You’re on Facebook; Now What?

This popular form of social media is widely utilized by nearly 400 million people worldwide for business to personal use. Let’s presume you’ve finally established a Facebook account, set the privacy settings to a comfortable level, and uploaded a profile photo. Now there are many new terms you’ll encounter when you begin, i.e. friends, walls, status updates and news feeds. What does it all mean?

First is finding Facebook friends. Start by searching for a person’s profile using his or her name or e-mail and then sending a friend request. That person has the option to ignore you (some friend) or accept the request. If they ignore you, you won’t receive any notification in return. If they accept the request, you will receive a notification and they will now pop up in your list of friends. You can view their profile, check out their friends, write on their wall and even poke them … amongst many other things. You’re now connected.

As for writing on their wall, this isn’t an actual form of graffiti. Well, maybe online graffiti; but, it’s encouraged and is the main staple of communication between friends on Facebook. By clicking on a friend’s profile and choosing the tab that says “Wall,” you can type a message to your friend that is displayed to everyone in their network. Keep in mind, this is not a private message between you and your friend; it is a broadcast message for all in the network of friends.

Sending a private message to a friend on Facebook requires clicking on their profile, looking under the profile picture and clicking on the option called “Send <friend> A Message”. This option is just between yourself and the person; others will not see this message.

“What’s on your mind” is the question you answer when updating your status. It’s a great way to let everyone know what you’re doing. Some post a few words about a trip they are enjoying; others may discuss a project they are working on; a company could announce a special offer or business event; or you can discuss your experience at a SupplySide show.

The News Feeds tab is the collection of all your friends’ status updates. Scrolling through this tab allows you to see what everyone is doing without having to go directly to the individual profiles.

Yes, Facebook has become a popular way for friends to keep in touch and companies to market themselves in real time. It’s time to get on board.