If you’ve ever spent any time with computer software — which we’re assuming you have being that you’re reading this blog — you’ll know how much time you can save by using keyboard shortcuts. Not sure what that means? It’s simply a way of navigating a program through the use of key-strokes as opposed to running back and forth across the screen with the mouse.

In this article we’ll take a look at the keyboard shortcuts for the top 3 social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Lets start with Facebook.

They have the most complicated shortcuts of the three services because the sequences are different depending on which browser you’re using. Below are the key combinations for each one, replace the # with the correct access key number:

Internet Explorer for PC: Alt + #, then enter

Firefox for PC: Shift + Alt + #

Safari for Mac: Ctrl + Opt + #

Firefox for Mac: Ctrl + Opt + #

Chrome for Mac: Ctrl + Opt + #

Chrome for PC: Alt + #

Now, replace the # with the number of the function you want. These are as follows:

0 – Help

1 – Home

2 – Timeline

3 – Friends

4 – Inbox

5 – Notifications

6 – Settings

7 – Activity Log

8 – About

9 – Terms

Now, above are the main navigation shortcuts. They also have simpler keyboard shortcuts for other operations. These work a bit differently and luckily they’re more straight forward:

j and k – Scroll between News Feed stories.

enter/return – See more of selected story

p – Post a new status

l – Like or Unlike a status

c – Comment on selected story

s – Share selected story

o – Open an attachment from selected story

/ – Search

q – Search chat contacts

? – Open a list of these shortcuts while in News Feed

And finally, we have another set of shortcuts for the Web Messenger:

CTRL + g – Search conversations

CTRL + q – Show/hide keyboard shortcuts

CTRL + Delete – Archive/unarchive conversation

CTRL + j – Mark as spam

CTRL + m – Start a new message

CTRL + i – Go to Inbox

CTRL + u – Go to other

The shortcuts for Facebook are a little bit clunky and honestly, quite confusing if you happen to be jumping between browsers very often. However, if you handle busy accounts it would be well worth it to stick to one browser and commit these to memory.

Next, let’s move on to Twitter.

Navigation

j/k to move between the next and previous tweets

Enter to drill down into or close a selected tweet

space to page down

Shift+space to page up

/ to jump to the search box

. to refresh and jump back to the top

Navigating Timelines

g then h to go home

g then r to go to your replies/mentions

g then p to go to your profile

g then f to go to your favorites

g then m to go to your direct messages

g then u then search to view any user’s timeline

Actions for Individual Tweets

f to favorite a tweet

r to reply to a tweet

t to retweet

m to send a direct message

n to compose a new tweet

Escape to cancel a compose window, dismiss the help window

As you can see, Twitter has a much more streamlined approach to shortcuts but this is likely just due to the fact that their platform is more suited to keyboard navigation.

Finally, lets move on to Google+:

Key Action

@         Send feedback to Google

/           Select the search box at top of page

Left       Navigate to icons on left

Right    Navigate from icons on left to main page

j             Move down in the stream

k            Move up in the stream

l             Load new posts

n            Move to the next comment on current post

p            Move to the previous comment on current post

r             Comment on the current post

?             Open the full list of keyboard shortcuts

Whew…That’s a lot to take in. It seems like a lot of stuff to memorize, but most people end up learning them one or two at a time — using them for their most repeated tasks such as scrolling and liking for example. For more helpful tips on navigating the complex world that is social media, visit us at www.rpmmn.com and check out our blog for free advice!