How To Use Facebook

What is Facebook?

Facebook is a social networking site that helps people connect and share with others around the world, or as Mark Z. likes to think of it, “

[Facebook] was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected.” It has 1.44 billion monthly active users in over 200 countries, and the number continues to rise.

History

FB was created in February 2004, when Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard friends wanted a social networking site for Harvard students. However, once Zuckerberg realized how much potential theFacebook.com had, he sought to make that vision a reality. In late 2004, Sean Parker, an angel investor, became President of thefacebook.com and changed its name to facebook.com. Since then, the site quickly expanded into multiple universities and high schools; by 2006, anyone who was over the age of 13 was allowed to create a Facebook account.

What Can I Do With Facebook?

Facebook can be used for both casual and professional use. You can create your own profile, connect with others, and share your life experiences with others online. In addition, you can:

• See your friends’ updates and posts
• Share photos and videos
• Share information about you
• Create events and invite your friends
• Create or join a group
• Use FB Chat to IM your friends who are online
• Play games and use applications
• Connect with businesses and celebrities
• Connect your account to other sites

How do I create a Facebook account?

Step 1: Register

Go to www.facebook.com/ and enter your full name, email, password (letters and numbers), birthday, and sex. Then click “Sign Up”.

image001

 

Step 2: Verify Your Email

After you click on the “Sign Up” button, you will be directed to a page that asks you if you want to send any friend requests. You can continue to do that and skip Step 2 for now, but remember to verify your account. It should take no longer than five minutes for the email to arrive. In my Gmail, the verification email looked like this:

image003

When you open it, you will see a “Confirm Your Account” box and a Confirmation Code below it. You will need to enter your 5-digit code after you click on the “Confirm Your Account” box. The email message should look similar to this:

image005

Step 3: Find Your Friends

The first thing you want to do is find your friends! They will ask you to use an email contact list to find your friends. You can also skip this step, but (especially if you have big email contact lists) it will help you find your Facebook friends thus saving you time. What’s even better is that you get to choose who to send friend requests to; so why not try it and see who you find?

image007

Step 4: Add Profile Picture

Now that you’ve sent some friend requests, it’s time to add a profile picture! It is against Facebook rules to use misleading or deceiving profiles and people take Facebook personally, so use a real picture of you. However, if you don’t have any photos of you to use right now, click “Skip”. You can change it at any time.

image009

Step 5: Add a Cover Photo

It’s time to add some life to your Facebook profile! After you’ve either added a Facebook profile photo or skipped it, you should have landed on your Facebook profile.

*If you do not see your Facebook profile, click on your first name or your profile picture in the blue bar at the top:

image011

You can easily add or change your cover photo by clicking the camera icon on the top left corner of your cover photo space.

Facebook cover photos are important because they set the tone when someone visits your page. They also give you another chance to share something visually (check out the picture below). Just remember, cover photos are public meaning ANYONE can see it. If you want to browse through some cover photos that were designed just for Facebook, click this link: http://coverphotofinder.com/

image013

Step 6: Who Are You?

Most people who create Facebook accounts use their real, personal information in their profiles, and we recommend you do the same. You don’t have to use your legal name. You can go by a nickname as well. As long as your friends, family, and coworkers can recognize who you are.

You do not have to fill out every box, but there are seven sections you should be aware of:

• Overview
• Work and Education
• Places You’ve Lived
• Contact and Basic Info
• Family and Relationships
• Details About You
• Life Events

Even if you don’t want to fill it out, I recommend you at least fill out the basic Overview section.

image015

Step 7: Profile Overview

Timeline

The Facebook Timeline displays things you post, upload, share, or things such as your friends’ wall posts, your statuses, pictures you were tagged in, links, events, and videos. It also shows significant events such as new relationship statuses (single → in a relationship with ________)
image017

Friends

All of your Facebook friends will show up in this section. Once you add some friends, you will be able to search through all of them by clicking on a search bar that will appear.

image019

Photos

Browse through all your photos and videos and your friends’ photos that you are tagged in. You can also choose your profile photo from any photo you are tagged in.

image021

More

This tab actually has some cool things you can use! For example, I love to use Facebook’s “Notes” app for To Do lists, grocery lists, and even movies I want to watch. These are all the available resources in the “More” tab; I highlighted the best ones:

• Videos
• Places
• Sports
• Music
• Movies
• TV Shows
• Books
• Likes
• Events
• Groups
• Reviews
• Notes

image023

Facebook Home Page Overview

Facebook’s home page consists of six major sections:

1. Facebook Toolbar
2. Facebook Shortcuts
3. Facebook Status Box
4. Facebook News Feed
5. Facebook Chat
6. Trending and Suggested Links

image025

1. Facebook Toolbar

image027

1) On the very left, you have your Facebook logo, which directs you back to your Facebook News Feed.

