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 you speak to once a year. Search for friends by name in the search box Click on your graduating class or the name of a business in the Education and Work Info section of your profile to find classmates and current or former coworkers Suggested friends appear on the upper right corner of your home page, based on how many friends you have in common or a common school or business in your profile Groups Groups are a way for people with a shared interest to have discussions, share photos, or jointly plan events. Search for it in the search box like you would a person or page Limit your search to groups by choosing groups on the left side of the page. Have pages similar to individual profiles, with tabs for info and the wall, as well as additional tabs such as discussions Can be open to everybody, require an administrator s approval to join, or be invisible to everybody but members and only joinable by invitation Events Events work like an invitation, an RSVP, and a scrapbook in one Can be open to everybody or require an invitation Are not deleted after the event, so guests can share pictures there afterward Can be searched for in the search box or found on the host s page, or invitations can be sent Clicking on Events on the left of your home page will show you your events and your friends
Social Networking In Action 2 Friend requests Search box Your events Your groups Figure 1: Facebook Home Page
Discussion tab Join group Social Networking In Action 3 Administrator(s) Member(s) Figure 2: Groups
Social Networking In Action 4 Basic info Send invitations Details Definite yeses Your RSVP Other guests Figure 3: Events II. MySpace Customizing your MySpace profile All new MySpace profile and home pages are created using the new MySpace 2.0 format. MySpace still offers the option of reverting back to the 1.0 format; however, the 2.0 format is more user-friendly. Differences between the 2.0 and 1.0 format include: The 2.0 format has the different sections of your profile broken down into individual modules that can be modified or moved around. Individual modules can also be turned on and off as well The 2.0 format does not have a privacy setting where you can hide your entire profile from people who are not your MySpace friends. Instead, the 2.0 format allows you to adjust the privacy settings of the individual modules on your MySpace profile.
Social Networking In Action 5 The 2.0 format allows you to format your profile using already created themes, which reduces the need to use a MySpace page generator. Back in the days of the 1.0 format, you had to know something about HTML coding and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) in order to customize the appearance of your profile. People that were not fluent in HTML and CSS relied on a MySpace page generator to generate the HTML code needed to customize their profile. Afterwards, people had to copy and paste that HTML code into the appropriate sections of their profile You can edit the information that is found on the various modules in your profile by clicking on the profile drop-down menu and then click on edit profile. At the left-hand side of the screen, you will see a list of options: About Me, Interests, Basic Info, Details, Schools, Companies, and Networking. (Figure 4) Some of these fields will already contain information that you entered during the initial setup of your MySpace account. Make sure to click on the save changes button on the bottom of the screen after editing the information found on your profile. Click to save your changes Figure 4: Editing personal information
Social Networking In Action 6 To customize the appearance of your MySpace profile, go the profile menu and click on customize my profile. The profile customization page allows you to apply overall themes that control the appearance of your profile, or you can also modify the settings of modules on your profile. (Figure 5) You will notice a new dialog box has opened at the top of your screen. The profile customization page is broken down into two categories: appearance and modules. Clicking on the Appearance button allows you to change the way your profile looks. After you click on the Appearance button, you will have a submenu open up with four options: Select Theme, Change Layout, Advanced Edit, and CSS. Appearance button Select Theme allows you to choose any of the pre-created MySpace themes. The Computer Lab s profile is currently using the digital theme. Themes pick a visual background for your profile, and also customize the appearance of your modules (background, text color, and module headings). Change Layout allows you to move modules around your profile. You can also change the width of your profile page as well as the number of columns that your modules are arranged in. Advanced Edit allows you to customize your profile by creating your own theme. You can use advanced edit to use your own background (or photo), as well as change the appearance of your modules. CSS allows users who are familiar with using Cascading Style Sheets the options of pasting their own CSS code. Figure 5: Customizing the Appearance of Your Profile The Modules button allows you to see what modules are available to insert into your profile page. (Figure 6) Modules that have a smiley face above them are currently
