Facebook All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition (2014)

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Making the Internet Friendly

Years ago, Scott was looking for something on the Internet and didn’t know how to find it. Someone at work advised him to go to a website called Ask Jeeves, where you could type a question and Jeeves would return an answer. But every time Scott asked a question, Jeeves would just return a list of websites that may or may not have been what he was looking for. Scott didn’t find this very useful.

Social media sites such as Facebook have changed the terrain of the web in a big way. Now you can ask all your friends the questions you would previously ask that imaginary butler. The ability to ask online (or crowdsource) and share your experiences (providing social proof) has a major effect on your decisions. For example, if you’re searching for a contractor to put a new roof on your house, you might give preference to the company that a friend recommends.

The Internet is about not just reading information but also connecting with friends and building relationships. People make purchasing decisions, plan activities, and build friendships all with the use of the Internet. The Internet in its infancy was used more for its utilitarian purposes, but human nature has put an emphasis on what matters most to us — relationships.

Getting to Know Other Social Media Platforms

Although you bought this book to find out all about Facebook, we want to introduce you to some other social media platforms as well. Facebook is one of many options for connecting with others online. And, although Facebook is the largest social network, each of the others has important features and uses.

Introducing Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging site that enables you to post short updates of 140 characters. Twitter feeds real-time tweets (posts) from all the people you follow, and also feeds all your real-time tweets to those who follow you. Twitter is opt-in based, which means you simply subscribe to the feed of an individual you want to follow. Others can choose to subscribe to your tweets in the same way.

Many like the simplicity of Twitter. Because posts are limited to 140 characters, Twitter provides a concise sharing and communicating experience, as shown in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1: Sharing in 140 characters or less.

Twitter is a simple platform, and the original interface (at http://twitter.com) offers few features. You can post statuses and share links to photos, videos, and articles. Like Facebook, Twitter allows you to create lists of people based on any criteria and therefore filter what you see in your Twitter stream so you can focus on what you want and ignore what you don’t. Unlike Facebook, Twitter does not have business pages, groups, events, and so forth.

Twitter relies on third-party apps (such as HootSuite or TweetDeck) to provide additional features, and those features are delivered outside Twitter. That means you have to visit the third-party’s website or install an application on your computer or phone. This process isn’t a big deal, and most people find that using these applications enhances and streamlines their Twitter experience.

Introducing LinkedIn

LinkedIn is designed for professional networking (see Figure 1-2). By design, LinkedIn tries to limit your connections to people you know or with which you've done business. When you add a person as a connection, LinkedIn asks for verification of how you’re connected to the person in real life. LinkedIn prefers that you know your connections because recommendations and introductions on the site are key. If you’re connecting to everyone willy-nilly, you can’t vouch for their professional integrity.

Figure 1-2: Professional networking online on LinkedIn.

On LinkedIn, when you see that someone is connected to someone else, that connection is a type of social proof. If Jay is connected to someone Scott wants to meet, he can ask him for an introduction. Likewise, if Jay is looking for someone to hire and finds someone connected to Scott, he could ask him for more information about that person’s abilities and how he handles changing deadlines. In both cases, we rely on the other’s connections to be based on interaction and experience.

Your LinkedIn profile is your online resume and highlights your skills, experience, and recommendations. When you've provided a service to someone or worked with someone, you might ask the person to write a letter of recommendation for you on LinkedIn. You can put these recommendations on your profile, alongside a list of your experience.

People you're connected to can also endorse you based on different skills. And you can endorse them. These endorsements are helpful when a prospective employer is searching LinkedIn for someone with a certain skill set.

Although LinkedIn doesn’t provide the same kind of socializing you find on Facebook, it’s still a great way to connect with your professional peers. LinkedIn offers groups based on interests, career niches, and many general topics. Similar to online professional organizations, these groups are places where you can bounce ideas off others or ask (and answer) questions. Groups are an excellent way to network with other professionals and establish yourself as the go-to person for answers in your niche.

Like Facebook, on LinkedIn you can post updates, as shown in Figure 1-3. Users can Like and comment on someone’s post, as well as share it with friends.

Figure 1-3: Sharing and commenting on LinkedIn.

Introducing Google+

If you have a Gmail address, you can sign up for Google+ in a matter of seconds. Google+ (pronounced “Google plus”) is Google’s answer to social networking. Many say Google+ is designed as a Facebook competitor, and Figure 1-4 shows how Google+ looks similar to Facebook. Google clearly studied the market to see what was working and what was not, and built its social network accordingly.

Figure 1-4: Google+ uses status updates and comments.

Google+ is integrated with Google's suite of online tools (such as its search engine, Gmail, and its photo-sharing and -editing tool, Picasa) via the black toolbar across the top of the screen (refer to Figure 1-4). In this way, you have all your Google tools at your fingertips.

Google+ also makes it easy to add friends, especially for Gmail users. When you create your account, Google+ uses the names in your Gmail address book to suggest people with whom you might want to connect. If you want to add someone later, just type the person's name in the search bar at the top of the page and Google+ returns a list of possible matches. Click the name and you can quickly add the person to your circles (which we explain next).

Like Facebook and Twitter, Google+ allows you flexible privacy and custom sharing. In Google+, these features are built into circles, which are a way of organizing users into categories so you can filter the information you share and with which you interact. Like the Facebook list feature, circles let you limit who sees what updates and what updates you see.

Much like Facebook, Google+ enables you to share photos, videos, links, and more in a news feed–like environment. Although you can view both pictures and videos in the news feed, Google+ presents them in a bigger, more visually catchy way.

Introducing Pinterest

Pinterest is a scrapbook-style photo-sharing site that enables users to create theme-based image collections. These collections center on events, hobbies, businesses, sports, and more. Pinterest users can upload pins (images) and organize them into pinboards (image collections).

Users can browse the site and repin someone else’s image to their own board, which can result in some great viral sharing if they’ve uploaded an image that is highly sharable. Many websites have installed a Pin-it plug-in to enable you to click images on their site and pin them to your own board. Businesses do this because the image links back to the original article from which it was pinned.

Pinterest has become hot among businesses as well as individuals. Brands can build their own page and pin images to create a virtual storefront. These images contain links so that users can buy these products from the business.

When you sign up for Pinterest, you can choose to use your e-mail address or connect using Facebook.

Introducing Instagram

Instagram is a photo- and video-sharing app that allows users to take pictures and videos with their mobile devices and share them with others. Users can quickly share the images or videos directly on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, and Foursquare.

Unlike the social site mentioned previously in this chapter, you can share pictures and videos from only your mobile device, not your desktop. However, you can log in to the site and comment, or you can comment on posts from your desktop. With the many filters available in Instagram, you can create stunning images.

In April 2012, Facebook purchased Instagram for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock.

Understanding What Social Media Means to Marketers

Marketing always follows people. People watch TV, so companies spend big money to be in front of those viewers through commercials. The same is true for billboards on busy streets, the pages of popular magazines, and almost any other media source you can imagine. Social networks provide a unique form of visibility for brands. On social networks, people don’t just passively watch — they interact. In this way, businesses can reach consumers through both interaction and standard advertising.