Facebook for Grown-Ups

Michael Miller has written more than 100 nonfiction how-to books in the past two decades, including Que’s Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Computer Basics, Windows 7 Your Way, and The Ultimate Web Marketing Guide. He is also the author of Que’s Facebook Essentials video and Pearson Higher Education’s Introduction to Social Networking textbook. Mr. Miller has established a reputation for clearly explaining technical topics to nontechnical readers and for offering useful real-world advice about complicated topics. More information can be found at the author’s website, located at www.molehillgroup.com.

Introduction 1

How This Book Is Organized................................................ 2

Conventions Used in This Book........................................... 3

Get Ready to Facebook........................................................ 4

 

Part I: Getting Started with Facebook

 

1 Welcome to Facebook—It’s Not Just for Kids Anymore

What Social Networking Is and How It Works..................... 8

What Is a Social Network?................................................. 8

Why Do People Use Social Networks?.............................. 8

What Other Stuff Does a Social Network Do?................. 10

Who Uses Social Networks?............................................ 11

How Did Social Networks Develop?................................ 11

Say Hello to Facebook........................................................ 12

Things You Can—and Can’t—Do on Facebook................ 15

Things to Do..................................................................... 15

Things Not to Do.............................................................. 16

Why Grown-Ups Use Facebook......................................... 17

 

2 Signing Up and Getting Started

Before You Sign Up............................................................. 21

Creating a Facebook Account............................................ 22

Find Friends and Complete Your Profile............................ 23

Filling Out Your Profile........................................................ 26

Selecting Privacy Level....................................................... 28

 

3 Getting Around the Facebook Site

What’s What and What’s Where on Facebook.................. 31

Signing In.......................................................................... 31

Welcome to the Home Page............................................ 32

Profile Pages..................................................................... 36

Navigating the Facebook Toolbar...................................... 37

Searching Facebook........................................................... 38

Signing Off........................................................................... 41

 

Part II: Facebook for Friends and Family

 

4 How to Find Old Friends—and Make New Ones

How Facebook Helps You Reconnect............................... 43

Why Friends Are Important................................................. 45

Finding Friends with Connections...................................... 46

Finding Friends via Email.................................................... 47

Searching for Long-Lost Friends........................................ 49

Accepting Friend Requests................................................ 51

Finding Friends of Friends.................................................. 52

 

5 Visiting Friends and Family on Facebook

Catching Up with the Facebook News Feed..................... 55

Viewing the News Feed.................................................... 55

Fine-Tuning Your Top Stories.......................................... 58

Hiding Friends and Posts You Don’t Like........................ 59

Displaying More—or Fewer—Updates from a Friend...... 60

Hiding Updates from Applications and Games................ 60

Commenting on Friends’ Posts........................................ 61

Liking What You See........................................................ 62

Sharing a Posted Attachment.......................................... 62

Subscribing to People Who Aren’t Your Friends............... 63

Getting to and Getting to Know Your Friends’ Profile Pages.... 64

Displaying a Profile Page.................................................. 64

Navigating a Profile Page................................................. 65

 

6 Keeping Tabs on Your Kids

Making Your Children Your Friends................................... 71

What to Do If Your Kids Hide from You on Facebook...... 72

Viewing Updates Without Being a Friend......................... 72

Subscribing to Your Child’s Updates............................... 72

Creating a Surreptitious Identity....................................... 73

Using Facebook to See What Your Kids Are Up To......... 75

Using Facebook to Contact Your Grown Kids.................. 76

 

7 Organizing Groups of Friends

Working with Friends Lists................................................. 79

Viewing Your Lists............................................................ 80

Understanding Facebook’s Smart Lists........................... 81

Creating a New Friends List............................................. 82

Adding Friends to a List................................................... 82

Reading Posts from a List................................................ 84

Posting to a List................................................................ 84

Getting Rid of Unwanted Friends....................................... 85

Blocking Unwanted Users.................................................. 85

 

Part III: Keeping in Touch with Facebook

 

