Vanity Names for Everyone

Good news for fan pages. On Sunday, June 28 at 12:01am EST Facebook Vanity URLs will be available for everyone. Previously pages created after May 31 or those with less then 1,000 fans could not grab a special name like http://www.facebook.com/john.smith. I would suggest scoring a name before anyone else does.

Resources about Vanity Names
Facebook to Launch Vanity URLs for All
All Facebook Pages Can Get Vanity URLs Starting Sunday at Midnight
Facebook Vanity URLs Are a Good Thing
15 Silliest Facebook Vanity URLs
Miss Out On Your Facebook Vanity URL? Here’s Your Consolation Prize.

Friend Lists on Facebook

I noticed yesterday when I went to go accept a friend request that Facebook changed the acceptance slightly. Now you have the option of choosing whether or not a friends messages should appear in your news feeds. By unchecking the box, there messages won't show up. This is great for those people who you really don't want to pay attention to, but want to have sometime of social networking relationship.

The other thing on friend acceptances or even friend requests is a drop down menu that says "Add to list..." This gives you the option of adding friends to specific lists. This is a really useful tool in trying to keep track of the friends you have. If you use your profile for work, then you can create all sorts of lists. For instance an alumni director can classify Facebook friends by graduation year, occupation, interests, committees, etc. Then you can click on that list and see news feeds that are specific to that list.

 

You can even set specific privacy preferences based upon the list. So if you don't want one group to see something, then you can prevent them from doing so. I would suggest going through your friends and placing them on a list or two to help manage your relationships.

Resources
Facebook Testing Friend Confirmations That Emphasize SMS And News Feed

Away Messages, Facebook Status Messages, Twitter Messages, etc.

When I was in high school (not so long ago), the way I connected and communicated with friends and acquaintances was through AOL's instant messenger. This continued to be the primary means of communication throughout college, even with Friendster and Facebook starting to come around it still remained the primary means of communication. Status messages would change every five seconds and they would make your "friends" aware of what was going on with you and give them an update about your status. It was common to see "Working on killer math homework, someone help?," or "Showering," or even "Out at Pepe's." It was a time when you probably knew most of the people on your friends list and you didn't really have to be too concerned with people knowing your every move. If you didn't want to see someone's message, then you could simply ignore them. However, if you wanted to know what people were up to you could go and easily find out. Even though AIM is no longer the primary means of communicating for many, the status message is very much a part of social networking and communication.

The status message is essentially the "What's on Your Mind?" on Facebook or the "What are you Doing?" on Twitter. Although who gets this message has changed significantly since my days of Instant Messaging. The messages are no longer a couple of words and your friends or followers see a list of long of everyone who they follow. Today individuals have hundreds to thousands of people with whom they are friends with and these messages show up on their feeds or to their phones. So a message like "cutting onions" may not be something that most of your friends would want to see.

I do continue to post my status on my gmail account. And the people who see that message are people whom I communicate with over e-mail. I didn't really think about my message until my supervisor made a comment about something I had posted, but because we use Google for calendars and document sharing she sees my messages (unless I decided to block her). This isn't a big deal since I never put up anything that I wouldn't want her to see.

I use Facebook to stay in contact with Friends and acquanitances. And I do use the limited profile settings and the Facebook lists in order to protect who sees what information. The types of messages I post on Facebook are:

• articles that I find interesting and I think others would also, although this is not necessarily all of my firends;
  
• status messages about my life and my family to keep me connected with friends who I don't always have time to call;
• posts to gain insight, advice, or help from other people; this is what social networking is really all about.

I use Twitter to connect with people whom I have never met, but have similar interests. I wouldn't post on Twitter messages about what my daughter is doing right now because I don't know most of the people that are connected to me. Because my messages are out there for anyone to see, I have chosen not to post any type of message that I wouldn't want the whole world to know. I post the following types of messages to Twitter:

• Articles of Interest
• Links to Websites
• ReTweets (other people's messages that I think are good enough to share)
• Messages that seek to get other people's comments

I do link my Twitter Account with my Facebook account to update the status messages. So anything I post to Twitter goes to Facebook. If I do a lot of posting then it could be cumbersome on my facebook friends.

