What? You’re not on Facebook?

Emerging Technologies PresentationBy Traci Wright

Statistics

• Facebook is the #1 Social Networking Site (open for dispute)

• It is has more than 7.3 million active users• Fastest growing demographic in the 25 and under set –

originally geared to the college and university set.

What is Facebook?

• It is:

*a social utility that connects you with the people around you;

*a content aggregation hub

Eligibility

• Users must be thirteen years of age or older• Users under the age of eighteen must

currently be in high school or college• Users must agree to and abide by all the terms

and conditions of the Terms of Use

Why Facebook?

• By making connections between people visible, it is a tool for finding work, love, common interests

• Could make new friends through friends or area networks

• Build support – allows caring people in your life informed of your challenges and vice versa

• To celebrate success – not enough of this going on!• Keeps you connected to friends and family in different

locations• Safer than chat rooms to meet people

Pros• Aggregate the range of services you use across the web in a single

location– Useful tools such as SkypeMe displays current status and visitors can

place a call to your account with a single click– Presence broadcasting features of tools like Twitter and Jaiku– Twitter tweets directly from FB, displays current status on profile and can

view friends’ timelines while on FB– KyteTV– Can combine SNS websites– Photo and video sharing capabilities of sites such as Flickr and YouTube

• Ability to follow friend’s statuses• Feed shows friends’ applications – good discovery tool• Latest additions to profiles in a single feed

The Downside

• Information OverkillCan’t get rid of feed completelyTweeter is better for this because YOU decide what is sharedWith Mini feed everything is visible

• Friends Anyone is free to ask to be your friend; it is up to you to

decide if you want to do that or not. You are also free to invite another person to be your friend

and they, too, have the right to add you or not. I have found it helpful to establish rules for my facebook

friends.

The Downside

For example, when I get a request from someone I don’t know, I politely explain that I use my fb to keep track of my friends’ statuses and updates, and so I don’t add anyone as a friend unless I have met them in person. I find this avoids hurt feelings and most are understanding.

Some of us are concerned over it becoming a popularity contest. It is helpful to decide for yourself, before you begin, your reasons for having a facebook profile and to use it for that purpose, and not be concerned over how many friends you have, or worry when you lose one.

There are many reasons why someone might delete you from their facebook, and often they are not personal or related to you specifically. However, if you are highly sensitive, you might have to decide not to add anyone that you are not in regular contact with.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly• In order to access profiles on Facebook, you MUST have a profile yourself.

• If you don’t want someone to see you or contact you EVER, you can block that person. They will not know you blocked them other than they won’t be able to find you.

• Concerns about on-line communication taking away from face-to-face social interaction

• Email-like messages

New messages indicated with a number beside Inbox tab at top of Home page. Once in Inbox, there are four tabs; Inbox, Sent Messages, Notifications and Updates. I’m not sure why notifications and updates are included here. They are not relevant to email

but to your facebook in general. Notifications are also shown on the bottom right hand of your page toolbar (regardless of which page you are on) as a little screen icon.

Messages can be sent to multiple friends at once with replies sent to everyone initially messaged, or the responder can choose to message only the sender. This is helpful in planning where schedules need to be considered, etc., similar to a forum or chatroom.

Anyone on facebook can message you if they can see your profile unless you block this feature

• Contact List Found on Friends page under Phonebook and Everyone

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

• Event list Found by clicking on Calendar page icon on the Applications toolbar at the bottom of any FB page. Once on

Events page, four tabs are displayed; Upcoming Events (yours), Friends’ Events, Past Events and Birthdays. You can plan your own events and send invitations out to your friends even if they aren’t on facebook Guest lists can be hidden, replies hidden, or all displayed depending on your choices

• Twitter-style updates Three different places to write what you like. On your Home page, the question is posed, “What’s on your

mind?”, on the Profile Wall page, you and/or your friends are urged to “Write something...” which is then fed through the mini-feed to your friends, and your mobile unit as a text message if you have signed up for it, and on your Friends page under Status Updates you are asked, “What are you doing now?”

• Blogging via Notes might be considered weak compared to other online sites Accessed on Home page on the left hand side

• Privacy Issues Control of personal information posted by you Control of information posted by others (which even if you don’t have a profile can be posted on FB) FB will remove data as stated in their Terms of Use under User conduct Sharing of information Unsolicited comments/postings of/by others

If you’re still curious to try Facebook...

