Set up and use Facebook safely

When the page loads, fill in the little form on the right with your first and second names, current email address, password, gender and date of birth. When that’s done, click the green Sign Up button to continue.

At the next screen, type the two security words separated by a space into the empty box (this is to prove that you are human and not a computer spambot) and click Sign Up. Now, because this is all about finding and making friends, the site tries to hook new members up with people they know who may already be on Facebook. Where possible, it will do this by searching the address book of the email account used in the previous step. As we used a Gmail account, we could click the Find friends button, enter our Gmail password and let Facebook search for people you know. However, if you’re concerned about privacy, we wouldn’t recommend it. So, let’s sort out Facebook security first by clicking the ‘Skip this step’ link instead.

At the next screen, Facebook will ask for details of secondary school, college, university and the name of your employer or company. Again, leave this for now by clicking Skip. Finally, Facebook gives new members the chance to add a photo to their profile. Click the Upload a photo link and when the dialogue box appears, click Browse. Use Windows file commands to navigate to a folder where there is a good portrait-style photo, click it once and then click the Open button. When the photo appears, click the ‘Save & continue’ button.

At the next screen, Facebook displays a message along the top saying that it has sent an email to confirm the new account details, so next check the inbox of the email account used in Step 1. Open the message titled ‘Just one more step to get you started on Facebook’ and then click the link contained in the body of the message. After a second, a new window opens showing the Welcome to Facebook page (this time without the message along the top).

Before seeking out friends or creating a profile let’s have a look at the privacy settings. Click the dropdown arrow next to the Account link at the top right to open the menu and choose Privacy Settings. At the next page Facebook displays various settings designed to control who can see details, photos, posts, email addresses or anything else to do with someone’s profile. Let’s have a quick look at what’s inside the Profile information by clicking the link.

The majority of Facebook’s default privacy should be fine for most people but some certainly demand closer scrutiny. For example, some people won’t be keen on the idea of just anyone (even friends of friends) being able to look at photos and videos in which they have been ‘tagged’ (where someone takes a photo and then identifies the people in it with tags). To change this, open the dropdown menu next to this setting and choose Customise from the menu. Then, at the dialogue box, open the dropdown menu again and choose a more appropriate setting, in this case ‘Only me’.

Let’s add some member information. Click the Profile link at the top right and when the new page loads have a look. At the top there is a form for basic information, including where you live, relationship status, political and religious views and so on. Scroll down and there is also a series of other headers for personal and contact information as well as education and work. Start by filling in the basic section. When that’s done, click the Save Changes button.

As each section is completed and saved, the next one opens automatically. It’s not necessary to fill in all the details at this point but sometimes it makes more sense to do the lot in one go. For example, we have completed most of them and then clicked on the pen icon in the little text box under our photo where it says ‘Write something about yourself’. This is a good place to write something snappy, summarise your outlook on the world or something like that.

Our picture looks good at this size but the thumbnail (see the screenshot accompanying Step 4) isn’t right, as Belinda’s face is badly framed. That’s easy to sort out by repositioning the picture. To do this, hover the mouse pointer over it and then click on the little pen icon. Choose Edit thumbnail from the dropdown menu. Then, move the pointer over the thumbnail so it turns into a four-pointed cross: now click and drag the picture so it sits in the middle of the available space. When it’s correctly positioned, click Save.

Click the Finished Editing button to save the changes, and then click the Home link. The thumbnail picture is correctly positioned so now let’s find some friends. Depending on the details entered into the member profile in the previous steps, Facebook may suggest some friends (these people are listed on the right of the screen). Alternatively, the site offers to search through an email address book to find people it knows are already on Facebook. Click the ‘Find friends’ button to continue.

A new window opens, asking for the email address associated with this Facebook account together with the password that goes with it (not your Facebook password). Click ‘Sign in’ and then click the Allow button to let Facebook ‘talk’ to your email account. After a moment a new screen appears that lists people contained in the address book who also happen to be Facebook members. You may have dozens or just a few. Here there’s just the one called Harold. So we can tick the box next to his name and then click Add as Friends.

When you invite someone to become a friend, Facebook sends them an email. They then click a link in that mail to either accept or reject the invitation. Assuming they accept, a little token will appear just above your photo, displayed as a white number in a red circle (Facebook uses this area to flag when friend requests, messages and notifications arrive). Read the notification by clicking on it or just click on the Profile link at the top right of the page and scroll down. There’s Harold, added as a friend.

Let’s find some more friends. Click the ‘Find people you know’ link in the Friends panel on the left. Scroll down to the ‘Search for People’ box, type in the name of someone you know and click the magnifying glass icon. Facebook will display a list of results and the Jenny Buckingham we know is at the top of the list. (Searching like this can be hit and miss so use the filters at the top of to refine the search results by location, school and workplace.)

Click the Add as Friend link and Facebook will open a little window asking for confirmation. If you are not sure you’ve got the right person or want to add a note to Facebook’s rather impersonal ‘friend request’, then click the ‘Add personal message link’ and type a message into the empty box. Next, click the Send Friend Request button to complete the process, sit back and wait for them to confirm.