Intro to Social Media: Facebook
The Facebook Interface
On the top left side of a Facebook page, you will always be able to see these icons:
Click on this to
get back to
your News
Feed.
Click on this to
find new
Friends or to
go to a list of
people who
have requested
to be your
Friend.
Click on this to
see private
messages
people have
sent you via
your Facebook
account.
Click on this to see the
notifications you have
received that you
haven’t seen.
On the top right side of a Facebook page, you will always see these icons
Click on your
name to get to
your wall.
Click on your Home to
get to your newsfeed.
Privacy se
Click on this arrow to
get to your privacy
shortcuts, to edit your
privacy settings.
Click on this gear
to find your
settings and other
options, get Help,
and Log Out of
Facebook.
ttings
It is VERY important to be aware of your account settings. You can be as private or as open
on Facebook as you want, but that should be a conscious decision. By default, Facebook will
create your account so that it is fairly open
. We suggest making your page much more
private.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Accessing the privacy settings
Go to the top right of your Facebook page. Click on the Lock Icon to view shortcuts to Privacy
Settings.
Click on the
drop
down
arrows in order
to see privacy
setting options
and information
related to each
setting.
Regulate ”Who can
see my stuff” that
you
post
on
Facebook (like status
updates,
pictures,
etc.). The default
setting is set to
“Public” so you may
want to change this
to limit who can see
what you share on
Facebook.
“Who can contact me?” lets
you filter who is able to send
you messages and add you
as a friend. Use strict
filtering and limit friend
requests “Friends of Friends”
if you want to restrict who
can reach out to you on
Facebook. Use Basic Filtering
and let “Everyone” send you
a Friend request if you want
more people to be able to
connect with you.
Use “How do I stop someone from
bothering me?” to block someone
on Facebook.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
You can also access your full Privacy Settings by clicking on the Gear Icon and
choosing Privacy Settings.
This Privacy Settings and Tools page that this brings up is a summary of most all of
the Privacy Shortcuts you saw under the Lock Icon. Here, you can also limit those
who can view all your past posts.
It also lets you restrict who can find you and whether your Facebook page can be
found via search engines.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Control what happens when friends tag you or your content
In the column to the left of your privacy settings, you can find the option “Timeline and
Tagging.
This page allows you to manage many settings related to how your friends can
interact with and “tag” you—associate your Facebook account with photos that they
post or mention you in their posts—on Facebook.
This also allows you to view your Facebook profile as the Public—any users who are
not your Friends or Friends of Friends on Facebook—or as a specific person to check
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Block specific users, apps, events or app requests
You may want to block particular people from viewing or posting on your wall or inviting you
to various Apps or Events.
Use the “Blocking” button in the left-hand column of Settings Options.
Customizing a list of friends
Go to your Newsfeed.
In the left hand column, click on MORE
next to FRIENDS.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Then click on Create a List.
Name your list appropriately.
Click on Add Friends.
Select each person you want to add to that list. You might want to have a List for Co-Workers
or a List for Students or a List for Family etc.
Click Done when you are finished.
Now when you go to your Newsfeed, you should see your list in the left hand column. Click
on the list to modify it. On the right hand side, you will see a drop down menu that says
Manage List. You can select any of the following from that menu: Rename List, Add/Remove
Friends, Merge List, Updates to Show or Delete List.
Now whenever you update your status, or add a photo or video, or ask a question, you can
specify exactly who sees that post. To do that, look for the drop down menu that allows you
to customize who sees your post and change it to whichever list you want.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Customizing account settings
Go to the top right of your Facebook page. Click on the Gear Icon on the right. Then click on
Account Settings.
General account settings
Clicking on Account Settings from the Gear Icon will bring you to the General
Account Setting page by default. You can always locate it in the left-hand column in
the Settings view.
Here, you’ll be able to see the name, URL, and email address associated with your
account. You may edit these options, as well as your password. It will also allow you
to edit your networks, typically educational or work institutions with which you
would like to be affiliated. This is also where you can edit the display Language of
Facebook.
Setting your account security
Access the Account Settings function as described above.
On the left hand column, click Security.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Decide how you want your settings to be for each category. As an example, these are my
security settings on FB:
Deciding if/how you want to be notified about events/posts
Access the Account Settings function as described above.
On the left hand column, click Notifications.
Go through the various types of notifications. Decide if/how you want to be notified (by email,
text message or neither) for each type of notification.
In order to receive text messages from Facebook, you need to go into the Mobile tab and add
the cell phone number you want to receive text messages at.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Your wall (or profile)
Your wall is the main page of your Facebook account. This records any activity you do on
Facebook for your friends to see. It shows your status updates, photos, videos, and links that
you have posted. (These things will also appear on your News Feed – see page 11). Your
friends can post comments to your wall that people will see when they view your Facebook
page.
