With over 2 billion users worldwide, Facebook is the most used social network on the planet. Despite being very well known, after more than 10 years since its creation in 2008, there are many features and services that few people know about, introduced with recent updates to the platform led by Mark Zuckerberg. Here is a complete guide on how to use Facebook, to use it at its best and protect the security of your account.
Facebook: how it works and how to use it
Facebook is a social networking platform, born in 2008 for sharing posts, images and videos with your contacts. Over the years it has been opened to commercial purposes, with the possibility of creating business pages and account managers, to sponsor paid posts and advertise among users. Recently, the latest version of Facebook has been launched, with which some problems related to security have been solved, fixing bugs that created a series of malfunctions.
To use Facebook it is necessary to register to the platform, creating a personal account to be verified, to avoid the presence of fake profiles and improve the security of users. Facebook is available both in the desktop version, to connect from any Windows PC or Mac OS, and as a free downloadable app on Google Play Store, App Store and Windows Store, compatible with Android and iOS devices such as smartphones, tablets and smartwatches, including Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
In the social network you can publish and share posts, images, photos and videos, you can read the news of the day, the posts of the official pages registered on Facebook, create live with your contacts, public and private groups, use streaming services and make purchases. There are also games and internal applications, links to Messenger and Instagram apps, plus you can save and download files and links, to view them later.
How to sign up for Facebook and open a new account
To start using Facebook, you must first create a personal account, which requires you to be at least 13 years old. To do this, download the app for mobile devices, install and launch it, or go to the web address www.facebook.com/r.php. After that, you need to click on Create Account and enter some personal information, such as your first and last name, an email address, a phone number, gender, date of birth and choose a security password.
Before the Facebook profile is activated, you need to verify the email address and mobile number, the former by clicking on the email with the check link, the latter by entering the code received via SMS, in the Facebook account verification box. The phone number is needed for security reasons, in fact it prevents the creation of multiple profiles using the same mobile number, an extra precaution to protect the members.
The username must be real, otherwise at the time of account creation it will be invalidated. To avoid this, follow the guidelines of the social network, do not enter symbols and special characters, or taken from different alphabets than your language, do not add professional and religious titles, offensive words and phrases of various kinds. After activating your profile you can access the Facebook homepage, to start using the platform and find your friends.
How to find and add friends on Facebook
At the base of Facebook is your personal network of contacts, in fact the social network was born with the aim of making people communicate digitally, providing for this purpose a safe and secure platform. Therefore, one of the first things to do after creating an account is to invite your contacts by sending a friend request. To do this you can enter the first and last name in the search bar, or click on the contacts of a close friend to speed up the operation. When searching, you should apply the People filter, so that only contacts will be displayed, avoiding pages and groups.
On the contrary, to delete a person from the friends list, just enter his profile, tap on the Friends item, select Remove and confirm. Lately, Facebook has added a new feature, which offers the possibility to block a harassing or annoying contact, so that you will no longer be visible to them and will not receive any further messages. To block a user you just need to go into the Facebook settings, tapping the gear symbol, the item Privacy, Block, Add to blocked people list, choose the person and finalize with Block.
The circle of your friends can view all the posts you publish, however you can select the people who can do it, again from Settings and Privacy, Settings, Public Posts, Friends and choose between Everyone and Who can follow me. The latter option allows you to choose who can see the posts, view their personal information and comment on official publications. Friend requests remain saved in the main menu bar, so just tap the symbol with two silhouettes to see them and eventually delete them.
How to change language and name on Facebook
When creating your Facebook account, the language is selected, but you can change it according to your needs, for example because you are studying another language and want to practice.
To change the language on Facebook you need to log in to your profile, tap the arrow symbol in the upper right corner, choose Settings, Language, Edit and decide on the new language. This option allows you to use the version of the original language you set, so the entries of the configurations and all the Facebook services will be translated.
In the same way you can change your name. To do that you need to click on the arrow, located in the upper right corner, select Settings, Name, enter a new one or change the existing one and click on Check the change. If it is accepted it will be updated in the personal information of your account, confirming the procedure by entering the security password, otherwise you need to download a special form, from the official Facebook support site, send the request and wait for a response from the support team.
How to see shares on Facebook
Posts published on Facebook can be shared by users, automatically uploading them to your profile or a private or public page. To monitor the number and people who share your posts just access the Activity Log, an option that allows you to control a number of operations. To access it, just click on the arrow in the top right corner, select Activity Log and view the shares of the published content.
