If you love Facebook, Facebook: The Missing Manual is a must have. I'm a 36 year old professional that has hundreds of contacts ranging from kids I coached high school football and basketball for, and the other associates I have met over time as being the president of various organizations. My initial experience using this site was rather frustrating because it was difficult finding people, especially those my age. After a while, I managed to find a couple people, however my experience with Facebook was the equivalent of the large sigh my little doggy does when he is bored.
Then came Facebook: The Missing Manual. Not only did this book give me a better understanding regarding "friends" and "Networks", but it reversed my impression of how useful this site can be. For me two big selling points became very useful for me. The first one is the support for multiple browsers, especially those that are very popular with the OS X operating system. For example, uploading pictures to Facebook was as simple as allowing a Java program (using the Safari browser) from Facebook to work with my iPhoto library. Since I already have my pictures organized in the iPhoto program, it was a matter uploading albums versus individual pictures. This was a huge improvement from other sites you try to upload to. The second point was the mobile phone feature allowing the ability to send notifications and messages from Facebook, and in turn being able to text back in a reply to my messages. Now that may not mean much to you, but the really creative part about it is that you have the ability to control the what and when it comes to receiving messages over your phone.
After reading majority of the chapters, it also brought to my attention how I can export my address book, or create an email list to find individuals I have networked with in the past. By becoming aware of how to utilize and integrate my other forms of networking with Facebook, this allowed me to improve the amount of connections I was able to make by 300%. I also enjoyed the creative ways that the book explained how you can create events, hire, job search, and promote your business. These features are important for me, especially now that I have a DJ business, and a best friend running for political office. I can inform my whole network, and be able to gauge those that will come to an event.
Trial and error are the ways I normally learned, however the time I spent reading this book made me have a better appreciation of what I was using. The book was well balanced using photos and written instructions. A good book to use, especially if you tend to be a kinesthetic or visual type of learner. I'm sure that Facebook will eventually become integrated further with the way we communicate with each other. This book explains the present, and the promise of using this website. I highly recommend the book. For me personally, it was one of the best things I could have read to enhance my life as an IT and volunteering professional. I thought I knew a lot, but I was only using 15 of the features available. Now I utilize about 30, and the time I spend using the site has been cut down in half, but I communicate with people on the site more efficiently by using the tools identified in Facebook: The Missing Manual. It was definitely time well spent reading this book.
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