Many articles on Facebook “Do’s and Don’ts” focus on internet safety and privacy, much of which is common sense.

There is a lot of information available on these topics so I’m not going to focus on them in this article. Instead, I want to help you maximize your experience by using Facebook to find, organize and communicate with your friends.

Do’s

Do search for friends and family who are already on Facebook & invite them to be your Friend using easy Find Friends features.

1. Check your webmail contacts –Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, Hotmail, etc.
2. Upload Outlook contacts
3. Use Find Classmates Feature
4. Check for those you instant message on AIM or Windows Live

Tip: Go through these steps periodically as new people are joining every day.

Do invite good friends and family members who are not already on Facebook to join (but don’t harass them!). I’ve invited over 200 people who ended up creating Facebook accounts, most of these from my High School class.

Do suggest friends for new Facebook User friends if they are acquainted. This will give them a jumpstart on enjoying the Facebook experience by connecting them quickly to people they already know.

Do organize your friends into Lists. Lists provide organized groupings of your friends. This is especially beneficial if you have a lot of Facebook Friends. Friends can belong to more than one list.

1. Enhances your ability to set privacy settings based on categories of friends
2. Makes it easier to send a message to a group of friends
3. Allows you to filter the activity on the Home page by individual lists

Tip: If you organize friends into lists of 20 or less, you can use the list more easily to send messages, suggest friends, etc. Facebook limits the number of people to whom you can address a message to 20.

Do tag the people in your photos and add captions. This makes it more fun for your friends to look at the pictures in your albums. I usually allow “friends of friends” to see my photo albums (see Privacy Settings).

Do comment on your friends’ status updates, photos, wall posts, notes, etc. This shows that you are engaged and interested in their content.

Do investigate Groups and Pages. Those your friends belong to are a great place to start. Sacramento & Company has a Page on Facebook. And you will also find a Group for the Social Media Club Sacramento.  Why not create a Group for your High School Reunion or your Book Club?

Don’ts

Don’t go overboard by inviting all of your friends to play every application you enjoy; just because you like receiving and sending hugs, drinks, and pokes doesn’t mean everyone else does too. Find out which of your friends enjoy this kind of activity and invite away. Leave the others alone.

Don’t be afraid to ignore requests from friends to play applications, take quizzes or join causes. In most cases, they won’t even know you ignored their request. You can use ”ignore all”, “block application”, or “block all requests from this friend” options to keep those annoying requests under control.

Don’t forget to add a personal message to a Friend Request; especially if it’s someone who may not recognize your current last name or who you have only just met or who you only know from another social media application, for example Twitter.

Don’t post compromising or unflattering photos of your friends in your photo albums or on their Wall! And don’t post them of yourself either! As one friend put it “Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your boss or grandma to see!” If someone posts a photo of you that you don’t like, ask them to remove it. Good friends will honor your request. Bad friends can be “unfriended!”

Don’t post something on a friend’s wall (PUBLIC) that is better communicated through a message (PRIVATE). “Have you broken up with that no good boyfriend yet?”

Don’t forget to get a Facebook User name; a new feature that lets you create a personal Facebook URL. Mine is http://www.facebook.com/goodlaura

Just for Fun! Do you have good Facebook manners? Timmy and Alice don’t. Watch their bad behavior in this 50s instructional news reel to learn the do’s and don’ts of breaking up on Facebook, the “Electric Friendship Generator”.

Laura Good

Associate Promotions Director

Social Media Club Sacramento

Follow me on Twitter!

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