Background: Your Reunion
Committee is employing Facebook.com
as one more technique to connect with Classmates.What is Facebook? Facebook is a free-access social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. The website's name refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of a campus community that some US colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other people on campus. A February 2009 Compete.com study has ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users, followed by MySpace. To learn more about Facebook and its history, see this Wikipedia article.
Isn't Facebook for kids? You may think that Facebook is just for kids ... well, maybe it is. However, every major news service/anchor and politician has one or more Facebook pages. And sometimes kids have parents - and grandparents? It was Maria Burke's kids that got her to join Facebook. Perhaps some kids will see Lamar's Class of 1959 Facebook page and pass the word. Consider:
a. If you do a search for 50th High
School Reunion, over 100 Classes of
1959 are out there already with Facebook pages.
b. Some of these groups only have a few (e.g., 2) members; yet Lamar's Class of 1959 already has more than 20 members - these include:
b. Some of these groups only have a few (e.g., 2) members; yet Lamar's Class of 1959 already has more than 20 members - these include:
- Maria Burke Butler
- Kathleen Much
- Wendell Mendell
c. A Facebook page
is free
d. Besides individual glorification, Facebook serves other purposes such as Events and Reunions; e.g., consider (visit) Facebook.com/CNN - this page provided streaming video of January's Inauguration activities.
e. Such a page gives one more way to advertise the link to 50th.Lamar59.org and Cruise.Lamar59.org
f. If all else fails in a classmate's memory, perhaps they will remember that they need only go to Facebook.com or Google and do a search for "Lamar Class of 1959"
d. Besides individual glorification, Facebook serves other purposes such as Events and Reunions; e.g., consider (visit) Facebook.com/CNN - this page provided streaming video of January's Inauguration activities.
e. Such a page gives one more way to advertise the link to 50th.Lamar59.org and Cruise.Lamar59.org
f. If all else fails in a classmate's memory, perhaps they will remember that they need only go to Facebook.com or Google and do a search for "Lamar Class of 1959"
How does it work? Most of Facebook’s features depend on the idea that there are people in your life that you like to stay in touch with, keep up with, and generally connect with. On Facebook, whether these people are best friends, family, classmates, coworkers, or acquaintances, once you connect to them, they are considered Facebook friends.
yourself. From the Facebook Sign Up page, you will be
asked to provide your full name, email address, desired password,
gender, and date of birth.
(You don't have to share this information with others unless you mark
it so, but hey, we know how old you are!)
Once a member you can join one of the Facebook college or workplace networks. The Lamar High School Houston Class of 1959 50th Reunion is a group you can join. After you complete the sign up form, Facebook will send an email to the address you provided. Clicking on the confirmation link will complete the sign up process.
Can I take a look at Facebook before joining? Certainly - please do so. Click here to see our 50th Reunion group site.
What are the advantages of joining Facebook? Only members can create a personal profile, join groups, exchange messages with other members, post photos, and in general participate in the myriad of activities available on-line to Facebook members. It has a mobile version (see image at right) for those who are IPhone or Blackberry equipped. And did we mention it's free?
And the disadvantages? Ah ... well ... there are those that claim it can be a time sink. AARP magazine recently published this article on Confessions of a Facebook Addict.
Concerned about Privacy? I hear you about the privacy issue, and some of our classmates share this concern. How to address this? First: please note that when you join Facebook, you will be asked to provide your full name, email address, desired password, gender, and date of birth. (You don't have to share this information with others unless you mark it so, but as noted, we already know how old you are!). So where is the privacy issue? If it is your birthday, make one up! Or use mine: 10-10-1941. You can also use my gender, if that is the problem (available upon request).
Have you ever bought a book from Amazon.com - or anything on the Internet - if so, you have provided much more "private" info than Facebook requires. Plus, Facebook allows you to mark what you will make public and what is not. And of these items: your name, email address, desired password, gender, and date of birth: the only two that are critical are your name and e-mail - and you can get a free Yahoo! or gmail e-mail address or some such if that is the sticking point. Several classmates already have these free email accounts. As a last resort, have your kid or grandkid join for you!
Can I link my Facebook page to other web pages? Yes, you can do this "traditionally" with a URL link - however we would like to put your Facebook Profile Badge on our Class Directory web page.
What's a Facebook Profile Badge? Go to your Facebook page and click on Profile. You will see your Profile picture in the left column. Go down to the very bottom on that column and click on the phrase: Create a Profile Badge - this will take you to your Facebook Badge page and you can click on +Create a New Badge. You can select what is in your Badge (which is just a graphic summary of your Facebook page); please choose Horizontal for your Layout, include items: Profile pic and Name plus any others you wish, and click Save. A new page with instructions will appear; copy the HTML (code in the box) for your badge and e-mail it to Webmaster@Lamar59.org with subject line: Facebook Badge for <insert your name> - If these instructions are not clear or you have problems, send a description of them to the same e-mail address. Thanks!
Is there a Users Manual? Facebook provides their on-line User Guide here. And AARP has a page of links revealing "the secrets of social networking."
