Facebook® for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Book description

The eagerly anticipated update to the bestselling first edition is here!

Facebook's popularity is seemingly unstoppable. The site experienced a huge boom in registered users in the latter half of 2008. It was at that time that Facebook also underwent a radical facelift and introduced numerous changes. Packed with hundreds of screen shots, this anxiously awaited new edition presents you with a thorough update on all the exciting changes to Facebook's interface since the first edition hit the shelves a mere one year ago.

Authored by two Facebook employees, Facebook For Dummies, 2nd Edition, features unique insight and insider knowledge of Facebook that can't be found anywhere else. You'll explore optimum ways to get familiar with Facebook, tips for representing yourself online, best practices for keeping connected, how to run a business on Facebook, and more.

  • Walks you through creating a profile, navigating the interface, and setting up privacy features

  • Explains how to find and add friends, fill out your profile, add applications, and upload photos

  • Discusses ways to join a network or group or use Facebook as a scheduler

  • Addresses using Facebook to promote your business and buy ad space on Facebook

Put your best face forward and dive in to all the exciting new features that Facebook offers!

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. About the Authors
  3. About the Contributor
  4. Authors' Acknowledgments
  5. Publisher's Acknowledgments
  6. Introduction
    1. About Facebook For Dummies
    2. Foolish Assumptions
    3. Conventions Used in This Book
    4. What You Don't Have to Read
    5. How This Book Is Organized
      1. Part I: Getting Started with Facebook
      2. Part II: Sharing Your Life on Facebook
      3. Part III: Getting Organized
      4. Part IV: Delving Further into Facebook
      5. Part V: The Part of Tens
    6. Icons Used in This Book
    7. Where to Go from Here
  7. I. Getting Started with Facebook
    1. 1. The Many Faces of Facebook
      1. 1.1. Figuring Out What Facebook Is Exactly
      2. 1.2. Discovering What You Can Do on Facebook
        1. 1.2.1. Establish a Profile
        2. 1.2.2. Connect with friends
        3. 1.2.3. Communicate with Facebook friends
        4. 1.2.4. Share your words
        5. 1.2.5. Share your pictures
        6. 1.2.6. Plan events, join groups
        7. 1.2.7. Facebook and the Web
        8. 1.2.8. Promote your business
      3. 1.3. Keeping in Mind What You Can't Do on Facebook
        1. 1.3.1. You can't lie
        2. 1.3.2. You can't be twelve
        3. 1.3.3. You can't troll
        4. 1.3.4. You can't upload illegal content
      4. 1.4. Realizing How Facebook Is Different from Other Social Sites
      5. 1.5. Who Is on Facebook
        1. 1.5.1. Students of the 'Book
        2. 1.5.2. The School of Life
        3. 1.5.3. Putting Facebook to work at work
        4. 1.5.4. Facebook maturing
          1. 1.5.4.1. Keeping in touch with family
          2. 1.5.4.2. Facebook reunion
          3. 1.5.4.3. Organizing groups
        5. 1.5.5. Le Facebook International
    2. 2. Adding Your Own Face to Facebook
      1. 2.1. Signing Up for Facebook
      2. 2.2. Making Facebook Revolve Around You
        1. 2.2.1. Current city
        2. 2.2.2. Networks
      3. 2.3. Setting Up Your Profile
        1. 2.3.1. Basic Information
        2. 2.3.2. Education and work history
        3. 2.3.3. Profile picture
      4. 2.4. Trust Me: Getting Verified
    3. 3. Finding Your Way Around Facebook
      1. 3.1. Checking Out the Blue Bar on Top
      2. 3.2. Exploring the Blue Bar on the Bottom
        1. 3.2.1. Application bookmarks
        2. 3.2.2. Chat
        3. 3.2.3. Notifications
      3. 3.3. Discovering the Home Page
        1. 3.3.1. Get published
        2. 3.3.2. The Stream, News Feed, and Live Feed
        3. 3.3.3. Fun with filters
        4. 3.3.4. Right column, what's up?
      4. 3.4. Looking at the Footer
