Facebook is a great place to meet new friends, reconnect with old friends and share interests with people all around the world. While you can reconnect with people through a Facebook search, you can also use a Facebook groups search to find groups that interest you. What are groups?

Groups are simply gatherings of likeminded people. You might find a group dedicated to discussing tax reform, party dresses, or TV shows. In fact, you’ll find a group dedicated to almost anything conceivable. If there’s not a group currently, you can start your own and attract others. However, in order to find a group that works for you, you’ll need to use the Facebook search feature.

You will find this feature within the top navigation bar when you log in. On the far right of the bar, you will see a white box, with the word “Search” written in it. To start your search, simply type in the subject of your search and hit enter (or click the magnifying glass icon). You will then be taken to a page where you can refine your search results.

To find groups, simply select the “Groups” filter from the list at the left and then peruse your results.

Sharing on Facebook is a great way to interact with friends and family, no matter where they might be located around the world. However, Facebook also gives you the ability to meet new friends and share your interests with others. One of the best ways to do this is through a Facebook group.

What are Facebook groups? How can you use them? In essence, a group is exactly what it sounds like. This is a virtual gathering of people with similar interests, who use Facebook to share thoughts, ideas, opinions and more. You will find a wide range of different groups already on Facebook, from car clubs to sewing circles, from writers’ groups to groups dedicated to religious practices.

Joining a Facebook group is a great way to start meeting others in the online environment and sharing in the enjoyment of whatever topic of interest you like. If there isn’t a group formed for your interest yet, you can easily form one of your very own and start attracting people to share with you. You will find that both joining and creating groups is simple and can be accomplished through the search function, embedded in the top navigation bar of your Facebook page.

Social networking has taken the modern world by storm and Facebook is the fastest growing, most popular of all the various websites offering this feature to consumers. Facebook allows users to search for, find and interact with friends and family from anywhere in the globe. Facebook also gives users the ability to make use of Facebook apps, or applications.

What are Facebook applications? In essence, these are any type of program that you might use to make more of Facebook. You will find applications that help you play games, that help you share interests with likeminded individuals and more. These might be quizzes and tests, or they might be games, or programs that help you share with others.

You’ll find that you can access Facebook applications through the “Applications” tab on the bottom navigation menu (it’s at the far left of the screen). Clicking here will pull up a menu listing your most recently used applications, as well as bookmarks for groups, photos and more. From this tab, you can also modify or edit applications and browse for more apps that can help enhance your social networking experience. Applications are great tools and can provide immense amounts of fun.

Anytime you sign up with a company, whether online or in the real world, you’ll likely have to agree to their TOS (Terms of Service), and Facebook is no different. Many people fail to read the Facebook terms of service completely; however, it is essential that you know what you are agreeing to, prior to signing up with the company.

The Facebook terms of service state the terms under which you are allowed to make use of their website, as well as how your information can be used by the company, the steps taken for those who break the TOS and much more. As such, there is an immense amount of information contained in the TOS statement, though it is written in legalese.

If you find that you want to read the terms of service for Facebook, you can access these from the company’s main login page (Facebook.com). Within the bottom right navigation menu (text links), you will find an entry simply marked “Terms.” Clicking on this will take you directly to their TOS and an immense amount of information that concerns you directly. It is wise to ensure that you’ve read and agree with all of these terms.

Usernames have become ubiquitous with the rise of technology. Most people have a username at work, in order to access the employer’s network. Most people have user names to access their home ISP, and numerous other providers, as well. The story is no different with social networking sites like Facebook. What is a Facebook username?

A username is used in conjunction with a secure password to provide access to a person’s account with a particular service. You might be more familiar with the term “login.” Most usernames with Facebook are actually email addresses, which are tied to specific passwords.

However, while this was once the rule, it has changed with the advent of Facebook vanity URLs. Today, users can select a username that actually reflects their name in life, or they can select a username that reflects an interest, their hobbies, family or other passion.

Facebook actually now allows users to customize their username to match almost any wants or needs. Of course, as your username is usually the same as your vanity URL, it must be unique. Therefore, you’ll need to check for availability before setting your heart on a particular URL or username, only to find it’s been taken.

What Are Facebook Photos?

