Introduction to Facebook
Note: If you’re a regular reader, this post might be old hat for you. It’s one of several tutorials arising from a session I did recently on social meda.
Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites these days. When you join, you set up a profile page with your picture and a few facts as you see fit - your location, schools you’ve gone to, where you work, etc. Facebook then helps you to find people you know and connect to them by adding them to your friends list.
Reasons you might want to join:
- stay in touch with family and friends. If your kids are in their 20s or 30s, there’s a very good chance they’re on there already, posting baby photos as we speak. Or dog pictures. Those are popular too
- reconnect with long-lost contacts
- join groups that share your interest. For the Sunshine Coast there’s a group for babysitters and parents, one for organized hikes on local trails, one that declares “Gibsons Is not a F*cking Island”…
Things to be aware of if you join:
- “friends” in a social networking site has a looser definition than in real life. It’s up to you to define who fits for you. Some people include absolutely anyone they’ve ever been friendly with, others keep it more private.
- Facebook (aka Crackbook) is addictive when you first join. A real timesuck!
- Take the time to edit your preferences; they affect your level of privacy. You can have a limited profile which you show to some friends while others get a full profile. (e.g. hide your phone number from that guy you barely remember from high school while showing it to your inner circle)
- Though it’s against Facebook policies to set up fake profiles, phonies happen.
Once you have friends (nice feeling, isn’t it?), Facebook will show you a news feed of recent activity by your friends. So you’ll know that Sarah’s bummed about the weather and Joe just became engaged. This newsfeed can be adjusted to filter out the less desirable updates, if you choose.
But to some, Facebook isn’t just a place for fun. It’s also an interesting way to do some marketing and serious networking, which I go into a bit in Ways to Leverage your Facebook Network.
Other posts in this series:
- Blogging 101: Intro to Blogging
- Blogging 201: 5 Simple Blog Promotion Ideas
- Introduction to Social Media
- Ways to Leverage your Facebook Network
Posted: January 18th, 2008 under Computers & Tech, Marketing, Web Tips.
Comments: none
Next post: Ways to leverage your Facebook network »
Write a comment