FHK Computer Lab #4: Facebook – Getting Serious…

Last Updated 4/17/08

…seriously ready to PARTY, that is! By now, all of you have joined the FHK Facebook Group, and received your invitation to the special members-only event, right? Right?!

Of course you have! Good! I’ll see you there – as you can see, I’m ready.

Anyway, this will be our last Computer Lab on Facebook for a while, although we’ll continue to share interesting, useful, and funny information about Facebook as time goes on. In the last two labs (Beginner, Intermediate), we covered how to sign up for Facebook, and what to do once you’re there.

Today, we’re going to cover a few things NOT to do.

1. Do NOT send out anonymous friend requests on Facebook. While this is acceptable at some social networking sites, Facebook users like to actually KNOW their “friends,” which means that you need to have some sort of a connection to the person – whether it be through a group, through a friend, through a previous working relationship, etc.. When you send a friend request to someone, be sure that you clarify in the invitation how you know them (in the space provided for a “personal message”), if you think there is a chance the person might not remember you.
2. Do NOT add too many applications, join too many groups, or sign up to attend too many events. How many is too many? You’ll have to decide that for yourself, but if you get to the point where your list takes three minutes to scroll through one of your lists, and even you don’t know what most of that “stuff” is – you’ve overdone it. Time to pare back, delete the things you’re not currently using. Getting overloaded is easier than you think. Once you have a lot of friends, you’ll be receiving invitations right and left, and eventually you’ll have to learn to use that “ignore,” button occassionally.
3. Don’t spam your friends. This applies to any social networking group, including Facebook. Yes, it’s fine to promote your blog posts, events, causes, etc., occassionally, but if that’s all you do, your friends may not stay “friends” very long. The purpose of networking on line is to truly “network,” and that’s a two-way process.
4. Do NOT invite the same 20 friends to join every single application and join every single group on Facebook. See #’s 1-3.
5. Do NOT ignore your “birthdays,” list. Birthdays are important.
6. Do NOT invite every single person in your e-mail address book to join Facebook. Yes, that little feature is cool. Yes, I recommend taking advantage of it, but be careful. Sometimes you’ll have multiple addresses for one user in your address book. Sometimes you’ll have people in your address book you don’t even like – do you think they’ll enjoy receiving a “Facebook Friends” application from you? Be sure to “uncheck” those users that you really don’t need to be inviting to your friends list on Facebook.
7. Do NOT replace your real-life friends with virtual friends on Facebook or anywhere else on the web. Social networking is a lot of fun, but it can be addictive like anything else. Keep some balance in your life. Get some fresh air.

Do you have other suggestions for things NOT to do on Facebook? Please add them to the comments section of this post. See you back here next Tuesday, with a brand new topic!