how to use social networking sites for beginners

How to Use Social Networking Sites for Beginners

21. Privacy
Frankly, we could write an entire book on Facebook privacy. But in the interest of time, we ll mention the major types of privacy you need to be aware of as a Facebook user.

  • Inter user privacy: Friends with your boss on Facebook? Consider adding him or her to a list. Then you can choose what updates they can view. You may also choose to limit certain lists from viewing posts other people tag you in by visiting the basic privacy Settings.


  • Public profile: You can control the information non friends can see on your public profile. Almost every feature of your profile has an edit option, which allows you to select who can view that information (public, friends only, only you, etc.). Learn more here.

    Third party access: In order to use Facebook Open Graph apps like Spotify and Pinterest, those companies need to access certain information on your profile. They ll ask for permissions before you begin using the app. Be aware that each app has different privacy risks. If you don t want that information to be accessible through Facebook s APIs, learn how to turn off access. Similarly, you can also opt out of Facebook social ads the ads that appear to you based on brands your friends like.Facebook privacy can be complicated. See our additional privacy guides for more detailed information:
    22. Facebook Apps
    Built on the social networks Open Graph (a collection of your preferences, likes, interests and activity on Facebook and from around the web), Facebook apps allow you to personalize and enhance your participation on the social network. They can add anything from games (FarmVille) to photo albums to quizzes to music (Spotify). Most of Facebook s apps come from outside developers that use Facebook s API. Many represent strong partnerships and add additional social layers, like Washington Post Social Reader and Foursquare.

    Enabling each Facebook app means granting that app permission to access data on your profile and post on your behalf. This often means sharing on your Timeline how you interact with that app. For example, when you use the Spotify app, the company will share songs you listen to on your Timeline for your friends to see and interact with unless you choose to hide that activity. (Keep in mind many of these sharing options can be customized.)

    A word of caution: Well made apps can add a fun and engaging layer to your Facebook experience, but using too many of them or requesting others to join might annoy your friends (and in the worst cases, compromise their privacy). You should only use apps recommended by friends you trust, or provided by reputable companies.
    23. Subscribe
    When enabled, Facebook Subscribe reveals certain features and updates on your Timeline to the public. (Don t worry, you can control what information people see.)

    The feature is especially useful for celebrities and journalists and other public figures who wish to interact with fans or followers without granting them access to their private profiles. Its similar to Twitter s very public and transparent nature. If a person has enabled Subscribe, youll see the button on the top right of his or her Timeline.

    Many users opt out of Subscribe, choosing simply to interact with approved friends. But keep in mind that the tool may be useful for specific cases, such as making yourself a little more transparent when applying for a job (assuming everything is appropriate). You re automatically subscribed to all your friends, but try searching for celebs or personalities who have enabled the feature more are participating every day.

    For more tips of getting the most out of Subscribe, check out these resources:
    24. Facebook Mobile
    Facebook created a mobile app to supplement your desktop browsing. The app presents a scaled down News Feed and simplified Timeline, but still offers a surprising amount of features. You can chat, use Facebook apps, add photos, view activity by list and, of course, post status updates.

    The major distinguishing feature of Facebook mobile is the check in. While you still have the capability to check in via desktop, mobile users use Facebook s location feature far more frequently, for obvious reasons. Visiting your favorite restaurant or taking your kids to a theme park? Let everyone know your whereabouts, and even tag friends who are with you.

    This guide really just scratches the surface of Facebooks core features and culture. Theres a lot more to explore, but this primer should get any Facebook newbie up to speed.
    25. How are people using Facebook
    Since its inception, Facebook has become an integral component of peoples online social presence. For many, Facebook is the only online social network in which they participate, though the level of engagement varies across the user spectrum. From those that check the network periodically throughout the week to those who are almost compulsively active, the core driving force to participation is connection: connecting with colleagues, friends old and new, alumni networks, and for an increasing percentage of users, even professional connections.

    The network itself has transformed into one with highly customizable privacy and visibility settings. Users can dial down their visibility to the point where they are nearly invisible on the platform. They can choose which posts or updates are visible and to whom. Conversely, those users who have chosen a more all in approach can leave everything completely public, from the images theyre tagged in to their active stream on Spotify.Features go beyond the individual users page to brand pages, events, groups, and now a pseudo standalone messenger service.

    1. Groups are user created and have varying levels of privacy and security, much like individual profiles. Users can organize groups around any topic or event they like. From professionally relevant groups to those organized around special interests, such as nutrition, the variety is limited only by interest of the users. These groups have undoubtedly been a welcome and sticky addition to the platform over time.

    2. Events allow users to organize around a point in time. Security here is fairly customizable, allowing for public, private, and somewhere in between events. A key feature here is the baked in ability to export your Facebook events to other calendars, no doubt increasing usage and reliance on this feature that blends users personal and professional lives.

