Get your Face on Facebook! (facebook.com)

Member Name: blonde_girl774

Product:	facebook.com
Date:	27/06/06 (25082 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great way to keep in touch with people, can view your friend's profiles & photos.

Disadvantages: Gets a bit addictive and you might turn into a stalker!

I first came across Facebook when I heard repetitive screaming from my housemate’s room back in February. Obviously fearing something terrible had happened I raced upstairs to discover my practically slumped over her desk in fits of hysterics! The only sense I could get out of her was “first kiss… oh my god… mental… oh my god,” deduce from that what you will! I finally worked out that she was gesturing at her computer screen and so, eager to see what all the fuss was about, I looked at it… and that’s where I spent the next 3 hours of my life! Just to clarify the situation somewhat my housemate had discovered a website called Facebook and managed to find her first boyfriend on it, whom she hadn’t seen for over 10 years.


What is Facebook?

Facebook is basically an online directory of sorts that allows you to connect with other people from your school, university or work place. It’s similar in a sense to other sites such as Face Party and My Space, but arguably more addictive! It was first created in America in 2004 but has since been widened to allow other countries to partake in the fun, England being just one of them. It now boasts over 10,000 members and this number is continuously growing. Facebook allows you to create your own profile, write to your friend’s on their walls, make groups for you and your friends, upload photo albums for everyone to view and a variety of other actions also!


How can I join Facebook?

The registration process is incredibly straight forward with the only credential being that your school, university or work place must be supported and therefore listed on Facebook. In order for them to check that you’re place is listed you’re required to enter your name, type of network (either school, university or work place) email (from the said place) and your choice of password also. They will then check to see if your network place is listed and if it is a confirmation email will be sent to that email with a link in to activate your account. All in all it’s one of the easiest and quickest joining processes I’ve ever come across and takes only a couple of minutes in total.

With regard to the list of places actually listed on the site it does vary quite immensely as to what it actually supported. Currently there are about 250 high schools and colleges listed on the site which are organised by the appropriate county or town, 37 universities listed on the site with nearly all the main ones being supported and over 4,000 companies listed which are mainly quite large ones but there are some smaller, individual ones also listed. The best way to see if your network is listed is to go onto the site at www.faceparty.com and search for the appropriate school, university or company.


How do I set up my Profile?

Once you’ve activated your account the best thing to do next is to set up your profile. This consists of filling in several sections which give people a little bit more information about you. You can choose the amount of detail you wish to give and even omit sections you don’t feel comfortable with…

Account Info – the first part is necessary information which will always be shown on your page and consists of your name, your network (e.g. Leeds University, Cheadle Hulme High School) and the date of your last update on the site.

Basic Info – this is optional and allows you to list information such as your sex, your sexual orientation, your status (e.g. single, in a relationship, etc), your residence and your birthday to name just a few.

Contact Info – the only contact info that will be shown on the site is the email address that you supply when you join, however there’s also the option to include other information including alternate email addresses, mobile phone number, home address, etc.

Personal Info – this is an optional section and allows you to give a little more detail as to your personality including your political views, your interests, your favourite movies and an about me section also.

Work – this is an optional section once again and allows you to supply some details as to your employment (if you have any) and a general description of what you do.

Summer Plans – here you can list any plans you have for the summer holidays to give people a little more information about your whereabouts.

Courses – this is optional again and only applies to people who list their main network as a school or a university. You can list what modules you take which then allows you to search for people doing the same as you.

Photo – lastly you can upload a photo if you wish to.


How do I navigate?

On the left hand side of any of the Facebook pages you’ll see a menu in blue which has eight options on it – each one of these will take you to a different area of the site. By explaining each of these options it’s probably the easiest way for me to explain the site to you…

My Profile – this link will take you directly to your homepage in a sense which shows your profile information as well as a selection of your friends, a list of all the places which you have friends at, your photo albums (see below), a list of all the groups you are a member of (see below) and also your wall. Your wall is a bit like a slower version of MSN Messenger and it lets you write messages on the “wall” of any of your friends which are then viewable to anyone who can see your friend’s profile. It’s a sort of public email service in a sense!

My Friends – once you’ve set up your profile you’re ready to search for people and add them as friends. In order to do this simply enter the name of a friend into the search box on the top left hand side of the page and a list of matches will be displayed with the person’s name, photo and their network – this should be enough information for you to deduce which one is actually the person you know! Once you’ve found them you merely click on the “add to friends” button on the right hand side of the person’s box and they’ll be sent a friend’s request. Once they’ve confirmed that they are indeed your friend you will then be able to see their profile, see their friends, send them messages, etc. If you want to find people from your college or your course or your hometown you can click on any word which is displayed in blue on your profile – this will then bring up a list of all the appropriate matches so in one simple click you can view everyone who uses Facebook from your hometown, or with your birthday, etc. By clicking on the “My Friends” link you’ll be able to see a list of all your friends and also the choice to click on any of them to view their profile.

My Photos – here you can create photo albums and upload photos to them, much the same as you would do when uploading photos from a camera into a file on Windows. You can choose to caption all the photos and also tag them which means that anyone who has a profile on Facebook will be informed that you have tagged them in a photo on your account. You can also choose if the albums are available to anyone to view or only to your friends.

My Groups – there’s a wide range of groups you can join and participate in – from football fan clubs to Big Brother gossip there’s something for everyone! It’s a great way to meet people from your networks and other networks and allows you to post messages and pictures up, quite similar to MSN or Yahoo groups for example.

My Events – here you can see a list of possible events that you can attend and also ones you’ve agreed to attend. Events actually refer to real life events and it’s possible to organise a gathering or a party using Facebook by sending invites to all your friends and allowing them to RSVP to you – a great way to organise your social life!

My Messages – although you have your “wall” on Facebook where you can both receive and send messages the creators of Facebook do realise that it’s not always ideal to post everything you have to say for everyone to see! This section is like a simplified email inbox and allows you to see messages you have both received and sent.

My Account – this is the slightly technical area of your account and allows you to carry out account maintenance such as changing your email address and password, merging your accounts if you have two and lastly deleting your account from Facebook.

My Privacy – this allows you to control who can view your profile and photo as you can allow only your friends to see it, only your network to see it (i.e. all your University or work place) or of course everyone to see it. You can also block individuals or prevent certain people from accessing your information.


My Opinion

So there we have it, my (almost) brief summary of what is proving to be an extremely addictive site that I can’t quite seem to stop visiting. Normally when I join a new site the novelty wears off after a month or two but this is one site that’s kept me hooked! It’s a great way to keep in touch with friends – more fun than simply emailing – and a great way to spy on people as well! So if you’re looking for a way to waste a bit of your day then look no further, get joined up and get stalking!!

Thanks for reading!

Summary: A site similar to My Space which allows you to create a profile and keep in touch with friends.