8 Updating Your Friends on What You’re Doing

What Is a Status Update?................................................... 89

Where to Update Your Status............................................. 91

How to Update Your Status................................................ 92

Posting a Simple Text Update.......................................... 92

Attaching a Photo or Video.............................................. 93

Attaching a Link to Another Web Page............................ 95

Asking a Question............................................................. 95

Tagging a Friend in a Post............................................... 96

Deciding What to Write About............................................ 97

Employing “Facebook Grammar”..................................... 100

 

9 Exchanging Private Messages

Understanding Facebook’s Messages System............... 105

Using Facebook’s Email System...................................... 106

Understanding Facebook’s Email................................... 106

Claiming Your Email Address......................................... 107

Reading Your Messages................................................... 108

Sending a Private Message or Email............................... 110

 

10 Chatting with Family and Friends—Live

What’s Chat—and Who Uses It?...................................... 113

Understanding Instant Messaging.................................. 113

Welcome to Facebook Chat........................................... 114

Who’s Chatting with Whom?.......................................... 115

Chatting in Facebook........................................................ 116

Seeing Who’s Online...................................................... 116

Starting a Chat Session.................................................. 117

Managing Your Chat Settings........................................ 118

Getting Real Face Time with Video Chat......................... 119

Understanding Video Chat............................................. 120

Launching a Video Chat................................................. 121

Integrating Facebook with Skype..................................... 122

 

Part IV: Sharing Your Life on Facebook

 

11 Sharing Family Pictures

Understanding Photo Sharing on Facebook................... 125

Facebook Photo Sharing: The Old Way......................... 126

Facebook Photo Sharing: The New Way....................... 127

How Facebook Photo Sharing Works............................ 127

Uploading Photos to Facebook........................................ 128

Uploading to a New Photo Album.................................. 128

Uploading to an Existing Photo Album.......................... 131

Tagging Friends in Your Photos....................................... 132

Understanding Facebook’s Face Recognition

Feature.......................................................................... 132

Tagging a Friend’s Face................................................. 133

Managing Your Photos and Albums................................ 134

Editing a Photo’s Description......................................... 134

Tagging Friends.............................................................. 135

Deleting a Photo............................................................. 137

Adding a Description to a Photo Album......................... 137

Deleting a Photo Album.................................................. 137

Sharing Photos with Others.............................................. 138

Viewing Other People’s Photos........................................ 139

Viewing Photos and Photo Albums................................ 139

Adding Your Comments................................................. 141

Tagging Yourself in a Photo........................................... 141

Sharing a Photo.............................................................. 141

Downloading a Photo..................................................... 142

Printing a Photo.............................................................. 142

 

12 Sharing Home Movies

The Ins and Outs of Sharing Videos on Facebook.......... 145

Shooting Videos for Facebook....................................... 145

What to Upload............................................................... 146

Editing Your Videos........................................................ 147

Uploading Your Videos..................................................... 147

Recording a Webcam Video............................................. 149

Editing Video Information............................................... 151

Sharing Uploaded Videos............................................... 152

Posting YouTube Videos................................................... 154

Watching Your Friends’ Videos........................................ 156

Watching a Video in the News Feed.............................. 156

Watching a Video on Its Own Page................................ 158

 

13 Sharing Birthdays and Events 161

Why You Might Like Events.............................................. 161

Searching for and Attending Events................................ 162

RSVP’ing to Events........................................................... 164

RSVP’ing from the Event Page....................................... 164

RSVP’ing from a Status Update..................................... 166

RSVP’ing from an Email Invitation.................................. 166

Creating New Events......................................................... 167

Viewing Your Events......................................................... 169

Celebrating Birthdays....................................................... 170

 

Part V: Managing and Protecting Your Facebook Account

 

14 Managing Your Facebook Account

Changing Account Settings.............................................. 173

General........................................................................... 173

Security........................................................................... 176

Notifications.................................................................... 177

Applications.................................................................... 178

Mobile............................................................................. 180

Payments........................................................................ 180

Facebook Ads................................................................. 181

Leaving Facebook............................................................. 182

Deactivating Versus Deleting.......................................... 182

Deactivating Your Account............................................. 183

Deleting Your Account.................................................... 184

 

