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I want to get Facebook. But ...

*deep breath*
Ok, this slightly embarrassing. I don't have Facebook, simply because I could never be bothered with it and, back in the day, everyone just used msn. :redface:

I have had a change of heart over it, mainly because there are a few people I want to get back in touch with, and others who I don't want to lose touch with. The thing is ... I'm such a noob with it.
I made a "pretend" account, just to have a fiddle round and check it out. I like to think I'm pretty internet savvy :cool:

but I'm struggling to get to grips with FB. :frown:

Would TSR mind answering some questions for me?

1)What exactly do you DO on FB? What do you personally do on it? Is it just for talking to people? And looking at their photos ...?
2)How do you talk to people on FB? Is it through FB chat? How does it work? :s-smilie:

I tried to go on that little tab at the bottom right hand side of the screen, is that it?
3)Can you make your profile completely private? I mean, so nobody, not even your friends can see your friends list or anything on your profile.
4)Should I bother trying to add everyone from school, or just the people I know well?
5)Would you personally think it *really* sad that I'm only just getting FB (when everyone else has had it for years)?

Is there anything else I should know about FB? Any bits of advice for a clueless newbie :redface:

PLEASE help me guys. :smile:

I'm panicking over this and I really need to set it up and get to grips with it ASAP. :frown:

Please take a few moments of your time to help me.

Sorry if this thread is in the wrong place. Not sure where else to put it.

Reply 1

Alpha510

9

Facebook will blow off a meaningful part of your life.

I sincerely regret it. Every time I introspect and look back to what I've done in my life, I find an interminable page full of nonsensical crap being scrolled.

My sincere advice: DON'T.
This isn't something you'd be proud of.

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by Alpha510

Facebook will blow off a meaningful part of your life.

I sincerely regret it. Every time I introspect and look back to what I've done in my life, I find an interminable page full of nonsensical crap being scrolled.

This isn't something you'd be proud of.

Really? But how else am I going to speak to people online? I feel really left out by not having it.

Reply 3

pinkbullets

12

Original post by Anonymous

*deep breath*
Ok, this slightly embarrassing. I don't have Facebook, simply because I could never be bothered with it and, back in the day, everyone just used msn. :redface:

I have had a change of heart over it, mainly because there are a few people I want to get back in touch with, and others who I don't want to lose touch with. The thing is ... I'm such a noob with it.
I made a "pretend" account, just to have a fiddle round and check it out. I like to think I'm pretty internet savvy :cool:

but I'm struggling to get to grips with FB. :frown:

Would TSR mind answering some questions for me?

1)What exactly do you DO on FB? What do you personally do on it? Is it just for talking to people? And looking at their photos ...?
2)How do you talk to people on FB? Is it through FB chat? How does it work? :s-smilie:

I tried to go on that little tab at the bottom right hand side of the screen, is that it?
3)Can you make your profile completely private? I mean, so nobody, not even your friends can see your friends list or anything on your profile.
4)Should I bother trying to add everyone from school, or just the people I know well?
5)Would you personally think it *really* sad that I'm only just getting FB (when everyone else has had it for years)?

Is there anything else I should know about FB? Any bits of advice for a clueless newbie :redface:

PLEASE help me guys. :smile:

I'm panicking over this and I really need to set it up and get to grips with it ASAP. :frown:

Please take a few moments of your time to help me.

Sorry if this thread is in the wrong place. Not sure where else to put it.

Hi. I am not computer savvy but I will try and help as best I can :smile:

.

1) Facebook is for sharing pictures (uploading your own, looking at other people's, being tagged in other people's photos on a night out), talking to people, making statuses to tell other people what you're up to etc. It also has other smaller advantages like reminding you when its peoples' birthdays etc.

2) You can either message people to talk to them via their inbox (mainly used for when they're offline so they see it when they log back in) or through chat which is mainly used when you're online. Yes, the little side tab thing with a list of your friends who are online (the ones with green dots beside them) is chat.

3) There is an option so you can hide all your stuff. Go on privacy settings and then there's an option for only me or something like that.

