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Internet

Jennifer Holman

2013-05-29 10:54:16

Q-My grandkids were talking about "tweeting" and I'm embarrassed to say I thought they were talking about birds. Your past articles on Facebook have really helped me with Facebook. I was wondering if you could help me get a better understanding of "tweeting"?

A-Don't feel embarrassed, for some reason when I hear "tweeting" I automatically think "I Tawt I taw a Puddy Tat!!" Twitter and or tweeting is an online social networking service and microblogging service that allows its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters, known as "tweets". The short format of the tweet is a defining characteristic of the service, allowing informal collaboration and quick information sharing that provides relief from rising email and IM fatigue. Tweets are publicly visible by default, but senders can restrict message delivery to just their followers. Users can tweet via the Twitter website, compatible external applications (such as for smartphones), or by Short Message Service (SMS) available in certain countries. While the service is free, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service provider fees. Users may subscribe to other users' tweets – this is known as following and subscribers are known as followers or tweeps. Users have the capability to block those who have followed them. As a social network, Twitter revolves around the principle of followers. When you choose to follow another Twitter user, that user's tweets appear in reverse chronological order on your main Twitter page. If you follow 20 people, you'll see a mix of tweets scrolling down the page: breakfast-cereal updates, interesting new links, music recommendations. Twitter has been used for a variety of purposes in many industries and scenarios. For example, it has been used to organize protests, sometimes referred to as "Twitter Revolutions". Another, more practical use for Twitter exists as an effective emergency communication system for breaking news. Twitter has also been adopted as a communication and learning tool in educational settings, mostly in colleges and universities.

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Internet

Jennifer Holman

2013-04-29 13:58:30

Q-I’m on the leadership team of a nonprofit organization, and we want to use Facebook to connect with potential donors and volunteers. Should we create a Page or a Group?

A-If you’re creating the official presence of an entity on Facebook — whether an organization or a business — you should create a Page. Here’s the difference between Pages and Groups: Like a friend’s profile, Facebook Pages enable public figures, businesses, organizations and other entities to create an authentic and public presence on Facebook. Unlike your profile, Facebook Pages are visible to everyone on the internet by default. You, and every person on Facebook, can connect with these Pages by becoming a fan and then receive their updates in your News Feed and interact with them. While Pages were designed to be the official profiles for entities, such as celebrities, brands or businesses, Facebook Groups are the place for small group communication and for people to share their common interests and express their opinion. Groups allow people to come together around a common cause, issue or activity to organize, express objectives, discuss issues, post photos and share related content. Pages have several features that Groups don’t. They can import an RSS feed into their Notes, so any blog posts your organization’s site generates could automatically be posted on your Facebook Page; they display visit, interaction, and fan demographic stats to Page administrators; and they have more flexibility in adding apps (including fundraising apps and store apps) and displaying information. Here’s what to do: Create your new Page, add information like your logo, photos, blog feed, and other content. The following steps will assist you in creating your Facebook Page: 1. Log in to your personal Facebook account. 2. Go to http://facebook.com/pages/create.php. Doing so brings up a screen showing six Page types. If you need to, take the time to click each Page type and then click the drop-down category list. Look for a category that matches your organization. 3. Select the type of Page to create. 4. Select the category of Page you want. The category you choose determines the types of Information fields that are available for your Page. All types, except Cause or Community, ask you to select a category for your Page. The reason to find the best category is that the category determines what details are shown on your business Page’s Info link. 5. Type the requested information. Depending on which business Page type you choose, you see different text fields to fill in. The Name field ends up being the title of the Page. Each of the six types calls the Name field something different: Local Business calls it Business or Place; Company calls it Company Name; Brand or Product calls it Brand or Product; Artist or Band calls it Name; Entertainment calls it Name; and Cause or Community calls it Cause or Community. Facebook likes (insists on) first letters being capitalized for Page names. You need to fill out all fields to be able to create your Page. 6. Select the I Agree to Facebook Pages Terms check box. You must be the official representative of this person, business, band, or product to create this Page. If you’re not, you’re in violation of Facebook Terms and Services; Facebook can (and will) remove your Profile and not reinstate it. 7. Click the Get Started button. You’ve created a Facebook Page! Now Facebook takes you through a three-step process to fill in and open your Page to the public: 1. Upload a Profile picture. A Profile picture isn’t the large Cover photo you see on other Pages. This is the smaller, square image located in the bottom-left corner overlaying the Cover photo. The image can be any shape, but the viewable part is square. After you’ve uploaded your Profile image, click Next. 2. Fill in a basic description and any other site links, such as Twitter or a website. You can add as many links as you want. When you have those links in place (always use the http:// part of the URL so that the links will be hyperlinked), click Save Info. 3. Set your vanity URL in the Web Address tab. This tab comes and goes. Sometimes you see this third tab, and sometimes you don’t. If you see it, you’re very lucky, as you can set your vanity URL right away, without having to develop 25 likes for the Page to get it. Now Facebook takes you on a little guided tour, suggesting your next steps to take: * Like Your Own Page: Go ahead and do this! • Invite Your Friends to Like the Page: Don’t do this because you haven’t fixed your Page up yet! You haven’t uploaded a large Cover photo or completed the Info Page yet. You’ll be able to invite your Friends at any point, so wait til you have your page completely set up. * Invite Your E-mail Contacts: Again, don’t do this step right now. You’ll be able to return to this step later, so click Next. * Share Something: This step is where you would create your first post as the Page. Unless you have something lined up to say, click Skip, and come back to this later too. The guided tour ends, and Facebook rolls up to the top of your Admin panel. When you create a new Page, Facebook defaults it as published! You may want to unpublish your Page to the public so that you can continue to work on it privately. Just look for the Edit Page button, and follow these steps: 1. Click the Edit Page button. This button is located at the top of your new Page. 2. Choose Manage Permissions from the drop-down menu. 3. Select the top check box, Page Visibility, so that only Admins can see this Page. This option effectively unpublishes your new Page, hiding it from everyone except Page Admins. 4. Click Save Changes. Your business Page is now visible only to you and any other Admins. After you’ve added a Cover image, detailed info, photos, and other fun things, you can publish the Page for all to see by coming back to this Page and clearing the Page Visibility check box.