    4. 4. Finding Facebook Friends
      1. 4.1. What Is a Facebook Friend?
        1. 4.1.1. A reflection of reality
        2. 4.1.2. A contact
        3. 4.1.3. A privacy implication
        4. 4.1.4. A News Feed implication
        5. 4.1.5. A real-time implication
      2. 4.2. Discovering the Facebook Friend Philosophy
        1. 4.2.1. Choose your friends wisely
        2. 4.2.2. It's quality, not quantity
      3. 4.3. Finding Your Friends on Facebook
        1. 4.3.1. If only real life had a Friend Finder
          1. 4.3.1.1. Import an address book
          2. 4.3.1.2. Windows Live Messenger and the AIM Friend Finder
          3. 4.3.1.3. Suggestions
        2. 4.3.2. Find what you're looking for: Search
          1. 4.3.2.1. Classmate Search
          2. 4.3.2.2. Coworker Search
          3. 4.3.2.3. Quick-Search
      4. 4.4. Keeping Track: Friend List Management
        1. 4.4.1. Creating and applying Friend Lists
        2. 4.4.2. Spring friend–cleaning
    5. 5. Privacy and Safety on Facebook
      1. 5.1. Seeing the Win-Win of Privacy
      2. 5.2. Getting Familiar with Your Privacy Options
        1. 5.2.1. The Privacy control
        2. 5.2.2. Profile Privacy page
        3. 5.2.3. The Application Privacy page
        4. 5.2.4. Connecting and privacy
        5. 5.2.5. Network privacy
        6. 5.2.6. Custom-made privacy
      3. 5.3. Taking Personal Responsibility for Safety
      4. 5.4. Remembering That It Takes a Village to Raise a Facebook
      5. 5.5. Peeking Behind the Scenes
        1. 5.5.1. Protecting minors
        2. 5.5.2. Preventing spam and viruses
  8. II. Sharing Your Life on Facebook
    1. 6. Building Out Your Profile
      1. 6.1. "Wall" You Need Is Love
        1. 6.1.1. Understanding the Publisher
          1. 6.1.1.1. You and the Publisher
            1. 6.1.1.1.1. Status updates
            2. 6.1.1.1.2. Links
            3. 6.1.1.1.3. Other attachments
            4. 6.1.1.1.4. Recent activity
          2. 6.1.1.2. Your friends and the Publisher
            1. 6.1.1.2.1. Gifts from friends
      2. 6.2. Getting the Lowdown on Info
        1. 6.2.1. Back to basics
        2. 6.2.2. Getting personal
        3. 6.2.3. Getting in touch
        4. 6.2.4. Education and work
      3. 6.3. Hello, Photos
      4. 6.4. Thinking Inside the Boxes
        1. 6.4.1. Profile picture, action links, and Bio box
        2. 6.4.2. The Friends box
        3. 6.4.3. Application boxes
      5. 6.5. Profile-Building Strategies
        1. 6.5.1. Building a Profile for yourself
        2. 6.5.2. Building a Profile for promotion
        3. 6.5.3. Sharing yourself with family, friends, and the world
      6. 6.6. Choosing Who Can See What
        1. 6.6.1. Know your options
        2. 6.6.2. Your Profile is in the eye of the beholder
        3. 6.6.3. Contact information
        4. 6.6.4. Your birthday
    2. 7. Streams
      1. 7.1. Going to the Wall
      2. 7.2. Feed Me
      3. 7.3. Your Feed, Your Way
      4. 7.4. Searching the World Over
    3. 8. Filling Facebook with Photos, Videos, and Notes
      1. 8.1. Finding the Common Themes in Applications
      2. 8.2. Photos
        1. 8.2.1. The Photos Page
      3. 8.3. Uploading Photos
      4. 8.4. Editing and Tagging Photos
        1. 8.4.1. Adding captions to your photos
        2. 8.4.2. Tagging your photos
        3. 8.4.3. Rearranging photos
      5. 8.5. Viewing Photos of You
      6. 8.6. Looking at the Profile Picture Album
      7. 8.7. Discovering Photos Privacy
        1. 8.7.1. Album privacy
        2. 8.7.2. Photos of You privacy
      8. 8.8. Video
        1. 8.8.1. Uploading video
        2. 8.8.2. Recording video
        3. 8.8.3. Tagging and editing videos
        4. 8.8.4. Viewing, liking, and commenting on videos
      9. 8.9. Notes
        1. 8.9.1. Writing a note
        2. 8.9.2. Formatting a Note
        3. 8.9.3. Adding photos to a note
        4. 8.9.4. Tagging friends in your note
        5. 8.9.5. Importing a blog into Notes
        6. 8.9.6. Reading, liking, and commenting on your friends' notes
