Vermont’s 23 Things

#11 Facebook

1. Here are some resources to get you started on Facebook:

About Facebook
Facebook entry on Wikipedia
Michael Porter’s BIGWIG 2007 Facebook Presentation
12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally

2. Go to Facebook and sign up for an account. It’s pretty straightforward, but here are some instructions, should you want them:

Enter account information and enter a birthdate that makes you over 18.
Put a check in the box next to I have read and agree to Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Click on Sign Up Now.
Check your e-mail account and find the e-mail from Facebook.
Click on the link in the e-mail.
You will be taken to a page that tells you your account has been created and you are invited to start finding friends.
Click on Skip for now.
The next screen will have you adding data to your profile. When you’re done, click Save.

3. Join a network. Some networks are geographical - a state or large city. Others are workplaces. (Some networks will be hidden from you unless you join them and some networks you won’t be able to join unless you fulfill some requirements. While you can have friends from these networks, you can’t see what’s going on in the network.)

4. Set privacy settings

5. Upload a picture to your profile.

6. Join some groups. Here are some library related ones:

Vermont’s 23 Things
Grace Greene Rocks!
Library 2.0 Interest Group
Libraries and Librarians
NextGen Librarians
Librarians and Facebook

7. Find some friends. (Hint: Vermont Librarian wants to be your friend!)

You can ‘Search’ for friends by typing their name in the search box in the upper left corner. If you click on SEARCH, you can do a Basic Search for a person, or browse within various categories.
OR
You can connect with people through the networks you join.
OR
You can let Facebook dig through your e-mail address book to find friends who are already on Facebook.

Once you’ve found someone you want to be friends with on Facebook, just click on “Add to Friends.” When you select “Add to Friends” you’ll have the option of filling in some details about your relationship with that person. You can skip that step if you want to.

8. Get some Applications for your Profile page. Click on the word ‘Applications’ on the top left corner and when the page opens, click on Browse More Applications. The best way to get an understanding of these things is to try some of them out. As you work in Facebook, you will come across many different applications. If you see one that you like just add it and see how it works.

9. Blog about your Facebook experience!

A note about Privacy:

On the top right of every Facebook page are the options: home account privacy logout. Click on privacy. You will be taken to a page which allows you to choose privacy settings for who can see what of your information (when looking at your profile, when searching for you, when they contact you (before you accept their friend request), etc…There are many different settings, but please take the time to look through them. You might also want to revisit them once you get a better sense of how Facebook works.