Figuring out Facebook

Still, I wanted to find out a little bit more about what I was getting myself into before I took the plunge. So I contacted John Garvey, principle of Garvey Communications Associates Inc., who recently hosted a local seminar on how businesses could utilize Facebook and Twitter. Garvey gave me his take on popular social media sites, and also connected me with seminar presenters Ann Latham, Gordon Snyder and David Sweeney to get their perspectives. "What I see happening with Facebook [is] that it's become a communication medium, a way to stay in touch, to exchange information and tips," Garvey told PRIME. He said users post photos, keep track of family members, and in general connect about what's happening in their lives through Facebook. "What's scary is that you can have three generations young people, parents and grandparents exchanging information on the same platform," he said. "It's like sharing a scrapbook online," Ann Latham, owner of the consulting firm Uncommon Clarity Inc., said of Facebook. It's precisely that scrapbook function that got presenter David Sweeney, owner of The Communications Dept., a freelance service that provides such things as meeting support, video or speechwriting services for small and medium-sized businesses, hooked on Facebook. "I had an account open but didn't do much with it until my [out-of-state] grade school class had a reunion," Sweeney said. "I couldn't go, but one of the girls in the class took a bunch of pictures, and the only way to see them was on her Facebook page." He said there were 20 people at that reunion, and many saw him online after he connected with the photographer through her Facebook page. "It's been a good resource, a good way to keep in touch with friends from high school and college" he said. "And I'm getting some local friends [in Western Mass.]" One of the things that enhances that connectedness, Sweeney said, is Facebook's e-mail -like function that sends you alerts of activity on your page. "[Facebook] will send you a status if someone sends you a message or responds to you" Sweeney said. " You share some stuff and other people share stuff. I check it a couple of times a day." Creating a Facebook account To sign up for Facebook: Go to the Web Site, www.facebook.com, and enter your full name, your email address (work or personal, your choice) and create a password. Facebook will also ask you to provide your real birth date (month, day and year), for security reasons. You can hide this information on your profile. Once you have logged in, you will be given a page where you can post a photo and fill in information about yourself ( job, schooling, etc.) It's up to you how personal you want to make this stuff. Before you log out, be sure to click on the the privacy settings tab and adjust who can see your information. If you want to limit your public online exposure, indicate you only want yourself or your friends to see certain parts of your page. Then, you just need to be careful whom you accept as an online "Friend." "Be very careful with photos of kids," Sweeney said. For how to identify and link photos to friends Facebook pages, visit: www.ehow.com/how_2031208_tag-friends-facebook.html