4) It's up to you and purely depends on who you feel comfortable with seeing your photos etc.

5) No, I don't think it's sad at all.

Reply 4

Alpha510

9

Original post by Anonymous

Really? But how else am I going to speak to people online? I feel really left out by not having it.

TSR, YMessenger, Gtalk, Skype -- what more do you want?

Reply 5

Misstery

Original post by Anonymous

1)What exactly do you DO on FB? What do you personally do on it? Is it just for talking to people? And looking at their photos ...?

Depends, really. You can use it however you like. Some people are naturally very open about their lives or inquisitive about other people's, so they post lots of information about themselves for the curious. Other people who may have a public profile (for example a president of a club, business man, media personality, promoter) use it to reflect their personality to the public in a slightly more informal manner. Some people like the humour and discussions that take place online or like to seek help/advice (much like people who use tsr). And yet again others just like an open place to communicate with friends and acquaintanceship in a way that's easier, more detailed and quicker than by text.

The majority of people will enjoy multiple or even all of these facilities.

Original post by Anonymous

2)How do you talk to people on FB? Is it through FB chat? How does it work? :s-smilie:

I tried to go on that little tab at the bottom right hand side of the screen, is that it?

Yep! You should see your friends' names appear in the tab. If they have a green dot, then they're online. You can send them messages whether they're online or not. Just type your message in and it will appear on their screen. This is actually the exact same facility as the 'messages' option, just reduced to a smaller format, so more 'chatty.' It doesn't really matter whether you send a message through facebook chat or 'messages' - it'll still come up in their inbox. It's just a matter of preference.

Original post by Anonymous

3)Can you make your profile completely private? I mean, so nobody, not even your friends can see your friends list or anything on your profile.

I believe so. I don't think there is a 'set everything private entirely' button (although you can disable your account) but most things have a privacy setting, so I imagine if you explore your preferences thoroughly enough you can make it all effectively private.

Original post by Anonymous

4)Should I bother trying to add everyone from school, or just the people I know well?

Whichever you like. Many people like the idea of being 'connected' to everyone - the ability to see what's going on with other people. Others don't like people they don't care about appearing on their newsfeed. Again, preference!

Original post by Anonymous

5)Would you personally think it *really* sad that I'm only just getting FB (when everyone else has had it for years)?

No!

I know some people who don't have facebook and lots who don't use it much.
It's slightly annoying when someone doesn't have facebook sometimes, cause honestly setting up a facebook event or facebook discussion is easier than anything else, so having to go contact that person individually is a bit of a pain. But you don't judge the person for it! It's just like "arg, why can't you make this easier on us?" :rolleyes:

Reply 6

mooomooo

3

Totally agree with Alpha510. I've stopped using facebook completely as it's such a waste of time and you really start to tire of scrolling down a news-feed full of pointless updates and pooey photos. Most people I know barely use it anymore either,it's not a big deal at all! Have you tried skype? Honestly if you haven't been concerned with getting it up until now then It's not really worth it in my opinion!

Reply 7

kpwxx

20

Original post by Anonymous

1)What exactly do you DO on FB? What do you personally do on it? Is it just for talking to people? And looking at their photos ...?

Pretty much. Some people play games. Others add statuses, where they put whatever they fancy - questions, updates on their day, music lyrics, anecdotes. Some people don't bother with these though. You can then comment on the stuff, so it may or may not turn in to a communication. And people share videos and pictures as well. Also some people enter competitions through 'pages' which they like of popular products, and some use it to see updates from music artists/celebrities, such as gig dates.

2)How do you talk to people on FB? Is it through FB chat? How does it work? :s-smilie:

I tried to go on that little tab at the bottom right hand side of the screen, is that it?

Yes that's facebook chat. That's one way to communicate, so that only the other person can see. Alternatively you can write on their 'wall' which can be found by going on to their profile. Most people have it set so anyone can see this. You can also do group fb chat messages to multiple people at once. You can also comment on posts they've made or posts between others; generally you find these in your news feed (the page which shows up when you sign in).