Accessing your wall
Regardless of where you are on Facebook, you can always get back to your Wall by clicking on
the Facebook icon at the top left of your Facebook account.
Your wall’s interface
On the left side of your Wall, you will always see your current Profile Picture.
You will also see the profile pictures of your Friends below this on the left side of your wall.
These are displayed in a variety of ways. Sometimes, Facebook shows you Friends you have
been connecting with a lot. Sometimes, Facebook shows you Friends who haven’t connected
with for a while, but who are active on Facebook. It is kind of random.
On the top of your wall, you will see some of your profile information displayed. You will also
see a row of photographs you are in. These are not your profile pictures. They are pictures of
you that other people have posted and tagged with your name. (See more about tagging on
page 3.)
News Feed
Your News Feed shows you what your Friends have been up to on Facebook.
The news feed interface
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Click on this to access your news feed.
Click on this to access your messages.
Click on this to access your events.
This takes you to your photos & those of your friends.
This shows what music you and your friends are
listening to.
This takes you to the lists that you maintain.
This takes you to your groups.
This takes you to the pages you administer.
Sorting, following, hiding or reporting posts on your news feed
Facebook gives you a number of ways to interact with posts on your News Feed.
At the top of your News Feed, you can choose to sort by either Top Stories or Most Recent
posts. Facebook explains the way they choose the “Top Stories” as being “based on lots of
factors, including your relationship to the person who posted the story, how many comments
and likes it got, what type of story it is, etc.”
You can also “follow” a single post by clicking on the drop down arrow to the right of the post.
Following
the
post allows you
to be notified
whenever
someone likes
or
comments
on that post.
If you just want to remove a particular post from your News Feed or report it as spam, you
can choose the option that best suits what you want to do.
Interacting with posts on your news feed
For a basic post on your News Feed, there are a number of ways you can interact
with your Facebook friend’s status:
You can
“like” the
post.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
You
can
also
comment on the
post, in response.
Keep
in
mind,
commenting on a
post allows anyone
who can see your
friend’s posts to
see your comment.
Other common posts you may see on your news feed
will be links to articles, websites, etc. that your friends
have shared. In addition to being able to like and
comment on these posts, you can also share them.
Keep in mind that sharing a friends post puts this post on your timeline. You can find
more information about the timeline below.
Timeline
This is your cover. Kind of like the profile picture, this is the first thing that people will see
when they visit your timeline. You can choose a picture from your uploaded/tagged photos, or
upload a new one.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Your personal information, likes, photos, apps are consolidated into one section
underneath the cover.
Adding a photo to your profile
Your profile picture will be the main picture that is associated with your Facebook account. To
add a profile picture or change the existing one, click on your name at the top right of the
Facebook website. You will be taken to your Timeline. Hover your mouse over the blue avatar
and click on “Edit Profile Picture.”
Facebook will then give you
the option to choose a photo
already in your Facebook
account, take a photo with
your computer’s webcam
(if you have one installed),
upload a picture from your
computer (see below).
Adding information to your profile
You can add a lot of information to your profile that will show up on your public Timeline. To
do this, click on your name button (Insert screenshot of name here) on the right side of your
wall.
You will then be taken to your Timeline. Click
to edit your personal
information.
This will give you the ability to add information in the following categories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Work and Education
Living
Relationship
Family
History by Year (not editable manually, will update as you add information to your
profile and timeline)
About You
Basic Info
Contact Info
Favorite Quotations
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Click on the “Edit” button associated with each category, to change your personal information.
Basic Posting
You can easily post a lot of things to your wall. You can restrict who sees each post.
Click on Status &
fill in the box that
says “What’s on
your mind” to
update your status.
Click on Photo/Video to
upload a photo or video
from your computer, create
a slideshow with multiple
photos, or take a picture
with a webcam.
Click on Place to
let followers know
that you’re
posting from a
particular place.
Click on this icon to
let followers know
who you’re with at
the moment
Click the clock icon to
schedule a post for a later
time.
Click on the Location
icon to let followers
know where you’re
posting from (if
you’re not writing
something about a
place, in particular.)
Click on Life Event
to let followers
know you’re
posting something
about a significant
event that’s
happening or just
happened.
Click on Friends
icon to choose
you will see this
post
Sharing a video on your wall
When you want to share a YouTube video or another video you have found online, there are a
couple of ways to do it.
1. Go to the video you want to add to your Wall. Copy the URL of that video. Then go to
your wall & paste the URL into a status update. Add any other info you want to
contextualize that link.