Using filters you can analyze other aspects, such as checking photos in which you have been tagged, other people's posts in your diary, people, pages and groups followed, photos and videos shared and comments from other users. The service offers a complete history, so you can make advanced and historical searches, for example viewing the shares of the month or the past year.
How to see the "likes" on Facebook
On the platform privacy is not always impeccable, in fact you can see the likes on Facebook not only of their posts, but also of a friend or girlfriend, received for content, photos and videos posted. Just use a little trick, inserting in the search bar the phrase Posts liked by followed by the name of the desired person. In this way you will see all the posts, which can be sorted or filtered, finding any publication to which the person in question has put a like.
To see those related to photos just enter Photos liked by XXX, while for videos Videos liked by XXX. To see the personal likes, put on photos, videos and posts of friends and contacts, you just have to open the Activity Log, select "Like" and react, scrolling through the complete list of content that has received a like.
Clicking on the pencil symbol, in the upper right corner of each post, you can remove the like by tapping on the heading I don't like it anymore.
Facebook: how to know who is following you
Those who are curious to know who is following them on Facebook can find out in just a few moments, just tap on their profile picture, top right, displaying in the upper bar the number of people who are following them. The full list of friends on Facebook can be found under Friends, below your profile picture, which allows you to see the complete list of all contacts, or by clicking on More and choosing the Friends option.
All names are shown in alphabetical order, showing the number of friends for each contact. In the section you can also view friend requests, the quick shortcut to find new contacts, or by clicking on the pencil symbol in the top right corner you can change the privacy. For example, you can choose whether or not to show anyone the list of people who follow you, or pages that you like or follow, choosing between Everyone, Friends, Only me or set a custom permission.
How to create and manage a page on Facebook
While profiles represent private users, pages are suitable for companies, associations and businesses, who want to make themselves known on the social network and sponsor their posts for a fee. However, you don't need to have a business to open a page, you just need to be a famous person, or have a website or an internet business. To create a page on Facebook, just go to settings, select Create Page and follow the wizard.
In fact, you need to enter a set of information, then choose an image and add data for users who visit it. Inside you can identify different figures, such as page administrators, editors, moderators, advertisers, analysts and managers, all options that make it clear that this is a commercial-type service. From the page you can publish posts, photos and videos, promote products and services for a fee, participate in Facebook's internal marketplace and receive detailed analysis on the results of sponsorships.
How to create and manage a group on Facebook
Unlike pages, designed specifically for companies, private users can create a group on Facebook, to share with friends and other people a common interest, for example towards their favorite team, the cinema or animals. Managers must manage the regulations, so that users who post in the group respect the directions, moderate comments and interact with registered members. In extreme cases it is possible to block people, to keep the environment free from insults, rudeness and other misconduct.
Other Facebook Features
The features on the platform are truly endless, in fact new services are introduced and tricks for Facebook are discovered practically every day. For example, you can interact with your friends by participating in Facebook apps and games, sharing your achievements, goals and levels, organize events and create lists to see who will be present at the event, buy products from the Facebook storefront, activate shopping groups and create multimedia slideshows.
You can also view Instagram stories from Facebook, make a fundraiser for charity, for example on the occasion of your birthday, make video calls or report abuse and harassment. A very important aspect of Facebook security is keeping your account safe and secure, using two-factor authentication procedures, not sharing your password and avoiding spam and scams.
How to delete and deactivate a Facebook account
Despite the great success of Facebook, sometimes you may feel tired of the social network and want to get out, to find some 'lost privacy. To deactivate your Facebook account, an option that allows you to reactivate it later, you have to click on the arrow symbol, in the top right corner, select Settings, General, Manage your account and Deactivate your account. Si tratta come detto di un’operazione temporanea, infatti è possibile ripristinare il profilo riattivando l’account in qualsiasi momento.
Se la decisione di uscire da Facebook è invece definitiva, allora è necessario procedere alla cancellazione dell’account, in questo caso irreversibile. Per eliminare l’account Facebook in maniera permanente basta:
- Entrare nelle Impostazioni
- Cliccare la voce Le tue informazioni su Facebook
- Eliminare il tuo account e le tue informazioni
- Concludere proseguendo con Elimina il mio account
- Inserire la password
- Scegliere Continua
- Confermare con Elimina account
Entro 30 giorni è possibile riattivare il profilo, dopodiché l’uscita da Facebook sarà definitiva.