Social Networking In Action 7 installed on your profile. Modules that have a plus sign above them are available to add to your profile. To turn off a module, all you have to do is click on it; the smiley face above the module should change back to a plus sign. Modules button Figure 6: Customizing the Modules on Your Profile You can change the settings of individual modules by hovering your cursor over the module. You will then see a list of editing options appear. (Figure 7) Settings allows you to change specific options for that selected module, visibility controls the privacy settings for that module, and delete module removes that module from your profile. Module Options Figure 7: Editing Individual Modules When finished customizing your profile, click on the preview button at the top of the screen to view what your profile will look like after applying any changes you have made. If you re satisfied with the changes you have made, click on the publish button
Social Networking In Action 8 at the top of the screen to apply the changes. If you want to exit the profile customization page, click on the exit button and then click on the discard button. (Figure 8) ***Any changes you have made on the profile customization page do not take effect unless you click on the publish button. *** Preview button Go back to profile 1.0 Exit button Publish button Figure 8: Saving or discarding changes If your not happy with the new MySpace 2.0 format, you can go to the customize profile page and click on the link that says Go Back to Profile 1.0. (Figure 8) Warning, you will lose all the formatting and customization you did on your profile using the 2.0 format. Customizing a profile using the 1.0 MySpace format requires knowing how to code web pages in HTML, or using a MySpace page generator to create the HTML code for you. There are a ton of MySpace page generators online; the easiest way to find one is to do a Google search for MySpace page generator. Pick out one that looks good to you and follow the directions the MySpace page generator gives. You can also find MySpace page generators that have themes and layouts in the MySpace 2.0 format as well. Finding friends on MySpace There are a couple of ways to find new friends on MySpace. You can type in a name inside the search box towards the top of the screen on either your home page or profile page. (Figure 9) Make sure the drop menu located adjacent to the search box is set to search people. You can go to the friends menu at the top of the screen and click on find friends. You can search for a person s name, MySpace screen name, or the email address used to register for a MySpace account. You can also browse for friends by clicking on the browse people link. (Figure 10)
Social Networking In Action 9 You can search for current and former classmates by going to your profile and clicking on the link for your school. MySpace has a section on the home page called People You May Know. As you add more friends over time, MySpace will give you recommendations of people it thinks you might know. Search box Figure 9: Using the Search Box to Find Friends Figure 10: Finding Friends using the Find Friends on MySpace Page Once you have found someone you would like to add as a friend, click on their name to go to their profile. Be aware that some people have their privacy settings to where only friends can view their entire profile. If you decide you want to send that person a friend request, click on the link that says Add to Friends (Figure 11). MySpace will then send
Social Networking In Action 10 a message to that person asking for them to become your friend. If that person accepts your friend request, they will show up on the Friend Space area of your home page and profile page. You can keep track of your friend requests by going to the mail menu and click on friend requests. Click on icon to add to friends Groups on MySpace Figure 11: Adding Friends to Your Profile MySpace, much like Facebook, also has groups that you can join. Groups are where people with shared interests can have discussions with one another. Groups can be either private (you can join only by invitation) or public (anyone can join.) To search for groups, go to the more menu on the home page or profile page and click on groups. The groups home page (Figure 12) lists groups by categories. The categories also include the number of groups in that category. You can also search for groups by doing a keyword or geographical search. Can t find a group for your particular interest; then you can start your own group. Warning, you must have had your MySpace account for at least seven days before you re allowed to create a new group.
Social Networking In Action 11 Figure 12: MySpace Groups III. Twitter Overview What is Twitter? Twitter is a real-time information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and discover what s happening now. (www.twitter.com/about) Twitter is a tool that you can use to send and receive short, 140-character messages from your friends, the organizations you care about, the businesses you frequent, the publications you read, or from complete strangers who share (or don t share) your interests. (Taken from Twitter for Dummies) Getting Started On the Twitter Home Page (Figure 13), sign up for a new account by clicking on the Sign up button. If you already have a Twitter account, you can sign in by clicking on the Sign in button on the top right corner of the page The Twitter home page also has a banner of current trending topics. On the left hand of the screen you ll see icons for popular businesses and celebrities on Twitter. In the middle of the page, you ll see a continuously updated list of the current top tweets.
