How to Get Started on Facebook in 5 Easy Steps

With more than 800 million users, Facebook is the most popular social network in the world. While most people use it to connect with old friends from high school, college, and past employment, it’s also a tool you can use to promote your company, favorite charity, or anything you care about! And, you can get started in five easy steps.

• Step 1: Create an account. Go to Facebook and create a personal account by entering your name, email, password, gender, and birth date and clicking the “Sign up” button. (I’m a bit concerned about privacy on Facebook, so I suggest not putting your real birth date and/or year.)

• Step 2: Find your friends. Facebook makes it easy for you to get started. Just enter your email address and password in the “Search your email for friends already on Facebook” to import your email contacts. You can also use the “Find People You Know” search feature to find friends, family, and coworkers.

• Step 3:  Complete your Personal Profile. Just follow the prompts to upload your profile photo (or one of your cat, dog, kids, etc., if you prefer) and fill in your profile information so your friends will know it’s really you.

• Step 4:  Create a page: If you’ve got a cause or company to promote, create a fan page at www.facebook.com/pages. Then ask your network to “Like” the page via email, blog posts, and your website. As soon as you get 25 “likes” you can request a vanity URL like www.facebook.com/communicationcreation, which will make your page easier to share and promote.

• Step 5: Write a wall post: Facebook is about sharing your news (and daily life, if you’re so inclined). So, go to your wall and post something. Share what’s going in your life, or with your company or charity. Post a link to fun stuff you’ve found online. Or “Like” other pages and share their content on your wall. You can share what matters most to you.