1. Facebook 101: Tips and Tricks
Presented by Alpine Communications
Excerpted from the Switched.com article posted Nov 13th 2008
http://www.switched.com/2008/11/13/facebook-101-25-tips-and-tricks/

2. Facebook 101: Tips and Tricks
• Chances are, if you're not on Facebook already, then you're likely to be getting on
it pretty soon. Whether it's your kids or your next door neighbor (or those old
friends you just reunited with at your high school reunion), folks around you have
been hounding you to sign up, set up a profile, and start "social-networking" with
all your friends, and their friends, and so on.
• Truth is, social-networking sites such as Facebook (and MySpace, Bebo, LinkedIn,
etc) are increasingly turning into the first place people go when they get on the
Internet, as these services offer e-mail, chat, music players, photo sharing, and so
much more beyond just staying in touch with your Friends.
• But the best (or worst) part about Facebook is all the people from your past who
come out of the woodwork (we're talking grade-school past). All this means you'll
want to look your very best on your Facebook profile, and make the best use of all
that the service has to offer, which is why we've come up with tips that'll optimize
your social-networking experience.

3. Facebook Main Page

4. Step 1 – Sign Up
It’s free. Enter your first name, last name, email address, password, gender, and
birthday.

5. Use a current profile picture
While Facebook allows you to post as many pictures as you like,
and tag yourself in pictures that your friends have taken, the Web
site only allows you one profile picture, so make it count. You may
very well have some potential suitors on the Web site, so be sure to
portray yourself as accurately as possible. A clear, well-lit picture of
you will help you to put your best foot forward, particularly if it's a
portrait or captures you in the midst of one of your favorite
activities. And you might ought to refrain from using one of the
pictures from that New Year's Eve party, as your profile picture is
accessible to everybody on Facebook, even with the privacy
settings engaged.

6. Invite All of Your Actual Friends (and Family)
• For those of us who grew up in the
pre-Facebook era, it's sometimes
tough to reach out to old friends and
say (in a smarmy voice) "will you be
my Facebook friend?" But it's
something we should all get over,
because the flurry of social-networking
only starts getting good when you
have a size able community of folks
you know and like that are also out
there making new friends and
contacts.

7. Don't add random friends
• We have a hard time
understanding the mindset
of wanting to send friend
requests to perfect
strangers in faraway places,
but plenty of people do it. If
it happens that you stumble
across somebody on the
Web site whose profile
piques your interest, it is
best to send that person an
introductory message. You
wouldn't ask a stranger to
lunch without speaking with
them first, would you?

8. It's okay to decline
random 'Friend'
requests
Inevitably, you will
receive friend
requests from folks
that you've never laid
eyes on or, frankly,
don't like all that
much. In those
instances, you are well
within your rights to
decline friend
requests. No, really,
it's okay.

9. Make friend suggestions on behalf of new members
• When you become friends with
somebody new to Facebook, you
will get a prompt asking you to
make "Friend Suggestions" on
behalf of the newbie. Scroll
through your list of friends, and
select the folks that are also friends of the new user.
Notifications will be sent to those you select,
informing them of the new friend's presence on the
site. This is simply the nice thing to do, the Facebook
equivalent to baking a pound cake for your new
neighbor.

10. Know the difference between suggested
friends and friend requests
• This one may seem like a no-
brainer, but it can be a challenge
to tell the difference between
"Suggested Friends" that your
other Facebook pals are recommending, and actual
people who are asking to be your friends (known as
"Friend Requests"). So, to be clear: Suggested Friends
are at the top of your pending Friend request page and
Friend Requests are on the bottom half.
• Note the “People You May Know” section at the top
right of the page.

11. Do write on your friends' "Walls"
• Possibly even more so than messaging, the Wall feature is
the cornerstone of interpersonal communication on
Facebook. That being the case, Facebook etiquette requires
that you write on friends' walls periodically.
• As the Wall is there for the whole world to see, though, it is
best to follow some simple guidelines. When writing on a
friend's Wall, don't leave personal information ("I got a
new phone: (205) 555-1234."), sensitive correspondence
("Hey, man. I'm sorry to hear about your aunt passing
away."), or incriminating stories ("I was just thinking about
that time we got arrested in Tijuana. You remember
that??").
• Keep Wall postings light-hearted, leaving the other stuff for
messages, or -- better yet -- e-mail.

