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30DC Preseason Lesson 8: Facebook
By Dee-Dee M | July 1, 2009
Unless you have been hiding under a rock somewhere in the Gobi Dessert most people have at least heard of Facebook even if they don’t yet have a Facebook account.
Facebook has come a long way since it’s early beginnings in a College dorm room. What started as an online social group for college students has grown into a worldwide multi-million dollar phenomenon. Thousands of people live their online lives through the Facebook interface. Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.
Facebook plays a role in the 30 Day Challenge and for the first time ever you can use your Facebook Account to login to the 30 Day Challenge and the 30DC will be available through Facebook using a Thirty Day Challenge Facebook application to be released soon.
If you haven’t got a Facebook account yet or are new to Facebook, Ed Dale shows us how to sign up for an account, takes us for a tour of the Facebook interface and then shows us how to connect to your Facebook feed using Seemic Desktop.
Getting An Account with Facebook – 08:35min video
Facebook provides a lot of opportunities and possibilities for marketing online but like Twitter you will get more out of it if you take it slowly so you can avoid overwhelm… less is more.
Signing up for an account is very simple.
- Go the Facebook.com
- Enter your real name and email.
- Choose a password.
- State your gender and birthdate
- Click ‘Signup”
WARNING: Facebook is about YOU the person and does not allow multiple accounts or IDs.
Once you are logged in check out the links at the top of the page. In particular take a look at your privacy settings to make sure they are set to the levels YOU are comfortable with. Facebook goes to a lot of effort to protect our privacy so you can feel comfortable with the amount of information you do or do not publish and to whom. By default your details are public until you choose otherwise.
The Facebook Newsfeed
On your home page in the centre coloumn you will see the news feed from all your Facebook Friends (people you have connected to). The Facebook newsfeed is in real time and is interactive. You can make comments and ‘like’ a news update. To the left you have the ability to group your friends into user defined lists so you can filter your feed. This is handy when you want to catch up with what your family have been doing for example.
Facebook Feature & Functions – 7:08min video
Getting Facebook Friends
Facebook gives you a number of ways to find friends to connect to using the Friends tab:
- Find Friends: Uses your email address book to see if any of your email contacts have a Facebook account. Not Recommended if you are new to Facebook.
- Invite Friends: Allows you to email the friends you want to connect to. Highly recommended by don’t go “hog-wild”
- Find People by Email: Not Recommended
- Suggestions: These are usually friends of friends. Unless you know them personally Not Recommended
- Search For People: Using education and vocation details you have put on your profile you can search for people you know from school or a work place. Recommended to find old friends you have lost contact with.
- Find People you IM: You can search your AIM and Windows Messenger Contacts. Not Recommended.
TIP – Like Twitter only connect to people you really know personally in the real world to keep things simple. Use Facebook to connect to friends so you can experience it as a real person and not an internet marketer. You will enjoy the experience more.
Facebook Fan Pages
You can follow online celebrities by becoming a Fan of a page. Use to follow your favourite Music Groups, Internet Marketers, Celebrities etc.
Niche Marketing is possible by creating Facebook Fan Pages and update your Fans/Followers and Ed will show us later how to do this but for now just enjoy Facebook as a person.
Using Facebook with Seesmic Desktop – 3:13min video
We can use Seesmic Desktop to import our Facebook newsfeed so we don’t need to go to Facebook to stay in touch. All that is required is to enter your Facebook login details and Seemic Desktop will keep you updated in real time.
To learn more about how to use Facebook, create Fan Pages and market to your niches, sign up to The Thirty Day Challenge and learn first hand how to do it with Ed Dale and the Team.
Topics: Pre-season 2009 | No Comments »