Facebook is the principal digital public square of today. Well, it is the principal digital public square for those of a certain era (i. e. post-college, the young'ns aren't in it! ) But Zuck & Co's site is still an incredibly integral virtual venue and can continue to be for some time.

While Facebook's business model has progressed away from just Facebook. com to include its mobile incarnation and other associated apps, the old familiar website is still the preferred venue for many. And why not? Facebook. com one of the most advanced public-facing websites out there.

Facebook is a magnet for some of the top engineering talent in the world, so it makes sense that the company would boast one of the world's most complex and multi-faceted websites. It rivals many standalone software programs with the sheer amount of personalization, tweaks, and tinkering available to visitors.

In fact, there are so many things you can do on Fb. com that you probably don't know about them all.

And we're not even talking about the third-party Facebook programs or browser add-ons, we're speaking about all the official, baked-in, readily available functions that are simply a few clicks away. As you'll see in our slideshow, as well as some functions that seem to be leftovers from bygone eras that we're not even sure Fb still knows are there. Get a look and awaken your inner power user social super star.

Messenger is so much more than a mere messenger.

Facebook's standalone messaging platform, the aptly named Facebook Messenger, has become almost as popular as Facebook itself. Since April, Messenger had 900 , 000, 000 monthly users.

But Zuck & Co. seem to have far bigger plans for Messenger than just being Facebook's chatty kid cousin. In recent months, Fb has packed a great deal of cool (and fairly unexpected) functionality into Messenger and has hinted at much more to come. For example , the company recently partnered with KLM Airlines to allow Messenger to be a boarding pass (which we didn't get a chance to test) and is rumored to be developing mobile payment functionality for retail stores (which we very much look forward to testing).

It seems that Facebook, Inc. is grooming Messenger to become an all-in-one productivity/communication platform. But even in its current state, Messenger is one of the most flexible messaging applications out there. I certainly learned a lot while researching this article.

One note of caution: For all your resources Facebook has packed into Messenger, it quickly became apparent during the writing of this feature that cross-OS accordance was not one of its guiding principles. Messenger's functionality can differ greatly across devices. I tested these Messenger features on an iPad, Android phone (an older Galaxy phone operating Lollipop to be specific), and the Web software. Even though features aren't completely missing from particular systems, they might need to be accessed in radically different ways. Just know that when attempting any Messenger magic yourself. Good good fortune!