Tips on How to Use Facebook

With the increasing popularity of social media sites and the most recent revamp to Facebook, this month’s article is focused on the basics of Facebook – how to get set up, how to navigate the home page and how to interact with your online community. 

Caution should be exercised in all online communities. Be sure to set your privacy options. Think carefully about public photos and information. Consider what employers or customers, etc. would think of your profile and updates.

Getting Set Up
To register go to the Facebook homepage.
Enter your full name.
Enter your email address and password.
Select male or female.
Select your birthday.
Click on the Signup button.
Enter the security question.
Go to your email that you used to join Facebook.
Open the Registration confirmation email from Facebook.
Click on the verification link.
For Step 1 (find friends) click Skip this step for now.

Set Up Your Profile Information

• If you have just joined Facebook the Profile tab is displayed after the add friends step. (If you logged out of Facebook before setting up a profile, then click Profile/Info/Edit Information.)
• Set up a profile picture or click Skip this step to add it later. 
• Enter basic information. If you only want to show the month and day of your birthday and not the year, select Show only month and day in my profile from the box underneath the birthday field.
• To enter Personal, Contact and Education information, click on the appropriate section and enter the information. If you do not want specific information displayed in your profile, leave the field blank.
• When you have completed a section, click on the Save changes button before moving to another section.
• To write a brief bio that will be shown on your profile page, add it to the About me section in the personal information page.
• When you have completed your profile, click on the Done editing button and the information is saved.

Set Profile Privacy
On Facebook, there are three basic levels of privacy: Friends, Friends of Friends, Everyone. You also have a set of publicly available information, which helps your friends find and connect with you. This includes your Name, Profile Picture, Current City, Gender, Networks, Friend List and Pages. Remember, any information that's visible to everyone may be seen by everyone on the internet. Additionally, it may be visible in search engines (if you choose to be public).

• To set who can see your profile information, click Account (upper right hand corner)/Privacy Setting/Profile Information.
• To change the privacy level for a specific type of profile information, select Everyone, Friends of Friends or Only Friends.
• To specify specific networks or certain people to not see specific information, select the Customize option next to the section in your profile that you want to restrict.
• When you have finished modifying the privacy settings, click on the Back to privacy button. Then set your privacy settings for your Contact information.
• Set your Search privacy. You can control who can find your profile through the Facebook search feature. If you do not want everyone to be able to see you in the Facebook search feature, select who you want to be able to find you.  You can also select to be viewed publicly on the internet (or not).

Find and Add Friends

• Find Friends - Use the Friends button (left hand side) to find friends, add new friends and invite people you know to join Facebook. Friends are people who can see your status updates, access your profile and receive news feeds about you. Most people approve people as Facebook friends if they are people they know. If someone wants to add you to their friends list, you must approve them before they can access your profile. If you add someone as a friend, they must also approve you before you can see their information.  To view your full list of friends go to Profile/Friends (left hand side)/See all.
• Search for Friends  -  You can search by the person's name, search people who attended your school or people who work at a place of employment. To search enter the name of the person in the Search field and click on the Search icon. To add the person displayed as a friend, click Add as friend. If you want to add a personal message with your friend request, click Add a personal message. An email is sent to the friend for them to approve your request.
• Accept Friends  - If someone adds you as a friend, you must accept them as a friend before they can access your profile. If you have selected to be notified by email on your Settings tab, you will be sent an email. There will also be a message at the top right of your home page that says [X] Friend requests. Click on it and to add the person, click on the Confirm button. The person can now access your profile. If you do not want to add the person as a friend, click on the Ignore button. The person is not notified that you ignored them.
• Remove a Friend  - If you no longer want to be friends with a person, you can remove them from your friends list. View the person's profile by clicking on their name on your Wall or News feed. A message box asking if you want to remove them is displayed in the lower right hand corner. To remove them, click on the Remove from friends button. You can also go to Profile/Friends/See All and on the list, click on the X beside their profile (remove connection).

Friend Lists
Friend Lists provide organized groupings of your friends and contacts. For example, you can create a Friend list for your friends that are in your book club. You can filter your view of each list’s stream of activity separately on the home page. Friend Lists allow you to send messages and invites to these groups of people all at once. You can also specify which lists can see each update you post.

• To create and customize your own Friend lists: Click on Friends (right hand side) and Click the Create a list. Or go to Profile/Friends/See All, click the Create new list button. Type the title of your list. Add friends to the list by typing their names into the Find friend field or selecting them from the friends list. Select Create list to store your changes.
• In addition, you can add or remove friends from lists by using the drop-down menu that appears next to their names on the All friends page.

Navigating

Exploring the Facebook Toolbar and Tabs

• The Toolbar at the left hand side and top right of your screen lets you navigate through Facebook. Use the Facebook button to return to your Facebook homepage or you can use the Home button. Your Facebook page displays information about your Facebook friends. Activities on your home page include:
• News Feed - This displays activities about your friends such as when they add friends, join groups, add photo albums or post updates or write on a friend's wall. The amount of information displayed about a friend depends on their privacy settings.  You can filter your News feed -  click on Friends on the left hand side to view your options for filtering the News feed, which include Friend lists and Status updates. Click on one of these options to see News feed stories about recent status updates or the friends you've added to a certain list.
• Photos - This left hand side tab displays your friend's photo albums. The photo albums displayed in this tab depends on the privacy setting selected for the photo albums.
• Profile button (top right menu) - Use the Profile button to view and edit your Profile. Your profile is the place where you share information with your friends, such as photos, information and messages.
  There are four  tabs for your Profile page.
  Wall - This tab displays messages that your friends leave for you.
  Info - This tab displays your personal information.
  Photos - This tab displays pictures that you posted.
  Boxes - The Boxes tab is the home for all of your applications.
• Messages button (left hand side) - Use this button to read messages from your friends and send messages to your friends. Messages are a way to communicate when you do not want the message posted publicly on their wall.  Messages are private. From the Message screen, select  New Message. Enter the name of the person you want to send a message to (it will bring up a list to select from), the subject and the message. Click the Send button. To read messages sent to you, go to Messages and click on the subject line.
• Notifications (icon on top left side) – Facebook notifies you whenever actions are taken on Facebook that involve you (someone writes on your wall, comments on a picture, etc.).