15 Keeping Some Things Private: Managing Facebook’s Privacy Settings

Understanding Facebook Privacy.................................... 189

Controlling Your Default Privacy...................................... 191

Setting Custom Sharing Options...................................... 192

Controlling How You Connect.......................................... 193

Controlling How Tags Work.............................................. 194

Controlling What Gets Shared with Apps and

Other Websites................................................................ 195

Limiting Who Can See Old Posts..................................... 197

Managing Your Block Lists............................................... 197

 

16 What to Say—and What Not to Say—Online

How Private Is Your Information on Facebook?.............. 201

Keeping Private Information Private............................... 202

How Facebook Uses Your Personal Information........... 202

Is It Safe to Use Facebook?............................................. 203

What to Keep Private—and What to Share..................... 205

How Much Personal Information Should You Share?..... 207

Sharing Information with Other Sites............................... 207

Facebook Do’s and Don’ts............................................... 208

Do These Things............................................................. 208

Don’t Do These Things................................................... 210

 

Part VI: Doing More with Facebook

 

17 Personalizing Your Profile Page

What Can You Personalize on Your Profile Page—

and Why Would You Want To?....................................... 213

Changing Your Profile Picture.......................................... 214

Adding a Cover to Your Page........................................... 216

Hiding, Deleting, and Featuring Status Updates............. 217

Viewing and Editing Your Activity Log............................. 218

Updating Your Profile Information.................................... 219

 

18 Liking Public Pages 223

Understanding Pages........................................................ 223

What Is a Facebook Page?............................................ 224

Visiting a Facebook Page................................................. 227

Creating Your Own Facebook Page................................. 228

Creating a New Page...................................................... 228

Customizing Your Page.................................................. 230

Selecting Page Elements................................................ 233

 

19 Networking for Business—and for Jobs

Understanding Facebook Networks................................. 235

Joining Your Work Network.............................................. 236

Networking Professionally................................................ 237

Finding Other Business Professionals on Facebook..... 237

Managing Your Professional Contacts........................... 238

Networking via Facebook Groups.................................. 238

Job Hunting on Facebook................................................ 239

Reworking Your Profile................................................... 239

Becoming a Fan of Potential Employers........................ 240

Asking for a Job.............................................................. 240

 

20 Finding Fun Games and Applications

Understanding Facebook Applications............................243

Discovering Applications and Games.............................. 245

Using an Application or Game.......................................... 246

Viewing, Managing, and Deleting Your Applications...... 247

Apps for Grown-Ups......................................................... 248

 

21 Buying and Selling in the Facebook Marketplace

Understanding the Facebook Marketplace..................... 253

Shopping for Something to Buy....................................... 255

Browsing the Marketplace.............................................. 255

Searching the Marketplace............................................. 258

Viewing an Item Listing................................................... 258

Sharing and Commenting on a Listing........................... 259

Contacting a Seller—and Buying Something................. 260

Selling Your Own Stuff...................................................... 261

Listing an Item for Sale................................................... 261

Ending Your Listing........................................................ 262

 

22 Using Facebook on the Go

Connecting from Your iPhone.......................................... 265

Viewing the News Feed.................................................. 266

Posting a Status Update................................................ 268

Posting a Picture............................................................ 270

Checking In..................................................................... 273

Navigating Other Functions............................................ 273

Viewing Friends’ Profiles................................................ 275

Checking Messages....................................................... 276

Chatting with Friends...................................................... 277

Connecting from Other Mobile Phones........................... 278

Connecting via Text Message.......................................... 279

 

23 Exploring Twitter, LinkedIn, and Other Social Networks

Examining Other Social Networks.................................... 283

Google+.......................................................................... 284

LinkedIn.......................................................................... 285

MySpace......................................................................... 286

Twitter............................................................................. 287

Using Third-Party Tools to Consolidate Multiple

Social Networks............................................................... 288

 

24 Connecting Facebook to Other Sites and Services

Liking and Sharing Pages................................................. 291

Connecting Other Sites to Facebook............................... 293

 

A Getting the Most Out of Facebook—for Grown-Ups