Introduction to Facebook

Hi! Welcome to the Stay Connected with Facebook Course. I am Agent George, and it is my pleasure to join you throughout these lessons so let’s get started!

Facebook is an extremely popular social media platform that was created by a gentleman named Mark Zuckerberg in the year 2004 while he was attending Harvard University. Facebook was created originally for Harvard students to connect with one another but has since become the most widely used social media app around the world with roughly 2.8 billion users around the world on a monthly basis in 2021. Facebook has changed a lot since its creation and now it is largely used for people to create accounts to share messages, photos, news and connect with friends and family online.

During this lesson, you will be introduced to the Facebook platform, and will learn the steps on how to setup an account, add a friend, create posts to share on your Facebook page and how to manage your privacy settings.

Wow, that is all so interesting! We are just about ready to get started, but first review some key technology terms that will be used throughout the course.

Key Technology Terms

  • Facebook: A popular free social networking platform that allows individuals to create and view personal or business profiles, post photos, videos, and stories, and connect with family, friends or the public.
  • Social Media: websites, applications, or platforms that enable virtual interaction between individuals or organizations through the creation and sharing of online content such as, stories, thoughts, photos, or videos. Most social media platforms provide varying levels of privacy controls to allow limited access or public visibility of posted content.
  • Social Networking: the use of social media platforms to connect and build social networks or relationships by interacting with other users often with similar interests.
  • Timeline: A display of a list of events on a social media platform, in a chronological order, where users can see their posts or others’ posts much like a newsfeed
  • Posts: content written or created to be shared on social media platforms, often including photos or videos, but may also only contain written text.
  • Messenger: An instant messaging application that is used to communicate privately between users on the Facebook and Instagram social media platforms. Messenger can be accessed through the Facebook website, Instagram website, or through the associated social media apps or through a stand-alone Messenger application for smartphones and tablets.