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Internet

Jennifer Holman

2013-03-25 14:27:57

Q-My friends are putting up funny and inspirational pictures, how can I put pictures like these on my page?

A-When you see a picture, a post or a link on someone's page that you would like to share on your page, you will at the bottom left of the picture select Share, When you click Share, you choose how and with whom you want to share. Pick one of the following options from the dropdown menu: On your own timeline: Choosing this option creates a post on your timeline. Control who can see your post by choosing an audience from the lock icon dropdown, and write an optional update in the open field. On a friend's timeline: This option lets you post the content to a friend's timeline. Type your friend's name, and then an optional message in the open field. In a group: This option lets you post the content to a group you're a member of. Type the group's name, and then an optional message in the open field. In a private message: Use this option to share privately with an individual or small group of friends. Enter your friends' names, and then an optional message in the open field. Last but not least on the bottom left is your audience selector tool, you'll find an audience selector tool most places you share status updates, photos and other stuff. Just click the tool and select who you want to share something with. The tool remembers the audience you shared with the last time you posted something, and uses the same audience when you share again unless you change it. For example, if you choose Friends for a post, your next post will also be Friends unless you change the audience when you post. This one tool appears in multiple places, such as your privacy shortcuts and privacy settings. When you make a change to the audience selector tool in one place, the change updates the tool everywhere it appears. The audience selector also appears alongside things you've already shared, so it's clear who can see each post. If you want to change the audience of a post after you've shared it, just click the audience selector and select a new audience. Remember, when you post to another person's timeline, that person controls what audience can view the post. Additionally, anyone who gets tagged in a post may see it, along with their friends.

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Internet

Jennifer Holman

2013-03-01 10:35:37

Q-I am getting annoyed with all the emails that I'm getting from Facebook. How can I get emails only for things I'm interested in?

A-You can change how you receive Notifications and what you receive notifications for. The first way is to click in the upper-right corner of the blue bar on your page, then select Account Settings and Notifications. This will allow you to change what notifications you receive by email, text and on Facebook. The second way is to select the drop-down menu for notifications (the globe). When there is a notification you no longer wish to receive select the X in the upper right hand corner of the notification. Facebook then gives you the option to "Turn Off" or "Keep On". Q: How can I communicate with family and friends on Facebook? A: You can communicate with your friends and family on Facebook in many different ways: chatting, writing on their Timelines, sending messages, and more. Q: I'm getting confused with putting pictures on my Facebook page. Some of my friends only have a few pictures, some have photo albums and some are putting pictures on from their phone. I can't seem to figure out how to get any pictures on there. How do I put pictures on my Facebook page? A: To post a single picture on Facebook, you will select Add Photo/Video at the top of your home page. Pick Upload Photo / Video. Select the Browse button to choose a photo file from your computer. After you've selected your photo, select Post. To create a photo album is similar. After you select Add Photo/Video, select Create Photo Album. Select the images you want in the photo album. To select multiple photos at once, hold down the Control button while selecting the photos. While your photos are uploading (this can take a few minutes) you will be prompted to Add an Album Title and description. You can use the audience selector to determine who can see the photo album. Once your photos are uploaded you can add captions, tags (A tag is a special kind of link. When you tag someone, you create a link to their timeline. The post/photo you tag the person in may also be added to that person’s timeline) and locations. Once you've completed editing select Post Photos.

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Internet

Jennifer Holman

2013-02-01 10:25:19

Q-I enjoyed your article last month. Three years ago I could navigate Facebook without any problem and now with all the changes it feels completely new to me. Do you have any more tips?

A-I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed last month's article. I can relate to your frustration, it seems as technology is changing faster than we can adapt to the changes. To help with that I'm going to answer multiple questions to make navigating Facebook a little simpler. Q: How can I control who sees what I put on Facebook? A: For each thing you share there is an audience selector at the bottom right of your post. By clicking on the audience selector you control who can and who can't see what you're sharing. To fully utilize this tool it is helpful to create "Friend Lists". Q: What is a "Friend Lists"? A: "Friend Lists" is a feature that allows you to customize who can see what in terms of the categories you have placed your ‘Friends’ in. You can organize all your friends into different affiliation groups like Friends, Family, Colleagues, etc. With this tool you can define the privacy policies for which you wish to apply to each group as opposed to each person individually. For instance, you might want to prevent your “Colleagues” friends from seeing any photos you had and will upload, but allow your “Friends” and “Family” to see them. To set up "Friend Lists: go to the right of your Facebook page, next to "FRIENDS" select "MORE", select "+Create List", enter the List Name and the Members (Friends) you would like to add. You can always add and remove people later. Q: Where are my privacy and account settings? A: A quick way to view and adjust some of the more popularly used privacy settings and tools is from your Privacy Shortcuts on the blue bar at the top right of your page. To view and edit your Account Settings and Privacy Setting click in the upper-right corner of the blue bar on your page. Q: What happens when I send someone a message and who can see my messages? A: When you send someone a message, it gets delivered to the person’s Facebook messages. If the person you messaged has turned chat on, your message will appear as a chat. If they have chat off, the message will appear in their message inbox and they will receive a notification once the person sees your message, it will be marked as seen. Only you and the people you’re messaging with can view the contents and history of your messages.