Getting off the starting block with Facebook

1. Faceboook is the most well known
social networking site, with nearly 1
billion users. The vast majority of
students, and many staff, are already on Facebook,
although many view it as their ‘personal space’.
Pedagogical Uses
 Group page pre-course to ‘feel involved’ before course
starts, and improve retention throughout. Many
students will see this before e-mail.
Research Uses
 Continue connections made at conferences
 Set up research action groups
Setting Up an Account
 Go to http://
www.facebook.com/
 Enter your first name,
last name, email address
(can only be used once),
password. You need to
provide your date of
birth as under-13s are
not permitted.
 Simply follow the step-by
-step instructions. Check for options to ‘Skip this step’,
which can be quite well hidden.

2. Setting up a Group
Groups allow you to maintain connection without being
‘friends’. Go to: https://
www.facebook.com/groups and select
‘Create Group’:
 Secret: Only members see the group, who's in it and
what members post.
 Closed: Anyone can see the group and who's in it. Only
members see posts.
 Open (public): Anyone can see the group, who's in it
and what members post.
You can only invite friends through Facebook. To invite stu-
dents, simply copy the web address and email them,
encouraging them to join. Be clear on what the purpose of
the group is, and the kind of contributions you expect.
Privacy Settings
Go to https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/ for an ex-
planation of the current privacy
settings. Go to http://j.mp/M8bP2f to
change the privacy settings. Useful ad-
vice on adjusting your privacy settings
can be found here : http://j.mp/ONjXF0
These tips are to get you going with Facebook. There are
plenty of other features. Get on and have a go!
Dr Bex Lewis: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.