2) Then you have your search bar. It allows you to search all of Facebook for whatever you search for whether it be a person, an organization, or an interest.

3) The small picture of you and your first name will take you back to your Facebook Profile.

4) The “Home” button takes you back to your Facebook News Feed. It does the same thing as the Facebook logo on the very top left.

5) “Find Friends” will help you find new friends.

6) The icon with two people indicates statuses of Friend Requests such as when someone sends you a friend request or when someone accepts your friend request.

7) This chat bubble icon will open up your Facebook Messages tab. If you want to see all your messages, you can click on “See All Messages” at in this. If you click on one of the previous conversations, a mini chat box will pop up on the bottom of the window.

8) The logo of the Earth will deliver nearly all your Facebook notifications regarding birthdays, group notices, likes, shares, event reminders, etc. This icon is like checking your email for Facebook.

9) The logo of the lock is your Facebook Privacy Settings. You can control who can see your Facebook profile and how much, you can control who can contact you, and you can block people.

10) The downward arrow is your “General Settings”. They have many helpful tools and account settings such as:

• Create a New Page
• Create a New Group
• Find Groups
• Create Advertisements
• Learn How to Advertise on Facebook
• See Your Activity
• Set Your New Feed Preferences
• Change Your Account Settings
• Log Out
• Request Help
• Access Your Support Inbox
• Report a Problem

2. Facebook Shortcuts

image029

1) Profile Shortcuts – Your name will take you to your Facebook profile. “Edit Profile” will allow you to edit your profile.

2) Favorites

a. Welcome – Will help you fill up your Facebook profile

b. News Feed – Will take you to your Facebook New Feed or Facebook Home Page

c. Messages – Will take you to Facebook Messages, where you can chat with your friends or send them messages, pictures, videos, links, and documents

d. Events – Shows upcoming events, events you’ve been invited to, and events that your friends may be going to. You can also search for public events near you if you are looking to try something new.

3) Apps – This section will eventually fill up with apps that you use regularly and it will come in handy and here Facebook’s best apps 2015. However, check out these two cool Facebook apps:

a. On This Day – Over time, as you develop more content on Facebook by adding friends, pictures, videos, links, your Facebook will have its own story to tell and this unique app allows you to see the activity your Facebook page saw this date maybe one, two, or even seven years ago.

b. Pokes – This is one of my favorite Facebook apps! You can “poke” your friends as if to say “what’s up?”. A fun thing to do is to get into “poke wars” where two people will continue to poke each other until one gives up, in which case the winner had the last poke. But you can’t send consecutive pokes and harass someone… If you poke somebody, you have to wait before you poke them again. Facebook does not tolerate harassment in its online community.

4) Pages – Facebook pages can be about nearly anything: interests, hobbies, sports, sport teams, technology, schools, businesses, non-profits, orchestras, etc. and anyone can make one! People from all around the world have already created millions of Facebook Pages in hundreds of different languages so check some out! There are many interesting pages with owners who are extremely committed to their pages.

a. Pages News Feed – It’s just like your social News Feed but about the pages you follow

b. Like Pages – A great way to discover new pages! I think it should be called “Explore Pages”.

c. Create Page – Everyone can create a page and all they have to do is click on this to get started! However, I will not get into any details right now on how to create an awesome Facebook Page.

5) Groups – Once you start joining some Facebook Groups, the ones you follow and engage with the most will show up here. Groups offer a great opportunity to meet new people with similar interests. And just like Facebook Pages, you can create a Facebook Group. It can be public and free-to-join or private and invite-only. There are more privacy options so be sure to check them out before you put your page live.