    4. 9. Keeping Up with Your Friends
      1. 9.1. Just between You and Me
        1. 9.1.1. Messages
          1. 9.1.1.1. Sending a message
          2. 9.1.1.2. Receiving a message
          3. 9.1.1.3. Anatomy of a thread
          4. 9.1.1.4. Messaging non-friends
        2. 9.1.2. Sharing is caring
          1. 9.1.2.1. Sharing from the Inbox
          2. 9.1.2.2. Share buttons on Facebook
          3. 9.1.2.3. The Share buttons on the Web
          4. 9.1.2.4. The Share bookmarklet
        3. 9.1.3. Chat
        4. 9.1.4. Anatomy of Chat
        5. 9.1.5. Poke
        6. 9.1.6. Requests
        7. 9.1.7. Notifications
      2. 9.2. Public Displays of Affection: Comments, Publisher, and the Wall
        1. 9.2.1. The writing's on the Wall
        2. 9.2.2. Care to comment?
        3. 9.2.3. Broader audience
  9. III. Getting Organized
    1. 10. Creating and Joining Groups on Facebook
      1. 10.1. Getting Going with Groups
        1. 10.1.1. Joining a Group
        2. 10.1.2. Anatomy of a Group
        3. 10.1.3. Adding your two cents (or more)
      2. 10.2. Finding the Group for You
        1. 10.2.1. Searching Groups
        2. 10.2.2. Narrowing your search
        3. 10.2.3. Checking out popular Groups
        4. 10.2.4. Reporting offensive Groups
      3. 10.3. Creating Your Own Groups
        1. 10.3.1. Step 1: Group Info
        2. 10.3.2. Step 2: Customize
        3. 10.3.3. Step 3: Members
        4. 10.3.4. Managing your Group
          1. 10.3.4.1. Designating Group officers
          2. 10.3.4.2. Managing your Group member list
          3. 10.3.4.3. Messaging your Group members
          4. 10.3.4.4. Creating a Group Event
    2. 11. Scheduling Your Life with Facebook
      1. 11.1. Getting Going with Events
        1. 11.1.1. Anatomy of an Event
        2. 11.1.2. Going to the After Party
      2. 11.2. Finding the Event for You
        1. 11.2.1. Searching Events
        2. 11.2.2. Browsing Events
        3. 11.2.3. Checking out popular Events
      3. 11.3. Creating Your Own Events
        1. 11.3.1. Big Events
          1. 11.3.1.1. Step 1: Event Info
          2. 11.3.1.2. Step 2: Add Details
          3. 11.3.1.3. Step 3: Invite Friends
        2. 11.3.2. Quick Events
        3. 11.3.3. Managing your Event
          1. 11.3.3.1. Messaging your Event's guests
          2. 11.3.3.2. Managing your Event's guest list
    3. 12. Creating a Page for Your Business
      1. 12.1. Why Create a Facebook Page?
        1. 12.1.1. Pages versus Profiles versus Groups
        2. 12.1.2. Who should create a Facebook Page?
        3. 12.1.3. Who shouldn't build a Facebook page?
        4. 12.1.4. Living in the Gray Netherworld between Pages and Profiles
      2. 12.2. Creating and Managing a Facebook Page
        1. 12.2.1. Creating a page for your business
        2. 12.2.2. Making your page yours
          1. 12.2.2.1. Getting your bearings
          2. 12.2.2.2. Information
          3. 12.2.2.3. The Wall
            1. 12.2.2.3.1. Wall Settings
          4. 12.2.2.4. Applications
            1. 12.2.2.4.1. Photos
            2. 12.2.2.4.2. Events
            3. 12.2.2.4.3. Discussion board
            4. 12.2.2.4.4. Video
            5. 12.2.2.4.5. Reviews
            6. 12.2.2.4.6. More Applications
          5. 12.2.2.5. Settings
          6. 12.2.2.6. Mobile
          7. 12.2.2.7. Admins
        3. 12.2.3. Promote your Page
          1. 12.2.3.1. Tell customers electronically
          2. 12.2.3.2. Tell customers physically
          3. 12.2.3.3. Tell your friends
          4. 12.2.3.4. Advertise
        4. 12.2.4. Engage your fans
          1. 12.2.4.1. Publish rich content
          2. 12.2.4.2. Send Updates
      3. 12.3. Know-It-All
  10. IV. Delving Further into Facebook
    1. 13. Facebook and the Web
      1. 13.1. Understanding What Facebook Platform Is
      2. 13.2. Applications That Live on Facebook
        1. 13.2.1. Checking out Causes
        2. 13.2.2. Figuring out why to use applications inside Facebook
      3. 13.3. Exploring Applications That Live Outside of Facebook