2. A lot of video hosting websites make it very easy to share videos on Facebook. On
YouTube, below the video you want to share, click on Share.
**Note all the other social media sites you can share to from YouTube!
A menu (like the
one to the left) will
pop up. If you
want to share to
your FB book, click
on the blue Share
button. Once you
click, another
window will pop up
that will allow you
to add a personal
note to accompany
the video post.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Check the activity log to see all the posts and activity since you joined Facebook. You can
review things that you have been tagged in, change who can see your posts, etc.
This is your timeline,
which highlights all of the
most interesting events
and stories on your
timeline. You can scroll
down the timeline to see
events consecutively.
You can also navigate
your timeline by clicking
on dates/years here.
Click the star next to a
story to highlight or
expand it. Click the
pencil to edit or remove
the story.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Tagging and removing tags from photos
You can tag people in photos or videos on Facebook, which means publicly identifying who
someone is to all Facebook users. This photo will then be associated with that person’s
Facebook account, unless they remove the tag from the photo. When someone is tagged in a
photo, if you scroll your cursor over the photo, their name will appear.
To tag someone in any photo on Facebook, click on that photo. Next to the enlarged view of
that photo, is a window with more information about who is in the picture, as well as the
opportunity to add information to that photo.
To tag people, click on Tag Photo on the right of the photo.
You can then click on people’s faces to tag them. A window will pop up that allows you to
enter someone’s name. When you are done, click Done Tagging on the left below the photo.
To remove a tag on a photo of you, click on Report/Remove Tag. Follow the prompts and
select the reasons you want to report or remove the tag.
Downloading photos from Facebook
To download any photo on Facebook, click on that photo. In the enlarged view, click on
Options, which will appear along the bottom of the photo. Facebook will allow you to identify
where you want that photo to be saved.
**Note how easily people can download photos. That
means you should be extra careful about what you post on
your Facebook page. If people download your photo, they
can upload it again and then you no longer control how
your image is used.
Communicating with other Facebook users
Sending Messages to Friends
You can send a private message to someone on Facebook. To do this, go to the upper left
corner of your Facebook page and click the message icon. Then click Send a New Message.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
A new window will pop up like the one below. You can use this window just like your regular
email interface. Note the ability to attach a photo, video or link to your message in the
bottom left corner of the window.
Chatting with friends
You can also chat privately with Friends on Facebook just like you might in an Instant Message
Program.
Regardless of where you are on Facebook, the bottom of the right-hand column will show you
how many friends you have available to chat on Facebook. Those with a green dot are
currently using FB. Although, some Facebook users set up chat to go directly to their mobile
devices.
To initiate a chatting session, just click on your friend from that list. A window will pop up and
you can start chatting!
Posting to a friend’s wall
Posting on someone else’s wall is similar to making a status update for your own page. Go to
your Friend’s profile by clicking on Friends in the left column of your Wall. Click on the Friend
you want to see.
You are now looking at their wall. Notice that the interface looks more or less like your own.
You can post a message, a photo or a video just like you can on your own page.
You can also like or comment on posts on their wall—just like in you can in your newsfeed.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Creating communities on Facebook – pages vs. groups
Groups
A group consists of people who are joined together for a specific reason. Each new member
must have their membership approved by the group’s administrator, although there can be
multiple administrators in a group. All members of a group can be emailed at the same time
by the administrator or any of the members. You can make your group as open or closed as
you want.
To create a group, click on Create a Group on the left side of your News Feed. The window
below will pop up in which you specify the group name, members, and how private you want
your group to be.
Pages
Pages are another way to create community on Facebook. This is the most popular way to
gain visibility for a TV show, a cause, a business, a band, or any other venture on Facebook.
When someone “likes” a page, they become a fan, which is like a member. Administrators
and fans communicate together by posting on the page’s wall. All posts will show up in a
Fan’s News Feed. Fans can’t see who is administering the page.
To create a page, click on the More button next to the Pages button on the left side of your
News Feed.
The click on Create a Page in the window that pops up.
You will be asked to determine what type of page you are creating. In the example below, I
selected entertainment and chose “TV Show” from the drop down menu. Fill in the remaining
information, agree to their terms and click Get Started.
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Intro to Social Media: Facebook
Each type of page has its own data
requirements. Facebook will walk you
through them.
To get the word about a page you are
starting out, you should share that link
on your wall and encourage people to
Like your new page, which will make
them a Fan, i.e. a member of your
page’s community.
Resources
What's New on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/help/380049702048759/
Facebook How-tos and Resources:
http://www.johnhaydon.com/category/facebook/
Common Myths about Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/help/369078253152594/
About Page Insights:
https://www.facebook.com/help/336893449723054/
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