It's important to look at your friends, fans, or followers and decide the type of messages you want to post. If you personal account is used for business purposes, I would suggest you think about the type of message you are posting and what the reader on the other side might think.

Some Twitter Basics

Here is a really good guide for people who are new to Twitter.

The say that only 10% of the people on twitter are doing the posting and everybody else is standing back listening. Perhaps that could be because too many people are unsure of what Twitter is and once they sign up they don't even understand the jargon. Here are a few common questions?

1. What is RT and how do I use it?
RT stands for RT and it is usually used when you are Re-Tweeting something someone else had to say.

 

The above Tweet is something one of my tweets and I RE-Tweeted from Mashable the @ let's you know who had it. Sometimes you might even have a hand full of names who also tweeted the same thing.

2. What is the @name supposed to mean?
When you want to post a tweet on your page that is directed to someone such as a ReTweet or in response to what someone else has posted.

3. What if I don't want anyone else to see the message?
You can send a DM (Direct Message) that is private between you and that person. Note that you can only send DM to people who are following you.

I would use this option if you are responding to multiple people with the same message. Or I would use the @name, @name, @name instead of doing multiple postings.

How to Sync Your Personal Facebook Account Status to Your Twitter Account

There are a few ways to sync your Facebook Status to Twitter and whether you want to select which tweets go and which ones do not. Here are a few how tos:

How To Sync Your Twitter and Facebook Status Updates

How to link Twitter to Facebook - A Twitter Tutorial

Should you update your Facebook status from Twitter?

Question for Discussion

What kinds of things should schools post on Twitter and Facebook during the summer?

How to Post Pictures on Facebook

Here is a guide to how to post pictures on Facebook.

Step 1: Sign into your facebook account.

Step 2: Click on Photos on the Bottom of the Screen

Step 3: Click on Create Photo Album at the Top of the Screen

Step 4: Choose a name for your Album, like Vacation to Spain

Step 5: Put a Location for where the pictures took place.

Step 6: Put a Description to help remind you what the pictures are.

Step 7: Privacy.
Everyone- Let's anyone in the world see your pictures (This is the option if you don't care who sees the pictures).
My Network and Friends (This allows people in your networks like Baltimore or Your College, etc. to see the pictures you post).
Friends of Friends (This give people who are friends of your friends the ability to see your photos. If a friend comments on your photos then their friends can look at all of the photos int he album).
Only Friends (Is just your friends).
Customize ... (Well the options are endless)

Step 8: Press submit. As you proceed to the next screen you might get a warning and in order to proceed forward you must say TRUST.

Step 9: Choosing Photos. You now can go and find the pictures that you want to upload. You check the boxes of which ones you want to upload. In order to find pictures in certain directories navigate through the folders on the left side until you get to the directory you want to.

Step 10: Once you have chosen your pictures click on Upload. Once the Uploade process is finished click OK!

Step 11: Now you can organize things. You can add a captions, choose which picture is your album cover or even move the pictures to other albums.

Step 12: When you are done press save changes. You will then be asked to Publish Photos, if you haven't already done so. You should press Publish if you are ready.

You can go through the tabs, to add more, organize them, and edit the info. If you want to Delete the album you can do that too.

Tagging People: In order to do so, you need to drag your mouse over the pictures and you will be able to add names. If you are friends with them then you can click on their name. If they aren't on facebook then you can add their name.

A note about tagging people in pictures: As a school you might consider not to tag anyone and let the people tag themselves. This allows them to make the choice on whether or not they want to identify with the pictures or not. A teacher who has painted her face in yellow and blue for spirit day might not want that picture to show up on her profile, especially in 5-10 years when she decides to go into an entirely different career.