It’s only a click away, and completely free other than asking

for a few bits of personal info.

Getting Started Go to www.facebook.com Click on Sign up For Facebook

Sign In Page

All information needs to be provided, but will not be posted on your profile page unless you ask for it to be displayed. Click on Sign Up.

Profile Picture To post a profile picture, click on the upper right hand corner of the photo box and choose an option. If you don’t have a digital photo of yourself, perhaps a friend does and they can email it to you, or once they are added as a friend they can post it, tag you, and then you can

add it as your profile shot if you like. Facebook will even take your picture for you if you have a webcam!

Profile PageThis is the information you choose to share with your friends, your friends and network, everyone or no-one depending on your privacy settings.

There are four sections under Edit My Profile; Basic Information, Personal Information, Contact Information, and Education and Work.

This is my Wall where my friends can post messages to me or I can post messages that all can see, and are fed through the Mini-feed on my friends’ Home page. It also shows my recent activity (Friends added, walls I’ve written on, etc.)

Profile Privacy Overview

By clicking on Settings on the right hand side of the Top tool bar, you are able to set your Privacy settings for your Profile , Search, News Feed and Wall, and Applications information.

This is also where you block people you do not want to be able to find you in a search, see your profile or interact with you in any way on facebook.

Profile - Basic Privacy

From Privacy (manage) (found under Settings), Click on Profile (Basic will be the first page to view) to control who can see your profile and related information; and Contact Information to control who can see your various contact information and see how a friend sees your profile

News Feed and Wall - Privacy

Return to the Privacy page and click on News Feed and Wall On the right at the top is an explanation of what will never be displayed Below that is a list of what MAY be posted if you don’t edit the Applications settings and a place to do that This is also where you control what goes on your Wall and through Recent Activity

Applications - Privacy

Return to Privacy page and click on Applications. This Overview page opens up and explains how Applications interact with your information. The Settings tab at the top takes you to the page where you can control what types of information your friends can see about you through applications.

Once you have created your Profile and edited your privacy settings, it is time to start adding friends and exploring the various pages that comprise your facebook. Facebook will prompt you through the various processes.

When you are deciding on your privacy settings, you might also take the opportunity to decide on what friends you would like to add (work, high school, interest group friends, etc.). These can be placed in groups.

Facebook will ask you if you want it to extend invitations to those in an existing contact list. If you choose this option, MAKE SURE you review the invitations prior to sending. You are NOT able to rescind an invitation (friend request) once it is sent. You are, however, able to delete the person if they accept your friend request, but it is easier (and less open to insult) if the request is not issued in the first place.

After your initial extension of invitations to friends, from your Home page you will find a tab that says CONNECT WITH FRIENDS. There are two options.

Once a friend has accepted your friend request (or you have accepted theirs), you can view their profile (again depending on their privacy settings). You can read their Wall, access their personal and contact information, photos they have posted, and their application boxes.

You can also see their friends, as well as your mutual friends. By looking at your friends’ friends, you send friend requests to them if you desire.

The following slides highlight some of the various pages that make up yours and your friends’ facebooks.

Status Updates Page, found under Friends Tab

Each of the words on the top toolbar are tabs and take you to different pages in your facebook. The icons on the bottom toolbar take you to various applications. Some are standard to every facebook profile while others are added by you.

Top Toolbar Found on Every Facebook Page

Bottom Toolbar Found on Every Facebook Page

Status updates are what is written by you and your friends in this box and transmitted to the mini feed and on this page.

My Events Page

Shows my RSVP status and any other information included on the invitation By clicking on the title of the event, the fb page will be displayed, and depending on the privacy settings of the event, I might be able to see who is attending or not, comments added, or pictures and videos contributed by guests or the hosts.

By looking at the guest list, I might be able to locate mutual friends that I would like to add to my friends

Also found under the Events icon are Friends’ events, past events, and friends’ birthdays (if they have that information displayed on their profile.

Groups Page

This page is accessed by clicking on the Groups icon at the bottom of any facebook page It displays groups I belong to on the left, and groups my friends belong to on the right The Browse Groups tab at the top allows you to view all groups in facebook at large.

Things to remember:

Set Privacy settings!Add Friends.

Use it as a tool.Don’t take it personally.

Explore and enjoy.Keep connected with those you care

about.Happy facebooking!: