Teaching Facebook

Depending on whom you'd like to share with, there are different ways to share content on Facebook:

• Sharing with a broad audience: Use the share menu that's located at the top of your home page and profile to let others know what's on your mind. You can update your status and share photos, videos, links and other application content. Things you share will appear as posts on your profile, and can appear in News Feed. To control whether or not specific people have the option to view your stories, you can change the privacy settings for each piece of content you post.
• Sharing with a small group of friends: Use the Groups feature to share content with a select group of people, like family members, your soccer team or your book club.
• Sharing with an individual: You can use the share menu at the top of a friend's profile to write or share something on his or her Wall. Friends of your friend will also be able to view your post. If you'd like to share something privately, you can always send someone a private message.

You can tag your friends in your Facebook status and other posts. This feature works when you share content at the top of your home page, your profile or your friends' profiles.

To tag a friend, type the "@" symbol. Select the friend you want to tag from the drop-down menu that appears. You can also tag Pages, events, groups or apps. If the menu appears and you don’t want to tag a name, just continue typing your post and the options will disappear. Note that you can also mention friends in comments using similar functionality.

Tagging allows you to more actively mention your friends and other things you are connected to on Facebook. It also lets you direct a post at specific people while still keeping the conversation open. Friends you tag receive a notification that you have tagged them and Wall story on their profile. They are also notified when someone else comments on the post they are tagged in. People who can see your post will be able to click the link to view the profile, Page, group or event you tag, but only if existing privacy settings allow this.

You can tag people, places, and pages in anything you share.

Anyone can tag you, but if someone you’re not friends with tags you, you’ll always receive a request to approve the tag before it appears on your profile.

Link your Facebook and Twitter accounts here. As a Page admin, you’ll be able to share status updates, links, photos, notes, and events with your followers on Twitter, directly from Facebook. You can choose the kinds of things you want to share both on Twitter and Facebook.

To make commenting faster and easier, we've removed this button. To comment on a post, just press your enter or return key. If you want to create a new paragraph or line break within your comment, press shift+enter on your keyboard.

We worked with the Human Society of the United States on the following tips. For more information, visit humanesociety.org.

Finding a good home for your pet

If you ultimately decide that you cannot keep your pet, you have several options.

Your best resource is your local animal shelter. Most shelters screen potential adopters to make sure that they will be able to provide a safe, responsible, and loving home for your pet.

The easiest place to start your search for your local animal shelter is online at PetFinder.com. Here you can enter your zip code and find a list of animal shelters, animal control agencies, and other animal care organizations in your community. You may also want to look in your phone book. Animal shelters are called by a variety of names, so look in the Yellow Pages under listings such as "animal shelter," "humane society," or "animal control." Public animal care and control agencies are often listed under the city or county health department or police department. You can also call information at 411.

If you have a dog of a specific breed, there may be a breed rescue organization in your area that will accept him and work to find him a new home. Purebred rescue groups are usually run by people with in-depth knowledge of a specific breed. Rescue groups usually keep adoptable animals until they can be placed in loving, permanent homes. To locate a rescue group that specializes in your dog's breed, contact your local animal shelter go to PetFinder.com.

In some cases, breed rescues only work with animal shelters and may not accept pets directly from owners. Be sure to find out as much as you can about the rescue group, and always carefully screen a breed rescue organization before relinquishing your pet. You should make sure the current animal residents appear well-cared-for, that the group screens potential adopters, and that the group offers post-adoption support services. Do not be afraid to ask questions.

Finding a new home

If you decide to try to find a new home for your pet yourself, rather than relying upon a local animal shelter or rescue organization, be sure the animal's best interests remain your top priority. Finding a new home for a pet can be difficult. A "good" home means a home where the animal will live for the rest of his or her life, where he or she will receive attention, veterinary care, proper nutrition, and be treated as part of the family.

If you choose to find a home for your pet yourself, follow these guidelines:

• Advertise through friends, neighbors, and local veterinarians first; then try the newspaper, if all else fails. Your chances of finding a good home are increased when you check references with someone you know.
• Visit the prospective new home in order to get a feel for the environment in which your pet will be living. Explain that the pet is part of your family and that you want to make sure she will be cared for properly and that you want to see how the animal responds to the new home. Screen potential homes carefully.
• Don't be fooled. If anyone refuses to allow you to visit their home, do not place your pet with them. Individuals known as "bunchers" routinely answer "free-to-good-home" ads, posing as people who want family pets when, in actuality, they sell pets to animal dealers. Dogfighters have also been known to obtain domestic animals for baiting through "free to good home" ads. These people are "professionals" who may even bring children or their mothers with them when picking up pets.
• Always be mindful of your own safety when you go to interview potential adopters or if you allow a prospective adopter to enter your home.
• Carefully consider all the elements of the new home: Will your pet get along with small children? Is the family planning to keep the dog chained outside as a watch dog? Will the cat be kept only as a mouser? Does the family have a veterinary reference? Do not be shy about asking questions. Your pet's life and happiness may depend on it.
• Ask for a valid form of identification (preferably a driver's license). Record the number for your records and require the new owner to sign a contract stating the requirements of adoption upon which both parties agree. As part of the contract, require the new owner to contact you if he or she decides at some point that they must give up the pet.
• Have your pet neutered or spayed before he or she goes to the new home. This will make the animal more adoptable and help stop irresponsible breeding.
• If your pet is chronically ill or has behavior problems, it may be difficult to find him a suitable home. A new owner may not be willing or able to deal with these issues, and it may also be difficult for the pet to adjust to a new home. The decision to humanely euthanize such a pet should not be made without thoughtful input from a veterinarian, a behaviorist, and the family, based on how well they believe their companion would adapt to a new home.

Finding a quality home for your pet can be a difficult and time-consuming process. Remember: Your local animal shelter has a qualified staff trained to screen and counsel adopters. Relinquishing your pet to your local shelter may be the best option for you and your pet.

Before you post, look at the audience selector. Use the dropdown menu to choose who you want to share a post with.

 Public (Maximum audience for adults)

 Friends of Friends (Maximum audience for minors)

 Friends (+ friends of anyone tagged)

 Custom (Includes specific groups, friend lists or people you’ve specified to include or exclude)

You'll see this tool wherever you share content, whether it’s a status update or information on your profile.

The tool remembers the audience you shared with the last time you posted something and uses the same audience when you share again unless you change it. For example, if you choose Public for a post, your next post will also be Public unless you change this audience when you post.

If you want to change who you’re sharing with, open the dropdown menu and choose a different audience. Remember: anyone you tag in a post, along with their friends, may see the post.

To make it clear who you’re sharing with at all times, the audience you select appears along with whatever you are saying, every time you share. You can also use the audience selector to change who you are sharing with after you post something.

You can control the default setting for posts you share from the Privacy Settings page. Select one of the four global privacy groupings (Public, Recommended, Friends of friends or Friends Only) in the "Sharing on Facebook" section. If you'd like to further customize these settings, click "Customize settings" and change the setting for "Posts by You."

The "Customize" privacy setting lets you specify who is able and not able to view the content you share. When you choose "Customize," a pop-up box will appear. From the box, you can choose to share with or exclude specific networks, friends, and Friend Lists.

 If you're comfortable making something you share open to anyone on the internet, you can choose Public from the audience selector before you post. Public includes people who are not your friends on Facebook and people who are not in your school or work networks.

When you share or publish content as "Public", it will visible to anyone on the internet. People may be able to find your content through public links, or through their friends sharing content with them. When you publish content as "Public", you should be comfortable with it being open to anyone.

Yes, you can use the audience selector to change who can see any post you make after you publish it. Remember: people you share with can always share your information with others. So, if you change the audience after you publish something this can’t prevent someone who already saw it from sharing it. Also, remember that unless your post is set to Only Me, then anyone tagged (and potentially their friends) may see it, too.

To remove a post or story from your Wall:

1. Hover your mouse over the story or post in question.
2. Click the "x" button that appears to the right of your post.
3. Select "Remove Post" from the dropdown menu.
4. Click "Remove Post."

This box allows you to update your status and share photos, videos, links and other application content. Things you share will appear as posts on your profile, and can appear in News Feed. (To control whether or not specific people have the option to view your stories, you can change the privacy settings for each piece of content you post.)

When you create content, a story is posted to your Wall. We also generate a News Feed story so that the next time your friends log into Facebook, they see the content you shared on their homepage. You can control the visibility of these stories by following our instructions:

1. Choose the "Privacy Settings" option in the Account drop-down menu at the top of any Facebook page.
2. Select "Customize settings" in the "Sharing on Facebook" section.
3. Look for the "Things I share" section. A drop-down menu allows you to choose who can view the content that you post to your wall.

1. Go the Account menu at the top right corner of Facebook and choose Privacy Settings.
2. Next to the Manage Settings for How You Connect heading, click Change Settings.
3. Select your preference from the dropdown menu next to “Who can see Wall posts by others on your profile?”

Note: People you restrict from seeing Wall posts from others will not be able to post to your Wall.

Something you post on your friend’s Wall is part of your friend’s profile, so it will depend on the privacy settings your friend has selected. If you want to write something to your friend privately, don’t post it. Send a message instead.

You cannot completely turn off Recent Activity stories; however, you can:

• Prevent people from seeing certain Recent Activity stories on your profile by editing individual privacy settings.
• Remove Recent Activity stories by clicking the "Remove" button that appears to the right of the story after you move your mouse over it.

When a friend posts on your Wall, your mutual friends will see a story in their News Feeds.

For example, if Dave is friends with both John and Julia, he will see a story in his News Feed when John writes on Julia's Wall. But if Dave is only friends with John, none of John's wall-to-wall conversations with Julia will appear on Dave's homepage.

The only people that can see the story about your comment are those who can see the content you commented on. For example, if you commented on a photo that only you and your friend can see, only you and your friend would be able to see the story on your Wall.

At this time, you cannot approve Wall posts before they are posted to your Wall. However, you can always delete specific unwanted posts or control the visibility of your friends' posts by following these steps:

1. Choose the "Privacy Settings" option in the Account drop-down menu at the top of any Facebook page.
2. Select "Customize settings" in the "Sharing on Facebook" section.
3. Look for the "Things others share" section. A drop-down menu allows you to choose who can view the content that friends post to your Wall. If you don't want people to post on your Wall, uncheck the box next to the "Friends can post to my wall" option.

Only you and your friends can post to your Wall. When you post something, you can control who sees it by using the audience selector. When friends post, whether people can see it depends on your privacy setting selection.

To change your selection for who can see friends’ posts on your Wall:

1. Go the Account menu at the top right corner of Facebook and choose Privacy Settings.
2. Next to the Manage Settings for How You Connect heading, click Change Settings.
3. Select your preference from the dropdown menu next to “Who can see Wall posts by others on your profile?”

If you’d like to disable your Wall completely:

1. Go the Account menu at the top right corner of Facebook and choose Privacy Settings.
2. Next to the Manage Settings for How You Connect heading, click Change Settings.
3. From the dropdown menu next to “Who can post on your wall?” choose Only Me. This setting means that you will see your Wall, but no one else will.

You can write on a person's wall if you are friends with them. However, users may opt to restrict their Privacy Settings to prevent people from posting on their wall.

You can post to groups or pages as soon as you have connected to them: Click the "Like" button for pages, or (request to) join a group.