Classmates: If you have some fun tips on Facebook to share, please add them to our Reunion Group page or e-mail to Webmaster@Lamar59.org
Once a member you can join one of the Facebook college or workplace networks. The Lamar High School Houston Class of 1959 50th Reunion is a group you can join. After you complete the sign up form, Facebook will send an email to the address you provided. Clicking on the confirmation link will complete the sign up process.
Can I take a look at Facebook before joining? Certainly - please do so. Click here to see our 50th Reunion group site.
What are the advantages of joining Facebook? Only members can create a personal profile, join groups, exchange messages with other members, post photos, and in general participate in the myriad of activities available on-line to Facebook members. It has a mobile version (see image at right) for those who are IPhone or Blackberry equipped. And did we mention it's free?
And the disadvantages? Ah ... well ... there are those that claim it can be a time sink. AARP magazine recently published this article on Confessions of a Facebook Addict.
Concerned about Privacy? I hear you about the privacy issue, and some of our classmates share this concern. How to address this? First: please note that when you join Facebook, you will be asked to provide your full name, email address, desired password, gender, and date of birth. (You don't have to share this information with others unless you mark it so, but as noted, we already know how old you are!). So where is the privacy issue? If it is your birthday, make one up! Or use mine: 10-10-1941. You can also use my gender, if that is the problem (available upon request).
Have you ever bought a book from Amazon.com - or anything on the Internet - if so, you have provided much more "private" info than Facebook requires. Plus, Facebook allows you to mark what you will make public and what is not. And of these items: your name, email address, desired password, gender, and date of birth: the only two that are critical are your name and e-mail - and you can get a free Yahoo! or gmail e-mail address or some such if that is the sticking point. Several classmates already have these free email accounts. As a last resort, have your kid or grandkid join for you!
Can I link my Facebook page to other web pages? Yes, you can do this "traditionally" with a URL link - however we would like to put your Facebook Profile Badge on our Class Directory web page.
What's a Facebook Profile Badge? Go to your Facebook page and click on Profile. You will see your Profile picture in the left column. Go down to the very bottom on that column and click on the phrase: Create a Profile Badge - this will take you to your Facebook Badge page and you can click on +Create a New Badge. You can select what is in your Badge (which is just a graphic summary of your Facebook page); please choose Horizontal for your Layout, include items: Profile pic and Name plus any others you wish, and click Save. A new page with instructions will appear; copy the HTML (code in the box) for your badge and e-mail it to Webmaster@Lamar59.org with subject line: Facebook Badge for <insert your name> - If these instructions are not clear or you have problems, send a description of them to the same e-mail address. Thanks!
Is there a Users Manual? Facebook provides their on-line User Guide here. And AARP has a page of links revealing "the secrets of social networking."
Classmates: If you have some fun tips on Facebook to share, please add them to our Reunion Group page or e-mail to Webmaster@Lamar59.org
Other, e.g., Less Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: On my Facebook home page, under my photo, it says "Network: Houston, TX." When I'm shown as a friend on other people's Facebook cites, it says Houston, TX under my photo. Consequently, everybody thinks I live in Houston. Someone even asked me to go to lunch in Houston. <>How can I change this to "Austin, TX"?
Used to be you could change your primary network as shown here: http://www.ehow.com/how_4470224_change-primary-network-facebook.html
Now, you need to do this: at top of your page, click on Settings, then Account settings. Then click on the tab Networks. I'll bet you show one network, namely Houston. By default, that is your Primary Network. You can delete this altogether or change it to Austin - or Crawford or whatever. However: you (now) get only one region or city network, and you can change this only once every 60 days; you also get a work network, AND you will be requried to submit a work email for a work network - AND Facebook bots will confirm that work e-mail address works! Similarly for school network - you get one of those AND you must submit a "school email" for that - and I don't think they will let you use a generic e-mail like gmail or yahoo.com email address. Once you have more than one (confirmed) networks, you can choose which one you want to me your primary network - use that same page to do so.
Q: A classmate sent me an email from the address noreply@facebookmail.com.
Obviously, it's invalid. Why would the email show this as the
sender's
address?
Inquiring minds want to know.A: Facebook allows email but doesn't encourage it. The obvious reason is they don't want folks communicating "outside" of Facebook, they only get credit for activity if communication occurs within their "hit counter." So if one sends an email from within Facebook, the "noreply" is the return address. Facebook would have wanted the classmate to "write on your wall" - however, then everyone would have seen what she sent, not true of course in an email. Now, to locate your classmate: she is now one of your friends (and now a member of Reunion group) so click on her photo which will take you to her profile page in Facebook. Her contact info will list an email if she wants to/has done so. In this case, no email (and note: no primary network!). However she lists a home page so I suggest you go to that page and contact her from e-mail given there.
Q: I have been appointed a Group officer on Facebook. On the Facebook reunion page, after my title appears "[remove]". This is not just text; it's a live link. How can I remove the remove?
A: You noted that it says [remove] on your page after your title. Here Facebook is clever: that shows up ONLY on your page, on no one else looking at the Reunion page can see that. So you have the authority to say you don't want to be that officer, just click on [remove] and you will no longer be an officer. However, no one else sees that [remove] except you. {other 'personal' stuff: look at the comment you added after video link and on your page it will say something like "added by you" - when I look at the Reunion page the same comment says "added by [your name]"