Facebook has been around since 2004 and over that time has gone from strength to strength in popularity. Previous to that, MySpace was the social media platform that people online used to communicate with their friends…..but who has a MySpace account now that they actively use? The other similar platform is Google Plus, but it has been slow to gain traction with most people well established with Facebook.
Your Profile
After you have signed up with Facebook you need to complete your profile. There is a lot of information that Facebook asks you to share in their questions used to establish your profile. This information is used in a wide variety of ways to help you connect with likeminded people, show you information which you may find interesting and also for advertisers to ensure they are reaching their targeted audience. Do be aware that the information that you make available is public and can be seen by anyone. This may scare some people, whilst others don’t mind – that choice is up to you.
Posting and Messaging
Once you have a network of friends your news feed will start showing you information which they have posted and made public. You can approve of your friends post by clicking the ‘like’ button. You can also reply and make further comment on a friends post.
It is important to know that what you post on your news feed is public and depending on what your settings are, everyone can see it. There is an option to send a private message which is not public. Recently Facebook released a secondary app for smart phones called ‘Messenger’ which gives it users a quicker way to interact with messages similar to texting.
Groups and Pages
Facebook gives you the ability to join a wide variety of different groups which can be set to being public (everyone can see what is posted) to private (no one can see what is posted unless they are a member). There are a lot of communities on Facebook where people share information, keep each other informed, sell/buy, discuss etc.
Another feature is Facebook Pages which many businesses, websites and interest groups use to publish information which they think people who have ‘liked’ them may want to read. A lot of businesses use this opportunity to stay connected with their customers publishing information about what they do, information on new products, loyalty discounts and special offers.
Facebook is free to use, but it does use advertising through promoted posts and sidebar advertorials. If you have setup your own page, you will quite often be prompted to spend money on advertising.
Let’s Connect
Do you have a Facebook Profile? Let’s be friends! You can friend me with personal business profile here and a link to my Imajayne Business Page here. Send me a message and I will ensure that I give you a reciprocal like in return.
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