Social Networking Applied

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Arnold Willis
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1 Social Networking Applied 1 I. Facebook Social Networking Applied Uses: An address book: Facebook users can share their current city, address, phone number, screen name, street address, and birthday (with or without the year) on their profile. Photo/video sharing: Upload digital photos or videos and tag them with the names of your friends who appear in them. They will receive a notice that they have been tagged in a photo or video, and depending on privacy settings, their friends may also see on their news feed that a photo/video of their friend has been posted. A social and professional resume: Sections like Activities, Interests, About Me, Favorites, Relationship Status, Political Views, and Religion, Education and Work History. Communication: Communication in Facebook Status Update: Where you publish brief updates that will be visible to everybody authorized to see it. You can also attach links and photos. Notes: Where you can publish longer messages, visible to everybody who is authorized. Also allows for links and photos, as well as tagging the names of people discussed in the note. News feed: Appears on your home page when you sign in and shows the recent status updates and other public activities of your friends. Wall: The part of a person s profile where friends leave that person public messages. Again, you can attach links, videos, et cetera. Messages: Private messages sent from one user to one or more friends. Works like , but cannot be forwarded. Chat: Real-time chat between users online at the same time, like in a chat room or on an IM service. ***Facebook frequently changes its layout. These functions generally work the same, but may suddenly move to a different place the next time the site is rearranged***

2 Messages Notifications Status update Social Networking Applied 2 Suggested friends Friend requests News feed Applications Figure 1: Facebook Home Page Chat icon

3 Facebook logo: returns you to news Your profile: Info tab Social Networking Applied 3 Account: privacy settings and log out are under here Edit profile Basic information Friends Figure 2: Facebook Profile Page Contact information Pages II. MySpace Why did MySpace become so popular? MySpace certainly wasn t the first social networking site, but its popularity grew like wildfire. Here are a couple of reasons why MySpace was so revolutionary at the time (taken from MySpace for Dummies 2 nd edition). Artist-friendly tools: MySpace offered musicians the ability to store and share music tracks on their profiles. Search tools and categories: MySpace allowed users to include personal interests, hobbies, schools attended, and places of employment. These tools made it easier for people to find someone specific. Many services collected into one site: MySpace was the first social networking site that allowed sharing of photos, posting music files, showing video, creating web diaries, and sending out event invitations all from the same website. Customizable pages: MySpace was the first social networking site that allowed users to customize the appearance of their profile by allowing users to edit the HTML code of their profile.

4 Social Networking Applied 4 Signing up for a MySpace Account On the MySpace main page (Figure 3), click on the sign up button. If you already have a MySpace account, you can sign into your account by entering your address and password, and then click on the login in button. (If you use a library computer to access your MySpace account, don t check the box next to Remember Me ) Sign up button Figure 3: MySpace main page After clicking on the sign up button, you will be taken to the MySpace Account Signup page. (Figure 4) Enter your address into the address field. Next, choose a password that is at least six characters long, which is easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess. Finish up the signup process by entering your full name, birthday, and gender; then click on the Signup Free button. (Warning, you must be at least 14 years old to sign up for a MySpace account!) MySpace also allows musicians, filmmakers, and comedians to setup special profiles; look for the links for these types of accounts on the Account Sign Up Page. Log in button

(Figure 5) If you want to opt out of this step, click on skip this step.

5 Social Networking Applied 5 Signup Free button Figure 4: MySpace Account Signup Page MySpace will now ask you to fill out a CAPTCHA, which is used to prevent spam bots from signing up for multiple MySpace accounts. Next, you will be asked if you want MySpace to search your Yahoo or Gmail address books to search for friends who are already using MySpace. (Figure 5) If you want to opt out of this step, click on skip this step. Figure 5: Import Contacts MySpace will now finish setting up your new account by having you verify your address. Go into the account you used to sign up for MySpace and open up the from MySpace. Next, click on the hyperlink inside the message that says Confirm your MySpace account.

6 Initial Setup of MySpace Account Social Networking Applied 6 Congratulations, you are now a member of the MySpace community! MySpace will now ask for a few more bits of information about yourself before you re allowed to proceed to your newly created profile. First, MySpace will ask if you want to add people, bands, video channels, or MySpace apps to your profile (Figure 6). If something grabs your interest, click on the checkbox next to it and then click the continue button. Figure 6: MySpace Suggested Friends, Apps Next, MySpace will ask you to upload a profile for your photo. (Figure 7) You re not obligated to upload photo; you can simply click on skip this step. Photos can be taken with a webcam or uploaded from your computer. ***Reminder: MySpace does not allow photos that contain nudity, violent or offensive material, or copyrighted images. Users that violate MySpace s photo policy will have their accounts deleted*** Click on the upload button after you have selected your profile photo. Figure 7: Upload Profile Photo