It is possible that malicious software was downloaded to your computer or that your password was stolen by a phishing website designed to look like Facebook. Please carefully follow the steps provided:

1. Run anti-virus software: If your computer has been infected with a virus or with malware, you will need to run anti-virus software to remove these harmful programs and keep your information secure.
   • For Windows:
     http://www.microsoft.com/protect/viruses/xp/av.mspxhttp://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/default.mspx
   • For Apple/Mac OS:
     http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
2. Reset password: If you know your password and would like to change it, you can do so from the Settings tab on the Account page. If you don’t remember your password, you can reset it by clicking here. Be sure to use a different password than you use for other sites or services, made up of a complex string of numbers, letters, and punctuation marks that is at least six characters in length. Do not use words found in the dictionary.
3. Never click suspicious links: It is possible that your friends could unwillingly send spam, viruses, or malware through Facebook if their accounts are infected. Do not click this material and do not run any ".exe" files on your computer without knowing what they are. Only log in to legitimate pages with the Facebook.com domain. For example, "www.facebook.example.com" is not a legitimate Facebook page, but "www.facebook.com/example" is a legitimate Facebook page because it has the "facebook.com" domain. When in doubt, you can always just type in "facebook.com" into your browser to return to the legitimate Facebook site. Also, be sure to use the most current version of your browser as it will contain important security warnings, protection features, and may warn you if you have navigated to a suspected phishing site. You can also find more information about phishing and how to avoid it at http://www.antiphishing.org/consumer_recs.html and http://onguardonline.gov/phishing.html.
   

We might show you a post by another user if your friends have liked or interacted with it, and we believe you might find it interesting as well. We only show you someone's posts if they indicated in their Privacy Settings Public (anyone) or Friends of Friends are allowed to view it.

While you cannot completely turn off Recent Activity stories, you can prevent other people from seeing certain types of stories.

To prevent people from seeing a Recent Activity story about a profile change you make (e.g., changed relationship status):

1. Go to your privacy settings.
2. Click the "Customize Settings" link within the "Sharing on Facebook" section.
3. Update the individual sections to the privacy level that you desire. For example, if you want to change your relationship status but do not want anyone to view a Recent Activity story about this change, customize your "Relationships" setting to "Only Me." Note: If you choose the "Only Me" setting, you will still be able to view a Recent Activity story about your relationship change, but no one else will.

To prevent people from seeing a Recent Activity story about your likes, activities and other connections:

1. Go to your privacy settings.
2. Click the "View Settings" link beneath "Connecting on Facebook."
3. Update "See your likes, activities and other connections" to the privacy level that you desire. Note: Anyone you restrict here will not be able to view your likes and activities on your profile Info tab.

For stories that are about content you do not own (e.g., comments you make on other peoples' statuses), Recent Activity stories only appear to people who are allowed to view the original content that they are about, based on privacy setting chosen by the person who posted the content. Remember that you can remove any Recent Activity story by clicking the "Remove" button that appears to the right of the story after you move your mouse over it.

Your photos and videos are grouped together in the Photos section of your profile. You can get there by selecting the "Photos" filter under your profile picture.

To view videos you uploaded: Look for the "Your Photos" section. Click the "See All Videos" link in its top right corner.

To view videos you are tagged in: Look for the "Photos and Videos of You" section. Click the "View Videos of You" link in its top right corner.

To make commenting faster and easier, we've removed this button. To comment on a post, just press your enter or return key. If you want to create a new paragraph or line break within your comment, press shift+enter on your keyboard.

It’s possible that your friend unknowingly pasted a malicious script into their address bar. Instead of showing you what it advertises (ex: who viewed your profile), these scripts create events and pages from your account or send your friends spammy links.

Tell your friend to close their internet window or log out of Facebook to end the attack and secure their account.

If your friend did not paste text into their browser, it's possible that malicious software was downloaded to their computer or that their login information was phished. Tell your friend to visit the Phishing and malware section of our Help Center to secure his or her account.