Life, Liberty … And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page Part I
Let’s look at your profile page part 1.
If you’re a member of Facebook, you’ve seen it dozens, if not hundreds, of times – it’s your Profile Page.
There is also a Home Page, but I’ll cover that in some other segment. But right now, let’s just concentrate on your Profile. Here’s mine.
Keep in mind, FB changes things up constantly. The largest beta tester the world has ever seen will never sit still.
Profile Page Part 1: Basics
So at minimum, the Profile page consists of the following:
• Wall
† Info and,
• Photos
And it also contains:
† A space for your profile picture
• Information on any mutual friends you might share with anyone peeking at your profile
† A small subgroup of your friends
• Your Likes
† and Your Photos
• Your Links
† A share button, and,
• On the right side, there are advertisements
NOTE: Facebook is the biggest A/B tester on the planet. They constantly move things around in order to try for an improved user experience. Hence this means you may see buttons moved, resized, renamed, or even eliminated.
And it also means your neighbor might see an entirely different configuration.
Let’s start with the tabs.
Wall
Up at the top, you can put in your status. There doesn’t seem to be a true limit to how long a status message can be, but after a few lines, it’s excessive.
People put all sorts of nonsense in here – including not only statements of their adoration for celebrities but also mundane minutiae such as the scintillating fact that they’re about to go pick up the dry cleaning.
If you want to use Facebook at all for your business, your status messages should really be short, somewhat on point and inoffensive. This is also true if you are looking for work and are not using Facebook for any of that – potential employers are watching!
Below is the wall itself, where friends can post replies to your status (they can also reply directly to the status), send you greetings, send you game requests, etc.
You can always delete or hide these messages, which can be a good idea if they are becoming something you’d rather not share with others.
People routinely answer all sorts of dumb questions about me (e. g. Do you think Janet Gershen-Siegel has kissed a boy? Gee, I’ve been married since 1992. You make the call, sports fans.) and I usually just hide or delete those.
You can also hide notifications from various applications so, if everyone you know is playing something like Farmville, and you don’t care about it, right-click on any Farmville notification and select the hide Farmville notifications button.
However, be aware that there are any number of similar or satellite applications (gifts, new gifts or whatever), so you may be doing a rather similar task more than once. Still, understand that you don’t need to ask people to stop sending you requests. Just block the app.
Info
You can add any number of tidbits here. At minimum, you should at least list your marital/dating status, your birth date (the year is optional) and your current city and/or home town.
This will draw people in and make it easier for them to find you, particularly if you have a rather common name.
You want friends and business associates to figure out that they want you, the Mary Lou in Hicksville, New York, versus the Mary Lou in Mars, Pennsylvania.
Marital status isn’t strictly necessary (and I’ve found it doesn’t stop guys from sometimes hitting on me – eek), but I personally think it’s a nice thing to include.
However, of course, no one can force you to do this and naturally it is illegal in the United States for a potential employer to demand this information.
Birth date is kind of nice to have, partly as an identifier and partly to give another piece of information out that’s just pleasant to see. It’s a minor revelation (particularly if you only give out the month and day) and is essentially harmless.
And an American employer cannot legally ask for the year. However, employees do have to be of a certain age in order to work full-time at all.
Still, if you get that far along in a job application, an employer won’t use Facebook to confirm your age – the employer will instead use official governmental records like your birth certificate for that.
Adding your birth date also means the inevitable onslaught of Facebook birthday greetings.
Biography
Biography is optional and, if you use Facebook for business, keep it short, on point and inoffensive. Work history is also not necessary but it can be helpful if you need for people to find you.
Are you the Mary Lou in Hicksville who worked at AIG, or at the Dairy Queen? Plus, that can add to the networking vibe but keep in mind that Facebook for networking remains a poor substitute for LinkedIn.
Educational information also helps to identify you. Graduation years are not necessary. Likes and interests will show up in part by your typing in here and also by you “liking” various pages.
Keep in mind that this can be found, so “liking” a page with a profane name is going to be something that can be picked up by potential employers and clients.
Profile Page Part 1: Photos
These are pretty self-explanatory. Any photographs that you’re tagged in them will show up here. You can collect photos into albums, of course. Also, if a photograph is unflattering, compromising or just plain not of you, you can always untag yourself.
Before my parents left Facebook, I was sometimes tagged on my mother’s photos so I could find them. I don’t mind this. My profile has enough photographs of me that it’s obvious I’m not her.
But you might mind this. So, if it happens, talk to whoever’s doing this. There are other ways of sharing photographs and albums which might suit your needs better.
Want More About Facebook?
If my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social network on the planet, by far.
… And Facebook for All
• Demystifying Facebook
† Creating a Facebook page
• Working with a Facebook Page
† … And Facebook for All — Your Profile Page, Part I
• … Your Profile Page, Part II
† Home Page
• … Company Pages
† Offsite Sharing
• All Your Account Settings
† … And Facebook for All
• All the Rest of It
† Advertising on Facebook
• Facebook versus Forums
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