7 Social Networking Applied 7 Next, MySpace will ask you to add information about schools you have attended. (Figure 8) You can include high schools, junior and community colleges, trade schools, and also four-year universities. Adding schools to your profile makes it easier to reconnect with your classmates, or to make new friends with your fellow students or alumni. Figure 8: Adding Schools to Profile You re almost done with the initial setup of your new MySpace account. MySpace will ask you information about your location. (Figure 9) Entering your location information allows people to find you more easily on MySpace. Click on the save button when finished. Figure 9: Entering Location Information MySpace Home Page The home page (Figure 10) is what loads after you sign into your MySpace account. The home page allows a user to access and manage their calendar, photos, videos, status updates, comments, blogs, MySpace apps, and MySpace friends. The home page also allows you to the power to customize your MySpace profile. The difference between your home page and profile is only you have access to your own home page while everyone else can view your public profile.

8 Social Networking Applied 8 You will notice towards the top of the home page a row of drop-down menus. These drop-down menus allow you to access important functions and services. The home menu always takes you back to your MySpace home page. The mail menu allows you access to your inbox, address book, sent s, and saved s. You can also view pending friend requests, and you can also check to see if you have received any notifications from MySpace. The profile menu allows you to access to your MySpace profile and also the tools to edit and customize your MySpace profile. You can also access favorites you have saved in addition to your photos, music, videos, blogs, comments from other users, and apps that are installed on your home page and profile The friends menu allows you to access and manage your MySpace friends. You can also use the friends menu to view the activity stream, bulletin board, and to see which of your friends are currently online. The music tab allows you to access the MySpace Music page. You can use the MySpace Music page to search for your favorite band, or to look for music to add your profile s music player. MySpace Music will also look for local concerts based on the zip code you entered while setting up your MySpace account The videos tab takes you to the MySpace video page, which works very similar to You Tube. You can add videos to your profile and also save them to your favorites so that you can view them again later. The games tab takes you to a list of online games that you can play on MySpace. Caution, these online games can become addictive! The more menu allows you to access features not listed under the other menus. You can access the MySpace instant messaging service, find groups to join, search through MySpace forums, and search for local events. You can also access the Today on MySpace page; a page dedicated to popular topics of the day. MySpace profiles and home pages now use the MySpace 2.0 format. Profiles and home pages that use the 2.0 format are broken down into modules that can be edited and moved around. One major difference about the 2.0 format is that it does not have a privacy setting where you can hide your entire profile from people who are not your MySpace friends. Instead, you must apply privacy settings to the individual modules. Another major benefit of the 2.0 format is that

9 Social Networking Applied 9 you can format and customize your profile using already created themes, thereby reducing the need to use a MySpace page generator. The standard modules on the home page and profile page include: Status and Mood module. Hear you can write in a short status update to appear on your profile; very similar to status updates on Facebook. You can also attach photos, video, or link to your status update Basic Info module: Here you can access your photos, videos, and also manage your blogs and calendar. This also where you ll see your profile photo. My Apps: This is where you can access and manage all the MySpace apps running on your profile. Friend Space: This is where all of your MySpace friends are listed. You can also manage your friends from here. You can delete friends as well as change the order they display on your profile. Activity Stream: This is where you can read certain updates from all of your friends. Show the class how they have the option to see all updates from their friends profiles, or they can just choose from photo, status updates, music, video, or bulletin board updates.

10 Social Networking Applied 10 Status and mood module Basic info module My account My apps module Activity stream Friend space Figure 10: MySpace Home Page

11 Social Networking Applied 11 The same modules listed on your MySpace home page also having their corresponding modules on your MySpace profile. (Figure 11) Basic Info module My Account Status and Mood module Activity Stream My Apps module Friend Space Figure 11: MySpace Profile MySpace allows you to access your account settings from both the home page and profile page; simply look for the My Account link towards the top of the page. The account settings page allows you to change your contact information, password, some privacy settings, spam protection settings, notification preferences, as well as other miscellaneous aspects of your MySpace account.

Social Networking Applied 12 MySpace offers three levels of privacy settings, which have to be applied individually to the different modules.

12 Social Networking Applied 12 MySpace offers three levels of privacy settings, which have to be applied individually to the different modules. The three levels of privacy settings are: Anyone can view Anyone 18 and over can view Only my friends can view Figure 12: General Privacy Settings Always remember to sign out of MySpace when you are finished using it. Failure to sign out on a public computer runs the risk of an unauthorized user accessing your MySpace account!

Social Networking in Action

Social Networking In Action 1 Social Networking in Action I. Facebook Friends Friends are people on Facebook whom you know, which can run the range from your immediate family to that person from high school