        1. 13.3.1. What to look for
        2. 13.3.2. Login
        3. 13.3.3. Sharing with Facebook friends
        4. 13.3.4. Help from Facebook friends
        5. 13.3.5. Entertainment through Facebook info
      4. 13.4. Discovering Other Applications
        1. 13.4.1. Applications for your business
        2. 13.4.2. Applications for your desktop
        3. 13.4.3. Applications for your phone
      5. 13.5. Finding Your New Favorite Application
        1. 13.5.1. The Application Directory
        2. 13.5.2. Signs of a trustworthy application
      6. 13.6. Managing Your Applications
        1. 13.6.1. The Application Settings page
        2. 13.6.2. Controlling what you see from friends
    2. 14. Facebook on the Go
      1. 14.1. Is That Facebook Mobile Web in Your Pocket . . . ?
        1. 14.1.1. Getting started
        2. 14.1.2. Mobile uploads
        3. 14.1.3. Mobile texts
        4. 14.1.4. What's all the buzz about?
      2. 14.2. Using Facebook Mobile Web
        1. 14.2.1.
          1. 14.2.1.1. Mobile Home
          2. 14.2.1.2. Mobile Profile preview
          3. 14.2.1.3. Mobile Friends List
          4. 14.2.1.4. Mobile Inbox
        2. 14.2.2. Facebook Mobile for the touch screen
        3. 14.2.3. Touch screen layout
    3. 15. Facebook: A New Kind of Advertising
      1. 15.1. Realizing How Advertising Has Improved
      2. 15.2. Defining Social Ads
        1. 15.2.1. Social actions
        2. 15.2.2. Social ads plus social actions rules
        3. 15.2.3. Who uses social ads?
      3. 15.3. Creating a Social Ad
        1. 15.3.1. Getting started
        2. 15.3.2. Designing your ad
        3. 15.3.3. Targeting your ad
        4. 15.3.4. Figuring out campaigns and pricing
        5. 15.3.5. Reviewing your ad
      4. 15.4. Managing Your Social Ads
      5. 15.5. Spam Is Not Delicious
  11. V. The Part of Tens
    1. 16. Ten Great Third-Party Applications
      1. 16.1. Typing Maniac
      2. 16.2. Austin City Limits
      3. 16.3. Lala
      4. 16.4. Groupcard
      5. 16.5. Digg
      6. 16.6. Graffiti
      7. 16.7. Carpool by Zimride
      8. 16.8. Visual Bookshelf
      9. 16.9. My Diet
      10. 16.10. Restaurant City
    2. 17. Ten Ways Facebook Uniquely Impacts Lives
      1. 17.1. Keeping in Touch with Summer Friends
      2. 17.2. Preparing to Head Off to School
      3. 17.3. Going on Not-So-Blind Dates
      4. 17.4. Meeting People in Your New City or Town
      5. 17.5. Reconnecting with Old Friends
      6. 17.6. Keeping Up with the 'rents
      7. 17.7. Keeping Up with the Kids
      8. 17.8. Facebooking for Food (or Jobs)
      9. 17.9. Goin' to the Chapel
      10. 17.10. Hey, Facebook Me!
    3. 18. Ten Questions That Leah and Carolyn Get a Lot
      1. 18.1. Is My Computer Infected with a Virus?
      2. 18.2. Do People Know When I Look at Their Profiles?
      3. 18.3. I Have a Problem with My Account — Can You Help Me?
      4. 18.4. What Do I Do with Friend Requests I Don't Want to Accept?
      5. 18.5. What's the Difference between Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn?
      6. 18.6. I Keep Getting Invites for Those App Thingies — Should I Accept Them?
      7. 18.7. How Do I Convince My Friends to Join Facebook?
      8. 18.8. What if I Don't Want Everyone Knowing My Business?
      9. 18.9. I Heard Facebook Owns Everything I Put on There — True?
      10. 18.10. Does Facebook Have a Feature That Lets Me Lock Myself Out for a Few Hours?
    4. 19. Ten True Facebook Tales
      1. 19.1. I'm Kelly — I'm Kelly, Too
      2. 19.2. One Million Voices
      3. 19.3. Fighting for Darfur
      4. 19.4. Facing Autism
      5. 19.5. A Social "Sorry"
      6. 19.6. Twenty-Year Reunion
      7. 19.7. Activism Like an Egyptian
      8. 19.8. Kids with Compassion
      9. 19.9. Virtual Support Network
      10. 19.10. From a Skinny Kid to President

Product information

  • Title: Facebook® for Dummies®, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: November 2009
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9780470527610