Customer Rating:  
Summary: A good introduction to social networking for newbies and beginners
Comment: This dummies book provides a good grounding in the uses of Facebook. As with all technology books, it's *already* a tad dated, even though it's publish-date is this year (2008!). Applications and their popularity ebb and flow - some of the third party applications they've mentioned I have not once encountered (ie - Fluff Friends), and some daily requests I get deluged with are not mentioned at all. I can't turn around, for example, without someone sending me a Lil' Green Patch, guilting me into sending out more green patches. It's like a charity virus. :-)
What the book is really for, though, is a novice through beginner's journey into the social network that is Facebook. The guide begins with how Facebook started, what the term "face book" means (hint - it's a college thing) and things you can and cannot do on this site.
What can't you do? Troll. Lie about who you are. Be under 13. Upload illegal content or porn - sorry!
What you can do - post a profile. Add photos, find friends, join groups, make pages for your business, plan events, mess with all kinds of fun applications, join up to five networks, make a newsfeed, sell things and buy advertising.
It's useful that some mention is made of how many friends to acquire. DO you be-friend everyone who asks? The book suggests quality over quantity - always useful advice in making friends in the meat world as well. :) What exactly Facebooking is, in practice, is laid out: how to find friends, how to "poke" them, and how to manage your ever-growing FB friend lists.
The Adding Photos chapter is pretty comprehensive and moves on into adding videos, writing Wall posts and giving "gifts."
One thing I found interesting and useful was the section on setting up FB with cell phones, something I had not tried prior to the reading. Of course, young people who've grown up with texting won't find anything new here. :)
The book has a great section for business people who have not been weaned on social networking - there is a chart advising when to make profiles, pages or groups, what you can do with events, how to set up ads and find/nurture "fans" of your business. This information should be extremely useful for anyone with a small or home business wanting to explore the amazing potential of free marketing/networking with Facebook, which is, honestly, a pretty intuitive site to dive into.
One thing I would have appreciated would have been some more insights from the authors on how FaceBook has impacted their lives and the lives of people in general. FB is a huge world and I am still learning the etiquette - how long is too long to be polite when answering wall posts and messages - sometimes I don't get to it for weeks/months. Do I always need to return gifts/fairy dust/karma? How do I get people to stop deluging me with said gifts/fairy dust/karma? What about people in the real world who want to know about my life and *aren't"* on Facebook - how do I let them know I don't have time for updating them and that REALLY if they care, they need to follow me there?
These are the kind of things I would really like to know and would improve the book considerably. In a sense, FaceBook for Dummies is mostly a regurgitation of the how-to instructions you can glean yourself from the FB website. A nicely laid-out regurgitation. :)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another excellent Dummy book
Comment: About halfway through the book and it has over delivered many times already.
Easy to understand, sequential step-by-step actions clearly written, nice touch of humor throughout.
Definitely recommended if you want to know Facebook inside and out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The book you need to improve your Skills at using Facebook
Comment: If you are a technophobe like me, it will definitely help you to do better with Facebook.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Perfect!
Comment: This book is just perfect. From the opening few pages you can get a real handle on the phenomenon that is facebook, and quickly you'll know how play in the sandbox with the best of them. It flows along in the typical style of all the "dummies" books as it really helps you get started with ease, but this one has an extra edge: it's fun to read. The authors, whether intentionally, or just naturally, inject a very refreshing sense of humor into their writing that makes the adventure that much more enjoyable.
Everything is covered here; how to use facebook to keep in touch with friends, how to reconnect with old friends on there already, making new friends, joining groups, sharing pictures, playing games, making the most of thousands of available applications, how to use facebook for your business... It goes on and on and on.
Social networking is just the latest wave of the computer revolution, but it's a big one, and if you're planning to ride it, bring your surfboard, ...and your copy of FfD!
~well done.
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