Archive for the ‘facebook advice’ Category

 

Pros and Cons of Facebook Graph Search

Monday, January 21st, 2013

Facebook’s new feature, Facebook Graph Search, aims to take social media search on Facebook to a higher, more specific level for users.

What is Facebook Graph Search?

Currently, there are two ways to get information on Facebook: news feed and timeline. Users view news feed to see a broad overview of current activity for all the people and pages they’re following. Visiting a specific user’s timeline allows a user to view all the updates associated with the user, filtering out other user’s updates.

With Graph Search, Facebook introduces a third way to get information.

Pros of Graph Search

+Location: Graph Search will allow users to search based on location. Examples include “places where Stanford graduates work” or “what hot dog restaurants do my friends like”.

+Interests/Places: Users wishing to find people at their workplace who have similar likes and interests will find Graph Search a useful feature. Because of this, Facebook Graph Search will be a tool used for collaboration at work and coordinating events in communities.

+Photos: Photo search is included in Graph Search. By typing in any search query, Facebook Graph Search brings up photos pertaining to the search.

Cons of Graph Search

+Privacy: As mentioned, Graph Search is still in beta so privacy issues are yet to be experienced. Want to see who likes or dislikes certain organizations, candidates or celebrities is extrememly easy with Graph Search. Even before this becomes a major feature and is fully integrated into Facebook, users should take note of their likes and interests posted on Facebook and decide if they want those known and searchable.

+Bing: Facebook’s default search provider is currently Bing, and apparently that will not change. When Graph Search is unable to find a search of “favorite live chicken shows in Dallas” in your search, Bing will kick in.

Though Graph Search is still in beta testing, you can find sign up to be one of the first to get your hands on this newest feature by clicking here.

 

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Like Learning to Ride a Bike: Conquering Your Social Media Fears

Monday, September 10th, 2012

I recently just had a friend from Germany get on Facebook for the first time ever.

And no, he’s not a senior citizen. He’s in his 20’s but had heard some horror stories about having his life made public online. Perhaps someone you know has the same fears…

+Everyone will know all of my personal information and business if I get on social media.

+I won’t have control over what people say about me.

+I’ll waste too much time on Facebook and Twitter. I know too many poeple who are addicted!

All these statements boil down to one thing: fear. Getting over your social media fears will enable to to connect with friends, family, and businesses you love without compromising your personal information and time.

So how do you jump into the uncharted waters of social media?

You do what you did when you learned to ride a bike…

Bike children

Bike children (Photo credit: Josh Koonce)

1. You start. Open an account. It’s as simple as choosing a username and a password.

Confused? You were probably confused or scared when you first started learning to ride a bike too, so don’t give up. Chances are you didn’t learn to ride a bike alone–you had someone helping you. Asking someone to help you get on Facebook or any other social media platform is a great way to get started.

2. You Make Mistakes. Unlike riding a bike, your bumps and bruises will be much less painful.

Know this: any mistake you make can be undone. Perhaps you posted something that contained something that wasn’t spelled correctly–simply delete it. Even if others do things you don’t like, like tagging  you in a picture that you don’t want others to see–can be corrected. Simply untag yourself and set privacy settings to not allow people to tag you in photos.

3. You connect! The goal of social media is to connect in new ways.

This doesn’t mean we’re not meeting at coffee shops to have real conversations anymore–it just means scheduling those converstations most likely happens on social media outlets rather than the phone or even e-mail.

Social media is meant to enhance our connections with the people and places we care about. You just have to start, make a few mistakes, and then connect with others who want to connect with you.

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