6) Events – Search by name, location, time, you got it. There are tons of events on Facebook from small local events to large events. Upcoming events you RSVP’d to will show up in this section. You can also make your own event, customizing it so that it is either public or private.

3. Facebook Status Box

image031

1) Text Box – Type your status here!

2) Update Status – This is what your Facebook Status Box will be defaulted as and it is what will allow you to share any thought, link, quote, memory, story, etc. by typing it in the text box where it says “What’s on your mind?” then clicking “Post”

3) Add Photos/Videos – When you click on this tab, a new window will open up and ask you which photos you would like to upload to Facebook. Just select the ones you want to upload and you are good to go! If you have added some Friends, Facebook may recognize them and will make fairly accurate photo tags.

4) Create Photo Album – This tab is very cool. It allows you to create photo albums, which you can name, date, and even locate on a map. All you have to do is select all the photos you want to put into an album then select Enter. In addition, Facebook has a facial recognition tool that will save you a ton of time when you are trying to tag all your friends so don’t worry!

5) “Add Photos To Your Post” – This camera icon allows you to add a photo along with your Facebook status. Photos are better than text because they show exactly what you want to portray. It has also been proven that images attract more attention and leave a more lasting impression on Facebook. (If this doesn’t show up, click the Text Box)

6) “Tag People in Your Post” – This “Friend Request” icon will allow you to tag your friends in your post. You status will look something like “At the Rangers game – with ______________ and ______________”. (If this doesn’t show up, click the Text Box)

7) “Add What You’re Doing or Feeling” – This fun new feature allows you to share what you are up to or how you are feeling. They have a hundreds of emotions and activities on their list so you are bound to find something that fits your life. (If this doesn’t show up, click the Text Box)

8) “Add a Location to Post” – This map marker icon allows you to share where you are at the moment. It could be an airport, a city, a restaurant, the Eiffel Tower… (If this doesn’t show up, click the Text Box)

9) “Who Should See This?” – This crucial privacy feature allows you to choose who can see this status/post/pictures. You have a variety of options from public (so anyone can see it) to only me (where you might want to leave a note or link to a cool Amazon product for yourself).

10) “Post” – This may be the most obvious button of all. It allows you to finalize your status and share it with the world (or maybe just yourself)!

4. Facebook News Feed

image033

This gray, empty area is where your Facebook content will be. Once your profile gets active by adding some friends, liking pages, and joining groups, Facebook will feed you a variety of posts based on either:

Top Stories – As of April 2015, we know Facebook prioritizes content that is posted by the friends you care about and the “Liked” pages you care about. The new update also decreased the importance of posts such as “Your friend likes __________” or “Your friend comment on ___________”. April 2015 Facebook News Feed Update

Most Recent – This option will sort all of your Facebook news feed in chronological order. I like using this option once in a while because I get to see what everyone is doing. You never know what your elementary school friends might be doing right now.

Here is how you filter your Facebook News Feed:

image035

5. Facebook Chat

image037

The Facebook Chat Box in the lower right corner of the window allows you to instant message all your friends who are on Facebook live. If you have many chat boxes open, the extras will move to the left of the screen, in which you will be able to scroll through your different chat boxes.

If you want to see all your messages, click on the message icon at the top of the screen (as we covered earlier), then click “See All Messages”.

6. “Trending” and “Suggested” Section

image039

1) This is where “Trending” Facebook posts will show up. The current most popular and talked-about topics on Facebook will show up in this section. There are five topics of “Trending” posts you can select from:

2) Top Trends
3) Politics
4) Science and Technology
5) Sports
6) Entertainment

7) Suggested Groups are groups that Facebook thinks you may be interested in. They try to guess what might interest you based on what kind of posts you click on and possibly even what other sites you visit.

8) Suggested Pages are similar to suggested groups except they are pages… Pages differ from groups in that groups usually allow more open communication as opposed to Facebook pages.

Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world with over 1.4 billion users in over 200 countries. It provides users with an easy way to connect and share with others, and many people expect others to have Facebook profiles. Even some companies expect professionals to have Facebook profiles and expect them to be professional.

Related Links

Mahalo – How to Use Facebook
How Facebook Works
How to Make an Attractive Facebook Profile
How to Take a Great Social Media Picture