3)Can you make your profile completely private? I mean, so nobody, not even your friends can see your friends list or anything on your profile.

Yes, there are only one or two things which are always visible - name and profile picture, I think. If you wanted to do this: click the cog at the top right, select privacy settings, and here you can change who can see your posts i.e. your status updates/picture shares/video shares. Then click timeline and tagging on the left hand side and you can hide some more things.

The rest now needs to be done at the relevant page eg. making photo albums private through the album, make friends private by going on your profile and friends and changing it there... they changed it as people kept complaining the old privacy settings where they were all on one page were 'too complicated'.

The best thing is to play around and then go on your profile. To the right of your name there is a cog. Click that and click view as. You can then see what your profile looks like to different people and check all is private enough.

4)Should I bother trying to add everyone from school, or just the people I know well?

I'd just add people you want to talk to, but that's my personal opinion. Some people add everyone.

5)Would you personally think it *really* sad that I'm only just getting FB (when everyone else has had it for years)?

No, you just didn't want it and now you do. I wouldn't care and I'd hope most people wouldn't!

Is there anything else I should know about FB? Any bits of advice for a clueless newbie :redface:

I would recommend clicking 'Sort: Most Recent' at the top of the news feed each time you look at it, as this puts them in time order rather than the rubbish order facebook deems to be 'best'.

If you see a post that annoys you, such as one about a game you don't play, you can click an arrow at the top right of the post and hide all posts about that game etc.

PLEASE help me guys. :smile:

I'm panicking over this and I really need to set it up and get to grips with it ASAP. :frown:

Please take a few moments of your time to help me.

Don't panic, it's only facebook! You will pick it up quickly.

Sorry if this thread is in the wrong place. Not sure where else to put it.

..

Reply 8

Runninground

18

Original post by Anonymous

*deep breath*
Ok, this slightly embarrassing. I don't have Facebook, simply because I could never be bothered with it and, back in the day, everyone just used msn. :redface:

I have had a change of heart over it, mainly because there are a few people I want to get back in touch with, and others who I don't want to lose touch with. The thing is ... I'm such a noob with it.
I made a "pretend" account, just to have a fiddle round and check it out. I like to think I'm pretty internet savvy :cool:

but I'm struggling to get to grips with FB. :frown:

Would TSR mind answering some questions for me?

1)What exactly do you DO on FB? What do you personally do on it? Is it just for talking to people? And looking at their photos ...?
2)How do you talk to people on FB? Is it through FB chat? How does it work? :s-smilie:

I tried to go on that little tab at the bottom right hand side of the screen, is that it?
3)Can you make your profile completely private? I mean, so nobody, not even your friends can see your friends list or anything on your profile.
4)Should I bother trying to add everyone from school, or just the people I know well?
5)Would you personally think it *really* sad that I'm only just getting FB (when everyone else has had it for years)?

Is there anything else I should know about FB? Any bits of advice for a clueless newbie :redface:

PLEASE help me guys. :smile:

I'm panicking over this and I really need to set it up and get to grips with it ASAP. :frown:

Please take a few moments of your time to help me.

Sorry if this thread is in the wrong place. Not sure where else to put it.

1) You read statuses about girls complaining about their love life, or you have to scroll through lots of spam/ pictures that intend to be funny but aren't. Oh, and you use it for FB chat.

2)Yes, FB chat is the little tab at the bottom. A green dot means they are online, and a little phone icon means they are online using their phone.

3)It's somewhere in the settings. And on statuses you can select 'only me'.

4) Just the people you know/ like. I only talk to about 3 people out of about 150 friends. I don't see the point of adding hundreds of people.

5) No, but it's much more boring than it used to be. I only use it for FB chat.

Reply 9

melissaye

I think what people are trying to warn you of is becoming 'addicted'. But FB is great for keeping in touch for free, no costly calls or anything. Just add the people you want to, I wouldn't bother adding people you will never talk to. And manipulate the settings so people you are not 'friends with' can only see so much or your profile :smile:

Reply 10