Ft. Hard Knox − Facebook Tutorial (1 of 3) Networking with Facebook

Facebook Tutorial (1 of 3) Networking with Facebook

Posted January 15th, 2008 by Jenn Sierra

Click HERE to read all three part of this Facebook Tutorial

Last Updated 09/18/09

Are you tired of sitting on the sidelines of the blogosphere? Do you want to become more involved? There are lots of ways to do that – you can set up your own blog, start or update a wiki, or get involved in social networking. We’re going to talk about all of these avenues over the next several weeks, but today, I’d like to introduce you to Facebook, because it is an excellent place to start. Facebook is a online tool to allow you to connect all of your online activities.

Facebook can be used from your computer or a mobile phone, and interfaces with other popular networking sites – you post to Stumbleupon, Twitter, and del.icio.us, YouTube and others right from Facebook. Users have a rather extensive profile on which they can post photos and videos, promote their blogs and causes, exchange information and jokes, share music, arrange to meet at events, and communicate in fun ways like the ever-popular “Super Poke,” and Booze Mail. Members can be involved as much or as little as they wish. If you just want to be notified by e-mail when your group updates its page, you can do that, or you can sign in daily to keep up with what your friends are doing.

Getting started is easy. You can either go to Facebook.com, and go exploring on your own, or you can follow the quick steps illustrated below. Either way, be sure to share anything you learned in the comments section of this post.

Enter the requested information (NOTE: For security reasons, it is wise not to use the same password for e-mail and facebook…choose a different password.) and go to your e-mail box to confirm your identity.

Now, start finding your friends (NOTE: If you don’t want Facebook to search your e-mail address books, that’s fine, you can always use the “search” feature by name, later…but you’ll have to search for your friends one at a time.)

When you befriend someone on Facebook, that person will get a message that looks like this. You will also get the same message when someone requests to be your friend. This is where you decide how much of your profile you wish to reveal to your new Facebook friend.

You may wish to confirm the details of your relationship with a new Facebook friend, or you may choose “skip this step.”

Lost? Here’s how to get back on track…it’s also how you will sign in to Facebook from now on.

This is your home page. You can always get back here (after you’ve logged in) by clicking on “home” at the top of the screen (red square on this illustration). This is a quick way to see if you have any messages in your “inbox,” or any “notifications,” as well. From here on, your experience with Facebook will be very much customized to you, depending on your interaction with other Facebook users. Be sure to take time to explore the menus when you have time. We’ll cover some of these features in more detail in a few weeks.

The final thing we’re going to cover today, however, is how to locate and sign up for a group. This can be done at any time by clicking on “groups” in the left menu, and using “search” to find one of interest to you.

Groups are formed on Facebook for different reasons. Some are formed for people to be able to make a statement or show solidarity, like Stop HillaryCare. Again, 100,000 Strong for Earmark Reform, and Stop Hillary Clinton: (One Million Strong AGAINST Hillary)Global, and 1,000,000 Strong for Stephen T. Colbert(Can you believe this group had 1.2 million members?!)

But other groups are formed for networking purposes, like Blog Oklahoma, The Republican National Committe, and GOP Hub, Ft. Hard Knox. There are also groups formed for many other reasons than politics, like the Wyoming Cowboys Fan Club, It is Well with my Soul, and many, many other groups that center around hobbies, interests, locations, music, etc..

For political conservatives online, a couple of groups we can recommend is Conservablogs, and of course, Ft. Hard Knox. In some cases, you’ll need to be sure it’s an open group that anyone can join; this information is in the right-hand column. To join, click “Join this Group.” Then start discussing and posting.

Now, it’s time to start exploring. See how many ways there are to message your friends, send them gifts, and “poke” them (Don’t worry – they won’t mind!) Be sure to come back here with any questions, comments, or concerns, or funny stories you might have. Have fun!

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