Sharing on social networking sites like Facebook is an excellent way to keep far-flung friends and family up to date with the goings on in your life. You can share through text updates, of course, but Facebook photos provide a dramatic visual aid to your text. What are these? How do you put your photos online?

Facebook provides users with their very own photo galleries. You can easily upload pictures from your life (your wedding, your child’s birthday party, or just a fun trip to the beach, for example) and allow others to view and comment on them.

This is an excellent way to help stay connected with others. In this modern world, it seems that it is increasingly impossible to share meaningful moments with those who matter most. Facebook and other social networking websites give you the ability to share instantly, with anyone on your friends list.

Your friends will be able to access your photo albums (as long as you have granted access, of course) and they can comment, tag and rate your photos. You’ll even find that you can have fun photo contests with friends and family on Facebook, as well. Uploading your photos can be an excellent way to get more out of social networking.

If you are one of the few people that hasn’t tried social networking yet, you might be wondering what Facebook pages are. These are, in essence, biographical pages that represent you in an online environment. The most common is a “profile” page, though once you actually start using Facebook, you probably won’t visit your own profile very often.

A profile page shows a picture of you (or no picture, if you prefer, as well as information about who you are, where you are from and what your interests might be. For instance, when you log into someone’s Facebook profile page, you’ll see their Wall information – that is, info about their current thoughts and doings, as well as the results of quizzes and comments from others that they’ve chosen to make public.

You’ll also have access to their personal info (or at least as much as they choose to share), their photos and even their tastes in music. A profile page is the best way to glean information about people in order to determine if they are a good match for you. You will also find information about their friends, their relationships on Facebook and tons of other interesting factoids and informational tidbits.

Facebook is currently the fastest growing social networking website on the Internet. You’ll find that the website gives you the means to interact with family and friends, meet new people, join groups, share the fun of quizzes and tests, as well as much more. In addition, you will find that Facebook gifts allow you to show your friends and family how much they mean to you.

Facebook gifts are basically nothing but electronic code. However, you’ll find a wide range of virtual gifts that you can send to anyone on your friends list. Choosing the “Applications” tab from the bottom navigation menu will help you gain access to the wide range of different Facebook gifts available.

Once you have selected “Gifts” from the resulting menu, you will be able to choose the gift (ranging from a kiss to tiaras and champagne), choose the recipient and even write them a meaningful (or not so meaningful) message.

You then choose how the gift will be delivered and displayed, and you’re on your way. As a note, all gifts cost $1 (or 100 Facebook credits), which can be paid via credit card through the website. You will also find coupon codes available to give you free or discounted access to gifts.

It seems that the Internet is rife with threats today. You will encounter viruses, spyware and malware online. However, you will also encounter threats in seemingly benign places like Facebook. One of the largest threats facing consumers today is phishing, or the practice of gaining access to consumers’ sensitive information for criminal use.

How is phishing accomplished through Facebook? Thanks to the website’s ability to send messages to friends, any account that has been hacked can be used to phish for information. This might come as an “official” message stating that you need to reply with your banking login and password, or it might be as simple as an email stating that Facebook needs you to confirm your account information.

The best way to avoid these scams is to remember that no online entity, whether social networking, banking or otherwise, will ask you for your account number or password through an email. Any message asking you to do so should be reported to the website in question. For instance, you can report Facebook phishing scams to the company, which will then investigate the originator of the message. This helps keep your information safe and sound.

While Facebook is an excellent way to reconnect with friends and family through shared posts, photos, quizzes and games, you can also chat with your online connections in real time. This allows you to say “hi” and anything else you want, while still surfing through the various pages on Facebook. For anyone that’s ever used a chat function before, you’ll notice something is missing – namely, a list of emoticons.

Emoticons are simply text that translates to images in the chat window. These can be smiley faces, frowns, and more. However, just because Facebook doesn’t have a graphical listing of emoticons, it doesn’t mean that you can’t use these handy, fun little features.

You will just need to know what text equates to what emoticon. For instance, in Facebook chat, the text “:D” translates to a smiley with a huge grin, while “:P” equates to a smiley with the tongue sticking out. “:(“ is a frowning face, while “;-)” is a winking smiley. You’ll find that there are actually 24 different emoticons that you can use while in Facebook chat, in order to add a bit of fun and zip to your messaging. You will be able to locate a full list of emoticons through Facebook.