Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently by facilitating information sharing through the Facebook Social Graph – the digital mapping of people's real-world social connections. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment.

As of July 2010, Facebook had more than 500 million active users. There are many groups on Facebook that can provide useful information and link you to professional connections. IBM Research and People for a Smarter Planet are two examples.

Facebook setup To create an account, go to Facebook. Choose "Sign up now" and follow the instructions to enter your name, email, password, etc. We recommend against using your IBM email address to sign up for social platforms. Instead use a personal email account. You will receive a confirmation email at the address you signed up with. Once you receive this email, click on the link to confirm your account. Facebook setup

Facebook features Profile Once your account is set up, you can set up your profile. Your profile contains information that "Friends" will see on Facebook. The link to access your profile is located under the "Account" tab toward the upper right-hand corner of the page. Once in your profile, click the "Info" tab, then click "Edit Information." You can provide as much or as little information as you wish. Save the information by clicking the "Save Changes" button at the bottom of each section. Profile picture To add or change your profile picture, roll over the upper right corner of your current profile picture or image and click on the pencil icon that appears. Select "Browse" to find a photo on your computer to upload. Select the photo to upload, check the box certifying that you have the right to distribute the picture, and click "Upload picture." Settings and your privacy The default settings expose more information than you may be comfortable with. Take the time to go through each link in the Privacy area and make necessary adjustments. For example, you may not want to make your public profile accessible to people who are not on Facebook. As a starting point, we recommend only sharing information with your friends. You can choose to share more or less liberally based on your level of comfort.

The Facebook Wall (Posts, Comments, and Likes) Your Facebook Wall is the page that collects and displays your social activity and that of your friends.

The Facebook Wall allows you to connect with friends through "Posts," "Comments," and "Likes." Through the Facebook Wall you can post something or share a piece of information with your friends.

"Like" is a way to give positive feedback on or connect with things you care about on Facebook. You can Like content that your friends post to give them feedback, or Like a Facebook page that you want to connect with on Facebook. You can also connect to content and Pages through social plugins or advertisements on and off Facebook.

When you "Like" a Page, an advertisement, or any other type of content within Facebook or on the web, you are making a connection. This connection will be displayed in your profile and on your Wall, and your friends may be notified about the connection. Your name and photo may be displayed on the Page to which you connected, in advertisements about that Page, or in social plugins next to the content you Like.

You always have control over your connections. You can Unlike content, manage your connections on your profile, and restrict with whom you share your connections in your privacy settings. Applications Applications are custom features, sometimes provided by third-party vendors, that you can add to your Facebook profile. Be careful about which applications you choose to add to your page. Some will require you to provide access to your personal information. You will receive invitations to many of them. You do not have to accept. People search You can search for Facebook friends by clicking on "Friends" at the top of your Facebook page. If the person you want to invite is not yet on Facebook, you can invite him or her to join. Be careful about importing all email addresses – it is possible to invite everyone in your address book.

Friend Finder will prompt you to invite your contacts to join. You will be able to select which contacts, if any, you'd like to invite. To get to Friend Finder, roll over "Friends" in the main menu and select "Find Friends."

Another way to find friends is to look at the friends of your friends.

At any time, you can use the main search box to search for your friends. Simply type in the name you are looking for and press "Enter." People search

Next: SlideShare