To make the world more open and converted, Facebook launched end 2008, beginning 2009, a new website design.
There are 4 different facebook accounts :
- personal accounts : to create a personal account, the full name, email address, desired password, gender, and date of birth must be provided to sign in at Facebook.
- business accounts : business accounts are designed for individuals who only want to use the site to administer Pages and their ad campaigns. For this reason, business accounts do not have the same functionality as personal accounts. Business accounts have limited access to information on the site. The recommended way is to create business pages related to a personal account.
- development accounts : it’s not necessary to create a new account for developing facebook applications. The recommended way is to use the personal account to develop applications. All developers must be verified before they can create a new application. Verification of an development account can be done with a credit card or a mobile phone.
- test accounts : a work-around how to setup testaccounts for Facebook applications is explained in the Facebook Developer Wiki.
Maintaining multiple accounts, regardless of the purpose, is a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use.
Facebook Accounts Settings :
Seven (7) tabs are available to setup a facebook account :
1. Settings : real name, user name, email, password, linked accounts, security question, privacy, account security, activation
2. Networks : to join networks (networks are based around a workplace, region, high school, college, …)
3. Notifications : to ask for a facebook notification per email if an action takes place where the user is involved (15 facebook actions, 8 photo actions, 7 group actions, 3 pages actions, 6 events actions, 3 notes actions, 3 links actions, 1 gift action, 2 help center actions, 2 wall comments actions, 2 places actions, 3 updates actions, 4 translations actions, x applications actions)
4. Mobile : to receive notifications and to access accounts by mobile phones
5. Language : browse Facebook in the language of your choice
6. Payments : for purchasing items and play games on Facebook (credit balance, payment method, preferred currency)
7. Facebook Ads : settings to govern the usage of your information in future ads shown by third parties
Facebook privacy :
Four (4) sharing groups are available do define the Facebook privacy :
- everyone
- friends of friends
- friends
- selected users (customized)
The privacy settings allow to define who can see and comment on things you share, things on your Wall and things you’re tagged in. The detail is given below :
Basic Directory Information
- Search for me on Facebook
- Send me friend requests
- Send me messages
- See my friendlist
- See my education and work
- See my current city and hometown
- See my interests and other Pages
Sharing information
- Status, photos, and posts
- Photo albums
- Family
- Relationships
- Interested in and looking for
- Bio and favorite quotations
- Website
- Religious and political views
- Birthday
- Places I check in to
- Photos and videos I’m tagged in
- Can comment on status, photos and posts
- Can see Wall posts by friends
Contact information
- Mobile phone
- Other phone
- Address
- IM screen name
The following actions can be enabled :
- Include me in “People Here Now” after I check in
- Friends can post on my Wall
- Friends can check me in to Places
Applications and Websites
- Manage (remove, turn off) applications, websites and games
- Who can see game and applications activities
- Control what information is available to applications and websites when your friends use them
- Turn off instant personalization on all partner sites
- Turn off inclusion of Facebook profiles in public search engines
The following data can be made avilable to applications and websites :
- Bio
- My videos
- Birthday
- My links
- Family and relationships
- My notes
- Interested in and looking for
- Photos and videos I’m tagged in
- Religious and political views
- Hometown
- My website
- Current city
- If I’m online
- Education and work
- My status updates
- Activities, interests, things I like
- My photos
- Places I check in to
External Blog feeds can be imported in Notes.
Privacy Awareness
You can block unwanted users and applications in the block lists. More details about privacy are available in the official Facebook privacy user guide. Nick O’Neill published in December 15th, 2009 a useful guide about privacy settings on the All Facebook website, the Unofficial Facebook Resource.
Tagged photos in friends lists can present a great risk, the “only me” setting to view these photos is a recommended option. Thanks to the new Facebook publisher privacy settings, you can get granular with every photo that you post if you really want to have complete control. Another critical point is the change of relationship status notified on Facebook.
The following links give access to great contributions about Facebook privacy:
- Openbook ; by Will Moffat, Peter Burns, James Home and others (youropenbook.org)
- Reclaim Privacy ; by Matt Pizzimenti (reclaimprivacy.org)
- Facebook Privacy ; a Bewildering Tangle of Options ; by Guilbert Gates in the The New York Times
- The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook ; by Matt McKeon on mattmckeon.com
- Facebooks “Posts by Everyone ; by Danny Sullivan on searchengineland.com
Facebook Pages :
Facebook Pages are for organizations, businesses, celebrities, and bands to broadcast great information in an official, public manner to people who choose to connect with them. Similar to Facebook Profiles, Facebook Pages can be enhanced with applications that help the entity communicate and engage with their audiences. The easiest way to understand Facebook Pages is to consider them as “Profiles for Brands”.
The following types of Facebook Pages exist :
- Official Page for local Business
- Official Page for brand, product, or organization
- Official Page for artist, band, or public figure
- Community Page to generate support for a favorite cause or a topic
Only the official representative of an organization, business, celebrity, or band may create a Facebook Page. The Page creator can then add other representatives to help them manage the Page. Each Page admin will be able to update and edit their Pages from their own accounts. Instead of a community page, you can also create a Facebook group to communicate directly with other Facebook members who share a professional interest or hobby. Facebook Pages do not currently have an Inbox, and can’t be used to contact individual people directly. Facebook Pages can however post status messages – short text-only messages like those found on user profiles – that will appear in fans’ News Feeds.
Usernames for Facebook Pages and Profiles
A username can be registered for a Facebook profile or for a Facebook Page to easily promote your presence on Facebook with a short URL. Facebook Pages are eligible to claim usernames if they have more than 25 fans. Generic words are not available as usernames.
In March 2009, Nick O’Neill published a useful guide ” How To Develop A Facebook Page That Attracts Millions of Fans” on the All Facebook website.