Facebook best practice: Difference between revisions

This might get transwikied to wikiHow or a Getting Things Done related wiki in time. It partly reflects my own aggravations with Facebook :). --Chriswaterguy · talk 05:17, 10 December 2007 (PST)

There's been some discussion among Appropedia about using Facebook for networking. Whether or not it turns out to be useful, there are some precautions to take, in terms of privacy, and the time-consuming nature of Facebook, and in terms of using it for networking.

• If you really just want to check out the networks and not get completely into the more frivolous activities (playing vampires and werewolves etc) then leave. A bit of frivolity can be healthy, but don't get drawn in if you don't want to be:
  • Leave a note (in your status, on your "wall...") that explains you often won't reply to requests. Remember, a lot of Facebook applications send requests to all friends by default, so your friends may not really be expecting you to respond.
  • Use an email filter so you don't get distracted by frequent emails from Facebook:
    • Easy way: filter out anything
• Networking:
  • Appropedia could be added to "causes"
  • If you want to find likeminded people, that might be possible (though it's unclear whether valuable connections, in terms of people to work with, can come from You can't view strangers' profiles by default. However, if you see someone (e.g. on a "Cause" page) that you might want to connect with, "poke" them, then they can view your profile for a week; if they poke back, you can view yours. (Presumably then you can message and add as friends.^{[verification needed]})
• Be secure - ID thieves could use Facebook to retrieve data according to this article. That article advocates being extremely secure and private, and sharing as little as possible, but if you want to network, that defeats the purpose. Basic measures (accessible in preferences) that won't hurt your openness ability means hiding some information that people don't need:
  • Most contact information (except for website), set to maximum privacy.
    • email address (important!) - they can always contact you with a Facebook message, which is private.
    • phone numbers - you can't set it to "no one", so just set it to friends only.
    • website - this is the exception - unless it's a private site, let everyone see it (i.e. all networks plus friends). You shouldn't have sensitive private information up on your website anyway.
  • Status Updates
  • Photos (depends how concerned you are about privacy - this will let people see when others tag you in photos^{[verification needed]} so it also depends how concerned you are about less than flattering photos.)