Social Networking In Action 12 Current trending topics Sign in button Celebrities and businesse s on Twitter Current top tweets Sign up button Signing up for a Twitter Account Figure 13: Twitter Home Page On the Twitter account sign up page (Figure 14), click in the Full name box and type in your first and last name. Next, you want to pick out a username for your Twitter account. Twitter will automatically tell you if the username you pick has already been taken by someone else. In the password box, you want to choose a password that is at least six characters in length, and is easy to remember but difficult for someone else to figure out. Next, enter your email address into the email field. Twitter will also ask you to fill out a CAPTCHA to ensure that you re not a computer trying to sign up for numerous Twitter accounts. After filling in all the required fields, click on Create my account.
Social Networking In Action 13 Password must be at least six characters in length Fill in the CAPTCHA above Using the Twitter interface Figure 14: Twitter Account Sign up Page The Twitter Home screen (Figure 15) is the main interface you will use in Twitter. At the top of the screen, there are six tabs: Home, Profile, Find People, Settings, Help, and Sign out. The home screen is where you can read the tweets (the 140 character updates on Twitter) from all the people you choose to follow on Twitter. The What s happening box is where you write your tweets (140 characters maximum!) The Home screen also shows how many people you are following, how many followers you have, and how many tweets you have posted.
Social Networking In Action 14 Six menu tabs Write your tweets here # Following and # of followers Twitter Feed: where you read tweets from people you follow Customizing your Twitter profile Figure 15: Twitter Account Home screen You can customize your Twitter profile by clicking on the in the top right corner of the home page. The Twitter account settings page (Figure 16) allows you to update your account information, change your password, synchronize your mobile phone with your Twitter account, update your profile information including your profile picture, and also change the background design of your profile.
Social Networking In Action 15 Account settings tab Working with Tweets Figure 16: Twitter Account Settings Page Twitter allows you to reply to tweets you receive from people you follow. Twitter also has the option to retweet messages, or post other people s tweets on your own Twitter feed. Twitter even gives you to the option to send a reply to tweets from people you do not follow. Look for the reply and retweet options at the end of each tweet (Figure 17). Figure 17: Reply and Retweet Functions Reply and Retweet
Social Networking In Action 16 You can also include URLs in tweets; however, long URLs should be shortened using one of the various URL shortener services available on the internet. The most common URL shortener sites are www.bit.ly (Figure 18), www.ow.ly, and www.tinyurl.cc. Finding people to follow on Twitter Figure 18: www.bit.ly URL shortener You can search for new people to follow by using the Find People tab at the top of Home screen. Twitter offers three main ways to find people (See Figure 19): you can use the Find on Twitter search box, you can import contacts from your email account, or you can browse suggestions Twitter has compiled.
Import email contacts Social Networking In Action 17 Browse for people to follow Figure 19: Finding people to follow on Twitter Search for people using this search box You can also search for people using Twitter on Google. To search for the Twitter profile used for this class try the search string dmltestaccount site:twitter.com. When you find someone you want to follow on Twitter, click on the follow icon (Figure 20) on their profile. Follow icon Figure 20 Failwhale At times the domain servers for Twitter become overloaded and you will encounter an error message with a whale being whisked out of the water by eight birds. Not to worry, try reloading the page in a few moments and the problem will usually correct itself.
Social Networking In Action 18 Figure 21: Failwhale Important terms to know Direct message: Private messages sent to specific Twitter users in your network (abbreviated DMs). FailWhale: The image of a cartoon whale that appears when you try to load a page on the Twitter.com domain when the domain s servers are overloaded. Hashtag: words preceded by the # symbol. Hashtags flag something as a keyword for searches. Tweet: Can be used either as a noun or verb. Your 140 character updates on Twitter are called tweets. Twitter stream: the constantly updating and flowing timeline of everyone that you choose to follow on Twitter: also called a feed.