• Signing Up for Facebook
• The Parts & Pieces and How to Use Them
• Using Facebook to Land a Job
   

Signing Up for Facebook

So you finally realized it was time to jump on the Facebook train—well good for you. Facebook has experienced unparalleled expansion over the past six months. It has taken the social networking scene by storm, outgrowing its biggest competitor (MySpace) by over 100%, making it the largest social network out there.  With over 65 million people connecting with each other, you simply can’t afford to miss out on the potential of Facebook. Below we have outlined the step-by-step guide to signing up for Facebook.

1. Go to Facebook.com and you will see a Sign Up prompter. You have to enter your full name, email, and a password. You also select your sex, and submit your birthday. Both of those are required. Then hit “Sign Up.” It’s important to note that you have to use your real full name, so if you are a company looking to represent yourself on Facebook—you will have to set up a Group or Fan page and link this to a real employee of the company.
2.  Once you submit this information (and possibly complete a captcha for security purposes), Facebook will send you a confirmation email. You will need to log into your email account and confirm this is your valid email address and you intended to sign up for a Facebook account. Once you click through this, you will automatically be logged into your new Facebook account.
3. You then are prompted to search for friends, family, and colleagues. You can do this by either allowing Facebook to search your email address book (s) and/or by entering your past school information. This will allow you to search for fellow alumni that are now on Facebook.
4. After setting up the account and building out your friend lists, it’s time to customize your Facebook account. Some places to start? Upload photos (try to keep them professional, more on this later) add applications, write on friend’s walls, and join groups.

NOTE: You will see there are a number of ways to build out a Facebook profile, some are more appropriate then other’s when using your Facebook profile to land a job. We suggest you go into your profile’s privacy settings (top navigation bar) and set your profile to “private.” This only allows people you have “added” as friends to view your profile, pictures, and information.

The Parts & Pieces and How to Use Them

Home/News Feed: Once logged in you will be dropped off at your news feed page. This is a summary page of all your friends’ activities as well as your own. You will see status updates, picture changes, updates to bios, and more. This is a great page for those looking to scan Facebook for big happenings. If you are looking for details on an event, person, or occurrence you simply click through the title, and you are redirected to that specific page or profile.

Profile: This leads to your personal profile. Once you click through you will see it as everyone else does, but when logged in, you have the ability to manipulate the information. Just scroll over the box you are looking to edit and you will see a little pen and the alt tag “Edit” appear. Click on this. You can edit right from that page.

Friends: This is the page that enables you to manage your friend list. You can view recently added friends, requests, and bios of your current friends. This is a great tool if you are looking to research newer friends. You are also able to click through the title to their profile page to engage in a wall post or message them.

Inbox: This is you email box. You are able to read messages, reply to messages and send new messages. You can also search and filter your inbox by subject, person, or keyword. Remember—a message is a private conversation between you and another person. Unlike wall posts, they are not public conversations.

Settings: Click here when you want to make changes to your profile settings. This includes privacy, notifications, and applications. You can click through the sub-parts or simply go to the settings homepage and maneuver from there. These changes can always be undone, and manipulated often.

Groups: Although “Groups” is officially an application, its one that most users add right away. This enables them to join groups on Facebook as well as start their own groups. The purpose of a group can vary but for the most part it’s a way for people who share interest on a similar topic to start a community. This includes forum chatting, messaging, information sharing, etc. Facebook Groups are great for viral marketing initiatives for companies. A big difference of Groups over Fan Pages is that a Group enables a bulk invite option, so you can send invites to your entire address book, as well as messages.

Fan Pages: This is also an application that most people add immediately. It allows you to “become a fan” of any fan page on Facebook. It’s a way to proclaim that you support an event, company, brand, team, etc. Keep in mind that they are indexable pages. Which (if used correctly) can help supplement your brand management online. As you become a fan of pages also remember that this is shown on the sidebar to your friends. They will be notified that you have endorsed the purpose of the fan page.

Advertisements: As you navigate through Facebook you will see advertisements on the right side of your screen, as well as intermittent throughout your news feed. It’s hard to decipher advertisements from other notifications and updates, but luckily Facebook has built in a warning pop-up layer. When you click on an advertisement you will be shown a screen that lets you know you are leaving Facebook. You are then able to either carry on and click through or return to the previous screen.

People You May Know: This module is seen when you are on the news feed page, on the right of your screen. Facebook has built out a process that scans your current biography information and friend’s list and from that information, it suggests people on Facebook you might know. Often times the people suggested are old friends and classmates. You are then able to Request they Add you as a Friend, or write them a message. This module is a great tool for building out your network.

Notification Box: When on the news feed page you will see (in the upper right corner of your screen) a notification box. This will summarize all of the pending messages, invites, and requests you have from your friends. From here you can click through the title bar to learn more about the requests and then either accept or deny them. This is one of the most efficient modules Facebook included in their layout, as it helps you streamline your efforts in building out both your profile and your network.
 

Using Facebook to Land a Job

There are quite a few skeptics out there, doubting whether Facebook holds the potential to help someone land a job. Although it may not have as much potential as your LinkedIn profile, or as much viral capacity as your tweeting efforts, Facebook has worked hard to build out a number of ways for you to connect with others in hopes of getting hired.

Before I lay out the benefits of Facebook in your job search, I would like to list a few warnings. I would argue Facebook, more then other social networks, holds the ability to sabotage your job searching efforts. So read through this list, and be sure you aren’t shooting yourself in the “job-searching” foot.

1. Make sure your profile picture and photo albums are professionally appropriate.
2. Keep the wall posts you allow and the ones you write appropriate as well.
3. Remember that your status update is like a mini summary of your personality to a potential job seeker, keep it PG-rated.
4. If you can’t do all off these on a regular basis—set your profile to private. This requires your approval before people can see your profile. Please keep in mind that your profile picture is STILL visible to potential employers with this option.
    

Okay on to the fun stuff. What are some ways you can use the Facebook platform to land a job?

Connect. It’s one of Facebook’s strongest benefits—it is a huge network of possible employers. Almost everyone online has a Facebook profile, okay that isn’t exactly true, but we are getting there. Take advantage of the Search Box to find people from certain companies, and in certain positions. Also try to establish sincere connections; these relationships may open the next door of opportunity for you.

Groups. Join them. Find the ones that are relevant to your business and join them. This is a great way to start conversing with others in your industry and expanding your knowledge base. Not to mention to potential employers this demonstrates your commitment to the industry and its participants.

Fan Pages. Join them. By becoming fans of certain companies and brands you are speaking up. You are voicing your opinion on something, and taking a concrete stand. To future employees this demonstrates stability, leadership, and awareness. As long as you keep the topic matter professional, fan pages are a great way to get exposure to your friends list.

Update your Status. Often. Mention the articles you are reading, the projects you are working on, and the thoughts you are having. This shows you are constantly thinking and engaging with others. All of this works in your favor when it comes to getting an interview.

Lace it all Together. Find the synergy between your other online efforts. Facebook has thousands of applications that enable you to connect your blog writing, rich media projects, and photo stream with your Facebook profile (just to name a few). Take advantage of this and make your Facebook profile the best resume out there. It is as though you are building an all-encompassing summary of you and your experience, education, and efforts. It’s a great way to stand out in a crowd.

When it comes to Facebook you need to be willing to put the hours in—the more complete your profile the better. Don’t use it for the simple purpose of having a Facebook profile. If you want get noticed you need to be willing to go all the way and take advantage of its many features during your next job search.