Facebook® for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 2. Adding Your Own Face to Facebook

In This Chapter

• Signing up and getting started

• Joining a network

• Creating your Profile

In Chapter 1, we cover why you want to join Facebook. In this chapter, we actually get you signed up and ready to go on Facebook. Keep in mind a couple of things when you sign up. First, Facebook gets exponentially more useful and more fun when you start adding friends. Without friends, it can feel kind of dull. Second, your friends may take a few days to respond to your friend requests, so be patient. Even if your first time on Facebook isn't as exciting as you hope, be sure to come back and try again over the following weeks. Third, you can have only one account on Facebook. Facebook links accounts to e-mail addresses, and your e-mail address can be linked to only one account. This system enforces a world where people are who they say they are on Facebook.

Signing Up for Facebook

Officially, all you need to join Facebook is a valid e-mail address. When we say valid, we just mean that you need to be able to easily access the messages in that account because you're e-mailed a registration confirmation. Figure 2-1 shows the sign-up page. As you can see, you need to fill out a few things:

• Full Name: Facebook is a place based on real identity. It's not a place for fake names or aliases. Numerous privacy settings are in place to protect your information (see Chapter 4), so use your full real name to sign up.

• E-mail: You need to enter your valid e-mail address here. ...