12. Privacy Settings
By clicking on “Account”, then “Privacy Settings” at the top
of your homepage, you can put limitations on who can and
cannot view different parts of your profile.

13. Manage your online profile, because potential
employers may be checking
• In the early days of the 'book, you
didn't really have to worry about
everyone having access to your
friend lists, photos, profile, etc...
Now, anybody can join the site,
and we're not surprised to hear
that employers are using
Facebook as research for
applicants, thanks to its treasure
trove of information on people.
While you don't have to be
incredibly uptight and formal
about it, it's probably a good idea
to fill out your education, work,
and interests on your profile,
because it just could snag you
that job interview.
On the cautionary side, use a bit of
common sense when posting images
and messages to the site. It's probably
best not to post those pictures from
that crazy party last weekend.

14. Update your 'Status'... occasionally
• Let your friends know what
or how you're doing with
Facebook's 'Status' feature,
the speech bubble situated
near the top of your home
page. Folks often use the
feature to concisely and
quickly inform their friends
of personal goings on ("John
Doe is now happily married
to Jane."), current events
("Jane Doe is excited about
the outcome of the
Alabama-LSU game!") and –
of course – non-sequiturs
("John Doe is a maniac, a
maniac on the floor.")
While friends' Status updates can be fun to
read, their humor decreases as their
frequency increases. We don't need to know
about your every move; one update every
few days is certainly sufficient. And please
keep your Status updates at least relatively
interesting. Nobody cares to read: "John
Doe is going to take a nap."

15. Create and invite 'Friends' to 'Events'
• If you're hosting a party,
going to a football
game, putting on an art
show, or something of
the sort, Facebook has
you covered. Create a
Facebook Event for your
happening and enter all
the pertinent
information. Once
you've done that, you
can invite folks from
your friend list, as well
as via e-mail, and
designate
whether your event is open to all
of Facebook, a particular network
or just your friends, or whether it is
only open to those you invite. If
you're throwing a surprise party
for somebody, then use the latter
option.

16. Do 'tag' your
friends in pictures
When you post a new
picture, or just come across
one a friend has posted, for
that matter, you have the
opportunity to "tag" the folks
that appear in it. By doing so,
you include that image in that
particular friend's "Photos
of..." section. This function is
a particular boon to friends
who do not own cameras and
might not otherwise have
many pictures on the site.
Your buddy will always be grateful
for a tagged picture, unless, of
course, it features him with his eyes
closed or was taken when he was
going through that awkward trying-
to-grow-a-moustache phase in
junior high school.

17. Make a page for your business, club, band, candidate, pet...
• With Facebook's Page Manager application, you can create
a Web page for – well – just about anything, from your
social club or politician to your favorite puppy dog. Once
you've started and customized your page, you can keep
watch over the page's Web traffic and even promote it on
the Web site, with the ability to target a specific
demographic of Facebook members. Due to the ever-
increasing number of those members, a Facebook page –
and an advertisement, to boot – really could bolster the
number of your business's customers, your group‘s fans or
your candidate's supporters.

18. Be Wary of Scammers
• As with any other popular place, Facebook (and other
social-networking sites) has its share of evildoers -- namely,
in the form of spam e-mail and Facebook messages and
random messages posted on your wall. How to stay safe?
We recommend typical online anti-scam best practices
such as not opening any links or files in any e-mail
messages or Facebook messages from folks you don't
know. Also, be skeptical of links posted on your wall that
don't seem legit (in other words, from random sites you've
never heard of).

19. Help Center

20. Safety
The site provides Q&A general safety guidelines (How can I be
safer on Facebook?), as well as sections focused on teens (I'm
receiving unwanted messages. What should I do?) and parents
(What should I do if my teen is being cyberbullied?).

21. Thank You!
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