor who clicks our bio link. The URL in our bio brings users to a page that both enrolls them in a free course and offers them two PDFs packed with actionable content.

 Once you’ve put the systems into place to not only entice your followers to click on the link in your bio, but also to lead them to insanely useful content, start driving followers to your bio by including calls-to-action in your image descriptions. Your photo caption leads to your bio, your bio leads to your link, your link leads to a huge offer of value.

 3) Create compelling content that's worthy of being shared by others.

 An Instagram strategy that includes creating beautiful, easily digestible content that not only resonates with your audience but also drives them to share and interact with your brand is crucial, and can explode your growth. A great Instagram post can be boiled down to a formula, and requires two elements: beautiful imagery and engaging text.

 Beautiful Imagery

 Choose images that tell a story or elicit emotion. This image we shared is not only compelling and interesting, but it also elicits emotion and therefore drives engagement from our followers.

 What this will look like for your business will depend on your industry, but think outside of posting images of your own products and services. Posting about yourself repeatedly on social media is like being that person at a party who talks constantly about themselves. Also, beware of copyright issues. If the image is not your own, request permission to use it or source non-attribution-required photos.

 Engaging Text

 While you don’t have to add text to your Instagram posts, doing so packs a punch that a plain image won’t provide.

 Text can range anywhere from a compelling question to a powerful, motivational quote. We encourage you to experiment with the latter, as a study conducted by Jonah Berger, author of the book Contagious: Why Things Catch On, shows that "high arousal" emotion causes us to want to share far more than things that do not elicit such emotion.

 To create a stunning visual using text, you don’t need to hire a designer. In fact, we use an app called WORDSWAG to quickly and easily create images like the one you see below. One of our images was even shared by the rap artist LL Cool J:

 While you'll notice that someone cropped out our logo and added their own attribution in the photo shared above, we always make sure to include our branding as part of all of our posts.

 For example, if we post an image with a popular quote, we'll include our logo at the bottom of the image.

 This small step has not only built brand awareness to our Instagram followers, but it also spreads as our Instagram content is shared on other platforms.

 After you’ve nailed your Instagram content, and you have systems in place that will generate followers and email subscribers, it’s important to ensure that your followers are engaging with you to maximize your reach.

 4) Foster a community of highly engaged followers.

 Engagement comes in many forms, including followers sharing your content, interacting with it some way, tagging their friends, and clicking on your calls-to-action. In this section we'll go over some of our tactics for fostering a community of highly engaged followers on Instagram.

 Post When Your Followers Will Actually See Your Content

 Have you ever posted something to social media that you think will do really well, only to be met with crickets? Nobody liked post, nobody shared it with their friends, and the only comments you landed were from spambots.

 While it's easy to assume you miscalculated the potential of the post, it could just be that you posted the update at the wrong time. After all, networks like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are simply feeds: the newer the content (with some exceptions), the higher up it will be in your followers' feeds.

 To avoid this happening again, develop a pipeline of automated updates to be posted when your followers are actually going to see them. We use Iconosquare to find out when most of our followers are online. The service analyzes your followers’ activities and reports back with the best time to schedule your posts.

 Posting when the largest portion of your followers are online will ensure your content is working overtime for you.

 Ask for Engagement

 A lot of brands will start Instagram accounts and become frustrated when people aren't engaging with their photos.

 It seems so obvious and simple, but sometimes actually asking for your audience to engage makes all the difference. You can either include the action you want your followers to take as part of the image itself, or include it in the description of your post.

 The best tactic? Both ... as long as it's specific and actionable. For example, ask them to "double tap" if they agree with your post, or tell them to tag a friend like we did in this post:

 Instagram is a social platform with tremendous potential for businesses in almost any industry. And if you use Instagram strategically, it can have a significant impact on your reach, brand awareness, and ultimately the revenue of your company.

 Have you tried any of the tips above? Let us know what's working for your business in the comments section below.

How to Build Your Brand With Instagram: 4 Tried-and-True Tips

Top 10 Ways to Ensure New Years Resolution Success

Top 10 Ways to Ensure New Years Resolution Success
By Amy Ahlers

Did you know that fewer than 10% of people who set New Years' Resolutions actually achieve them? How can you ensure YOUR success? Try using the Top 10 Tips below.

1. Write Them Down. It's a fact: writing down your goals gives you a higher chance of success.

2. Commit. Move beyond the land of "good ideas" to the land of true "commitment". Make the decision that you will show up for your goals. Perhaps you can do a ritual or ceremony to symbolize your commitment.

3. Go Public. Let your biggest fans in on your new commitments and goals for the year.

4. Get Accountability. Even better than just letting others in on your "secret" dreams and goals-get some accountability. Meet for lunch once a month with a group that will ask you, "So, how's it going with your goal?" Hire a Coach. Talk to your best friend or partner. Get some support!

5. Make a Plan. Ensure success with a step-by-step plan. I love to work backwards by starting with the end vision of where you want to be and working backwards to where you are today. You'll find an easy action plan to make your goals a reality.

6. Do a Goal Check-In. Before you decide on what you'll take on for the year, make certain you can answer, "YES!" to the following questions: "Am I the primary reason for setting this goal (vs. your mom, boyfriend, wife, boss, society)? Do I feel alive and energized by this goal? Is this goal in line with my life purpose or mission?"

7. Get Real! If you're contemplating putting a goal down that you always put down and never achieve, take a second look. How will this goal end DIFFERENTLY this year? Is this goal something you need to let go of? What purpose is it serving you each year? Is this goal masking as a form of self-punishment? What is the good enough reason to truly commit?

8. Focus With Reminders. Once you've written down your goals, created a plan and made sure they are worthy to pursue, figure out ways to remind yourself. Some clients post their goals in on their bathroom mirror or in their car. Others put reminders in their blackberries, iPhones or cell phones. Figure out what works for you.

9. Believe and Visualize. Do you know the story about the group of basketball players who spent one hour visualizing making baskets, while another group actually practiced? The visualizing players had better seasons! So visualize yourself on New Years Eve with all your goals achieved. What would that look like? How would it feel? Visualize once a day and see the difference it can make in your life.

10. Use anchors. Tie your goal to a habit you already have in place. Perhaps you decide to do your exercise right after brushing your teeth, or practice meditation after checking email. Anchoring your new behavior and goals to an existing habit is a great tool for success. May this year be the year that your goals and dreams manifest with ease and joy!

Top 10 Ways to Ensure New Years Resolution Success