Customer Rating:  
Summary: Good book as an Intro or for reference
Comment: Facebook: The Missing Manual by E. A. Vander Veer
O'Reilly is on point again with this latest addition to The Missing Manual series.
Facebook was started as a collegiate networking site that opened its doors to everyone in September 2006. My experience with social networking
platforms dates back to Friendster.com and the more popular Myspace.com, and I was excited to join Facebook, and did so quickly.
I'm a 'once-a-day' visitor of Myspace.com, and have become quite familiar with how that network grows, and how to hack profile settings to
customize my experience there. On joining Facebook, I was in less familiar territory, and I was looking to understand the way in which this new site works.
Facebook: The Missing Manual does a nice job explaining to new and experienced users how the site is structured and how to get the most out of Facebook's functionality.
The first four chapters of the book illustrate what I view as basic information about joining the site, finding your online friends, sending messages and joining networks.
This is very useful for the first-time user, but if you are already on the site, I would recommend skimming this section for some of the important safety tips inline with the text.
The next sections of this Missing Manual is where it starts to get interesting to me as a user and as someone interested in promotion and sharing information online.
Step by step, you are shown how to join groups that you are personally interested in, create groups and also how to create individual events that you may choose to invite your friends too. Whether it is a party, a concert, or a pick-up softball game, Facebook makes it easy to invite your friends to the event. Your friends will then be able to R.S.V.P. with ease, and you will easily be able to count out the right number of spoons and bowls for your annual roof deck ice-cream social.
Also explained in these chapters is the Facebook Marketplace' application. This is a way to use Facebook as an alternative to sites such as craigslist.org. I have mixed feelings about the use of this feature, as I personally don't find myself placing ads here, but on the other hand, offering your friends first dibs on a free couch might feel better than giving the couch to a stranger. Again, use of the application is up to you, but if you had any questions about the steps you may need to take, this book is a handy reference. You might also consider placing an ad of looking for employment on the Marketplace application. Facebook makes it easy to put your work experience right on your profile.
On a side-note related to job seekers and job posters out there in the cloud, the book warns that you may wish to be careful what information is on your profile and what pictures you or your friends have posted. We are in a world where your Facebook page is very likely to be under scrutiny by employers after you apply for a job, or by a potential employee. Facebook: The Missing Manual warns that you might want to review your content to ensure it is PG-rated.
When I first joined the site, I found one feature very confusing, and I was so skeptical of it that it took me a while to trust it. Now, after some time, I understand this feature and have gone so far as to delve right in to developing for it. The feature I am referring to is 'Applications.' Facebook made another smart move by opening its doors to programmers and developers, whom were able to create small programs to the site. Facebook developers are making custom applications to promote brands and services, but also, most of the applications are for fun! Scrabulous is a popular application for playing Scrabble online against your friends, there are countless other games to choose from, and the community of developers are only constrained by their imagination to come up with new uses of Facebook daily. Facebook allows the user to decide what information the application makers have access too, so I would caution users of the site to carefully read the warnings that you are prompted with when agreeing to add the application.
Facebook: The Missing Manual has, throughout the book, warnings about privacy and protecting your information. This topic is directly related to the application feature, and is covered much in the chapter related to the feature.
This well-written book is a must-have for parents curious about the safety features of Facebook, for beginning to intermediate users of the site, and also for people who may wish to use the site as the representative of a business or group. Facebook has many unique features, such as 'poking', and you will find terms and good practices illustrated in this book with clear screen-shots and clever, oft-times funny text to use as a reference to getting the most out of this popular social networking website that has caught on rather quickly and is developing more features each day.
Realistically, I can imagine that the next print edition of the book may need to be updated, as this is the nature of writing on the social networking online experience.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Useful information about Facebook for newbies and the longtimers alike
Comment: I have been a Facebook user since 2005, when the social network was limited only to college kids (I worked in a college: I was not a college student at the time). Seeing it evolve as it has in recent months has been a pleasant thing as it has allowed me to reconnect with old friends that I had effectively lost touch with.
As a longtime user, I thought I knew most of what Facebook had to offer, but this Missing Manual proved that there was lots more that I had no clue about. I was unaware of the ability to sell things through Facebook, for instance and, also, I was not as clear about the multiple options available for advertisers (though I found the chapter dedicated to this topic a bit limited).
I liked that the book was not all praise about the platform: there is clear recognition about the areas that are still confusing and the use of certain names (such as "Pages") for things that could have been named more intuitively.
Last, there were an excellent couple of chapters devoted to Privacy and Facebook Mobile (for sure a dimension of the social network that we will see grow in the coming months and years). Overall, the book was a pleasantly useful resource that I highly recommend to anyone who is starting out with Facebook and longtime users alike.
Customer Rating:
Summary: You thought you knew Facebook, wait until you read this book!
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: IN YOUR FACEBOOK!!
Comment: Are you a computer novice or an Internet expert? If you are, then this book is for you. Author E. Vander Veer, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that explains what kinds of things you can do with Facebook, and how to go about doing them.
Vander Veer, begins by showing you how to sign up for an account, fill your profile, and get to your personalized Facebook home page. Then, the author starts you off with a network of school or work buddies. Next, she shows you how to look up old friends and find new ones with Facebook. The author also shows you how to send private messages to other Facebook members. She continues by showing you how to sign up for and tweak automatic updates. Then, the author shows you how find, join, and participate in groups--and how to start your own. Next, she shows you how to find out what events are happening in your area, who's attending, and how to set up your own events. The author also shows you how you can use Facebook Marketplace to buy or sell just about anything. She continues by showing you how to work the job pool from both angles. Then, the author gives Facebook's messaging and subscription tools a decidedly business spin. Next, she explores your options for advertising on Facebook, which range from free to affordable to don't even think about it. Finally, the author also explains Facebook's privacy issues, and then gives you strategies for staying safe--from up-front planning to adjusting Facebook's privacy settings to after-the-fact damage control.
This most excellent book fully explains what kinds of things you can do on Facebook, and how to go about doing them. But, more importantly, this book guides you through the staggering forest of privacy options so you can get the most out of Facebook with the least amount of risk.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thorough, Accurate and Informative
Comment: A lot of people could save themselves a ton of grief down the road if they just payed attention to the security suggestions in this manual. Figuring out how to use Facebook isn't too difficult but this book explains the defaults and the options to help protect oneself.
Their are screen shots and full instructions. Topics are cross referenced within and the index is pretty decent.
If you are a parent trying to keep up with your kids, this could be a real time saver.
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