Facebook 101 – Part 2 – Pages and Groups

Remember, Facebook is about communication. Engage in conversation with other Facebook users. Start with your Facebook friends. You’ll see their posts on your Timeline (that’s your Home page). If you like something a friend has posted, click Like below the post. If you really like it, Share it. When you click Share below a post, it will appear on your profile and your friend will receive email notice.

If you want your friend’s name to appear on your post, type the ‘at’ sign (@) ahead of the first letter. Keep typing the letters of the name, and their name will appear. Click on the name, and Facebook will connect your reference to your friend.

PAGES

If you are an author, artist, or other business owner, you may want to create a Page for your business. Follow the instructions here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/

Some of our friends have created separate pages for each of their books. Since we had published a couple of books already, we created our page (and our website) using our names. Fortunately, mine is uncommon, so it’s not likely to be confusing for anyone looking for us.

Our son, Toshi, created a second page for our first book, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park. This one is specifically for staying in touch with our Japanese friends.

What do we post on our pages? Updates and information specific to our business. In our case, we post links to new reviews, announcements about new releases. If we’re doing a signing or personal appearance, the information goes on our page. This is NOT the place for noting what we ate for breakfast (unless we’re at a conference or other book-related event).

On your page, you can invite your friends to like your page. We just passed 500 likes for ours. You can also post the link to your page on your profile to let your friends know you have one.

GROUPS

Do you have a particular interest? Do you share friends from work, school, church? A group probably exists for people who share your interest. If it doesn’t, you can create one. http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-New-Facebook-Group

Many groups are open. All you have to do is ask to join and you are a part of the group. Others are closed, and the administrator has to approve you.

Through your groups, you can stay in touch with old friends. 

We have been planning our high school class reunion for the past year. I created a class group on Facebook. There we can post updates on the plans, lists of those we have yet to locate and those who have sent their reservations. Classmates are posting their old photos and starting conversations, reconnecting with old friends, and making plans for connecting at the reunion.

Once you get the hang of it, you might even get hooked on Facebook.

Any questions? Feel free to ask them!