    3. Business pages have been an evolutionary product for Facebook. Over the years, they have taken several different shapes, though they are fairly stable today. Like other types of pages, the feature set is ever evolving as they add more to meet the needs of the marketers behind the brands efforts. Facebook has recently added more features in terms of analytics, reporting, security, and access, as well as increased the richness available to those wishing to dive into Facebook advertising.

    4. Facebook Messenger is a new way to combine email, instant messenger, and Facebook messages. As new stand alone group message services popped up throughout 2010 and 2011, Facebook clearly saw an opportunity and acquired one of the more popular group messaging apps known as Beluga. They have since re branded this app as Facebook Messenger. On iOS, Blackberry, and Android devices, this is a stand alone app, but it also integrates across the Facebook app and web experiences.

    As users increasingly rely on social platforms, these social networks will grow and respond as Facebook has. While theres still a great deal of opportunity in this space, Facebook offers users the most choice for the many facets of their lives while enabling flexibility for privacy and visibility. As users continue to adopt new behaviors and ultimately expectations, Facebook will need to continue to adapt to stay at the top of the social pile, so expect continued change and evolution. This change is necessary and beneficial, but can be frustrating from a marketing perspective.
    26. Facebook Overview
    But first, a thumbnail: Facebook is the Internets most widely used social network, with nearly 1 billion people using it to connect with old friends and meet new ones. Its stated mission is to make the world more open and connected by connecting people and facilitating communication between them.People use Facebook to create personal profiles, add other users as Facebook friends and share information with them in myriad ways. How Facebook works can be a bit mysterious to new users, but its all about communication, so learning the networks core communication tools is essential.After signing up and adding friends, people communicate with some or all of their Facebook friends by sending private, semi private or public messages. Messages can take the form of a status update (also called a post), a private Facebook message, a comment about a friends post or status, or a quick click of the like button to show support for a friends update or a companys Facebook page.Once they learn Facebook, most users share all kinds of content photos, videos, music, jokes, and more. They also join Facebook interest groups to communicate with like minded people whom they might not otherwise know. After growing familiar with how Facebook works, most people also use special Facebook applications that are available to plan events, play games and engage in other activities.
    27. New Facebook Account Set Up
    The first step in using Facebook is to sign up and get a new Facebook account. Go to www.facebook.com and fill out the Sign Up form on the right. You should give your real first and last name along with your email address and the rest of the form. Click the green sign up button at the bottom when youre done.Facebook will send a message to the email address you provided with a link asking you to confirm your email address.Youll need to do this if you want full access to Facebooks features. If youre signing up to create a business or product related page on Facebook, click the link below the sign up form that says create a page for a celebrity, band, or business
    28. How Facebook Timeline Profile Works
    After signing up for Facebook, skip the next part where it asks to import your email contacts to help build your friend list. You can do that later. First you should fill out your Facebook profile before you start connecting with many friends, so theyll have something to see when you send them a friend request.Facebook calls its profile area your Timeline because it arranges your life in chronological order and displays a running list of your activities on Facebook.At the top of the Timeline is a large horizontal banner image which Facebook calls your cover photo. Inset below it is an area reserved for a smaller, square profile picture of you. You can upload the image of your choice; until you do, a shadowy avatar will appear.Your Timeline page is also where you can upload basic biographical information about yourself education, work, hobbies, interests. Relationship status is a big deal on Facebook, too, though you dont have to publicize your relationship status if you dont feel like it. This Timeline/profile area is where other people will go to check you out on Facebook, its also where you can go to check out your friends because each of them has a Timeline/profile page.Our Facebook Timeline Tutorial explains much more about how to fill out your profile and use the Timeline interface to edit what people will see when they visit your Facebook profile.
    29. Find and Connect with Friends on Facebook
    After filling out your profile, you can start adding friends by sending them a friend request via an internal Facebook message or to their email address if you know it. If they click to accept your friend request, their name and a link to their profile/Timeline page will automatically appear on your list of Facebook friends. Facebook offers various ways to find friends, including a scan of your existing email contact list if you grant access to your email account.Searching for individuals by name is another option. Our Facebook search tutorial explains how Facebook search works, so you can look for people you know on Facebook. As soon as you have a few friends and have liked some companies, comments or products, then Facebooks automated friend recommendation tool will kick in and start showing you links to people you may know. If you recognize their face when their profile image appears on your Facebook page, you can just click the link to send them a friend request.
    30. Organize your Facebook Friends
    Once you have a lot of friend connections, its a good idea to organize your Facebook friends into lists, so you can send different types of messages to different groups. TheFacebook friends listfeature is a great way to manage your friends to accomplish that.You can also choose tohide Facebook friendswhose messages you dont really want to see; the hide feature allows you to maintain yourFacebook friendshipwith someone while keeping their messages from cluttering up your daily stream of Facebook updates.Its really useful for dealing with friends who publish minutia of their lives.