What's Facebook all about? How does it work?

So, you've signed up to facebook and you now have no idea what it is, what it does, and what you're supposed to do with it.  Sounds familiar? Yes, we've all been there.   Hopefully, this guide will give you a bit more info.

What's it for?

So, the main reasons for being on facebook are usually the following

• - keep in touch with other people on facebook
• - keep up with what friends and family are doing in their lives
• - share photos and videos with friends and family
• - share what you have been up to with friends and family

In this guide, we'll go through how to do each of these things. But first, a look at how facebook is laid out once you have created your account.

Navigating Around your Facebook Account

So,  you've created an account.
On the top right of your screen, you'll see menu buttons for  HOME, PROFILE, and ACCOUNT. Let's look at these first
HOME, aka News Feed

Clicking on this link brings up your home or newsfeed page.  The main panel shows you all the updates from yourself, and from all of your contacts (friends) - everytime they write anything on their status, or do anything, it will appear in your 'newsfeed' on this page.  This is where you will probably spend most time, as it is what lets you see what all of your contacts are doing, and will update each time one of your contacts makes an update.  Only you see this particular view of the world.
From within the home/newsfeed page. You can also click on a friend's name and you will see their "Profile" - their page only, with all of their updates on it. In their newsfeed, they will see any updates that you make (along with all of their other contacts), and they can click on your name to see your profile, just like you saw theirs.
In the panel to the left of your newsfeed, you will see four sections : News Feed (i.e. the main newsfeed / home page), Messages, Events and Friends.  Only you see this panel.



On the right hand side of your 'home' page is a notifications area. This shows you things like "x new friend requests" - i.e. people have asked to be your friend, or your "Pokes".  Only you see this part of the page.
Interacting with Others.
If somebody wants to be your friend on facebook, you will see a Friend Request for them.  If you click on this request, it will tell you who they are and give you the option to accept or reject their friend request (or ignore it for the time being).   If it is someone you really know, and want them to be a friend, click on Accept, and they'll get added to your friends lists. At this point, they can see your "Profile" and "Wall".  I strongly suggest that you don't accept friend requests from people you don't really know, at least until you fully understand the implications of what information you are sharing.
Have a look in your notifications panel on the right of your home / newsfeed page.  Has somebody Poked you? OK, this might sound a bit odd, but it's another little interacting tool that facbook gives you. You can give somebody a virtual poke . It's like a little nudge to that person to say 'hi, i'm here'.  You can't poke the same person again until they have accepted your poke, but they can poke you back.

PROFILE
This is your webpage - everything about you, as other people see it. There are five sections to your facebook profile, and there are links to all five of these items on the top left of the page

, just below your profile picture.  By default, your Wall is displayed when you click on Profile.



Wall, Info, Photos, Notes and Friends
Wall: This is your 'writing space' you can write on your own wall, and other people can write on your wall. Other people can also see your wall.  Anything that *you* write on your wall will appear in the newsfeed (i.e your updates, that your friends see).  Other people can view your wall if they click on your profile and go to your wall - who can see it depends upon your privacy settings, but this should ideally just be your 'friends', nobody else.
Info: If any of your friends click on your name within facebook, this is what they wll see. It contains factual information about you. I would suggest that you set your privacy settings to only reveal certain information on this page, even to friends.  I wouldn't put your full date of birth, or your mother's maiden name, or anything related to security information on here.   I'll post separately about security and privacy...
Photos: this page displays all photos that you have ever uploaded, and all photos that others have uploaded that are tagged with you in them.
Notes : you can write 'notes' - articles or pages of information, and s ave them as separate notes, attached to your facebook profile. Often bloggers will use these to display posts from their blogs.
Friends: Clicking on the Friends link will show a list of all of your facebook friends.
ACCOUNT
This is where you can set up your facebook account, and where you control who can see what about you.  I'll talk about this separately in my article on Privacy and Security.

OK, I understand what it looks like..now what do i do with it?

So, the main purpose of facebook is to tell people what you are doing, and to find out what they are doing.  This is done by Status Updates
To update your Status click on either your Wall or your Profile. At the top, you will see a box labelled "Status" with the grey text "What's on your mind?"
Click on the "What's on your mind?" text box, and write in what you would like people to know about what you are doing now, what you are thinking, or something you would like to announce to all of your friends.  It could be "just back from a lovely holiday" or "feeling poorly today", or it could even contain a link to a website that you've seen and you want to share with your friends.
Once you have typed your message, click on the padlock at the end of the line, and look at the drop-down menu. This defines who can see teh status update that you are about to post.  I generally have "Friends Only" selected.  This means that ONLY people who I have accepted as facebook friends can see this update.  However, you can use the 'customise' button to select only specific people, if you really want to cut down who can see this.

Updating your status, and selecting who can see it.

Once you've decided who can see this update, click on SHARE. Your post will then appear on your WALL.
So, all of your friends will now see this message in their newsfeed, and anybody who views your profile Wall will also see this, as your latest facebook status update.
"Inbox" - you can send messages to your facebook contacts within facebook. like a mini emailing system.
For your 'privacy' settings, i would recommend that you set everything to "Only Friends" (e.g. who can see your pictures, photos, status updates, etc) - but maybe leave "who can send you messages" as 'everyone' - that means that any new facebook people trying to contact you as a friend still can find you - but they won't be able ot see any of your stuff until you confirm them as a friend.