facebook question

[astridv]

I am totally, utterly facebook illiterate so here's a really stupid question: If I want to post something to facebook so it shows up on the reading page of my fb friends... do I need to write a status update and then share it? If so, do I click 'post it to profile' or 'send this to friends'? Or is the status update itself enough and it'll show up to my friends in addition to my wall?

That site, man... I've been on the internet since '95, I consider myself web-savvy but it's like every aspect of facebook is completely counterintuitive to me. And it's not even possible to test stuff because I can never tell how it looks to other people, just to myself. Argngnhate.

Comments

[schneefink]

It's not just me! I thought I was reasonably adept at navigating websites, but facebook is sooo confusing. If it were a company homepage I'd strongly consider contacting them to complain.
Sorry, I can't help.

[astridv]

Yeah, I'm always glad to find out I'm not alone. And it's not just that not a single feature is self-explanatory - when I find something I want to crosspost I can't fit it into fb's incredibly limiting formatting. It's almost as bad as tumblr. I just don't see the appeal at all.

[ratcreature]

At least you can see Tumblr stuff without having an account there. That's what frustrates me most with Facebook: You get linked and then you don't see anything. I mean, fine if things are private, but why then do people link the page as if it was public?

[astridv]

That's another thing that's cryptic! Until last week I was under the assumption that my entries are open to all. I had to log out to see that they're not. But when I look at the entries, they're all set to public, or so it seems.

It appears that the default setting when you open an account is locked and you have to change that manually? Which wouldn't be the worst idea, except it sucks that I don't know how I can tell how mine is set. There's really nothing about that site that makes any sense.

[ratcreature]

Looking at it from the outside I've come to assume that with "public" they must mean anyone with a fb account, and that they just can't comprehend the existence of non-facebook people.

FB sucks

[sasha_feather]

Posting it as a status update and clicking "post" should work just find. The "friends" button lets you filter things to specific groups in case you want to do that, including letting you make something public.

[astridv]

Weirdly enough it's not all of them. This is George Takei's facebook: http://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei - I can view that even when I'm not logged in. So there must be facebook-public, and public-public. (But don't ask me how to switch between the settings.)

Re: FB sucks

[astridv]

Cool, thanks. So I assume my post made it through. I haven't gotten any replies but I suppose even my friends aren't on fb 24/7.

All I wanted do know is whether the lakes in our area are safe to go iceskating! I guess I'll have to wait for tomorrow's paper and see if they mention something.

[ratcreature]

Huh. I'm so glad that nobody has yet sufficiently pressured me to join that thing.

I mean, a while back my father asked me whether he needed a FB these days (mind he's 86 and only uses the internet for some online banking and as far as I can tell for infecting his computer with malware from dubious porn sites -- he doesn't even email), but after I assured him that I don't have an account there either he thankfully has given up on joining social networks.

Re: FB sucks

[sasha_feather]

I find twitter to be good for that sort of question too, if you have local friends on Twitter, and if they check it regularly. I am spoiled by living in a city where there are fans.