Facebook's new Sidebar Feature

Facebook has a new feature called The Sidebar. Some of you may have already bumped into it, while others haven't seen it yet. As usual, things like this are rolled out, meaning they release it to some people a bit at a time. Also, the Sidebar appearing depends on your screen size/space. If you have a widescreen monitor, you will most likely see the Sidebar sooner/more frequently.

I've checked it out and it seems useful and a good interface so far.

The sidebar is a new way to connect with friends you often connect with on FB. When it is open, it replaces the Friends on Chat list on the left.

from the help page:
The sidebar lets you quickly contact some of the friends you message most. Just clicking on a friend’s name opens a chat window. If your friend isn’t available to chat, you can still send messages for them to read later.

How you know a friend is available to chat:

Friends with a green dot next to their names are available to chat
Friends with a gray moon next to their names are available but inactive
Friends with no icon next to their names are unavailable

The sidebar is sensitive to the amount of free space you have on your screen, so it only appears if there’s enough room for it. If you don’t see the sidebar, just click Chat in the bottom right corner of your screen, which shows the same list of friends you’ll find in your sidebar.
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The list of friends in your sidebar is based on who you’ve interacted with most frequently or recently on Facebook. Since it updates dynamically, you can’t manually add friends to the list.

The list shows both friends who are available to chat and friends who aren’t. Clicking on a friend’s name opens a chat window. If your friend isn’t available to chat, you can still send messages for them to read later.
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To collapse the sidebar, select Hide Sidebar from the actions menu in the bottom right corner of the sidebar.

To expand the sidebar again, click Chat in the bottom right corner of your screen.

For more details:
Facebook Using the Sidebar
https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=194010440647624

Facebook Privacy for chat:
https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=130254323719420

Facebook vs Google+

By now, you have probably heard of Google+, a new social networking system to rival (or not) Facebook.

There are a lot of similarities, and some differences are not much different.

Below is an excerpt from WXP News Social Networking Showdown: Facebook vs. Google+

I've been testing Google+ for the past week, and it has some advantages - and some disadvantages - when compared to Facebook. And there's a lot that was obviously lifted directly from its rival, including the "It's complicated" choice for relationship status (G+ also gives you a choice that FB doesn't: "I don't want to say"). The much-hyped Circles feature is undisputedly useful, but it requires a bit more work on the part of the user. Now whenever you want to add a friend, you have to decide which circle(s) he/she belongs in. You start with some default circles (Friends, Acquaintances, Family, Following) and you can then create your own custom circles (for example, I made circles for Tech industry professionals, fellow Dog Owners, Law Enforcement friends, Writers, and so forth).

If this sounds a bit like the Facebook feature that allows you to create Friend Lists, it is - with a big difference: in Facebook, that's an option and it's not a very obvious one; many FB users don't even know it exists.. In Google+, it's mandatory; every person you add has to go into one or more circles. Then when you create a post, you have to pick which circles will be allowed to see it. It does annoy me that a number of reviews of G+ erroneously say this can't be done in FB.

Otherwise, posting and commenting is pretty much the same as on Facebook. That is, you can share a photo, video or link along with your post. On G+, you can also share your location with the click of an icon beside the status update field. This works similarly to the Check In feature on FB, but is quicker and easier to use. To me, the bigger improvement that Google brings to the table is the increased level of control that you have over your own posts. In FB, if you decide you want to change a few words (or notice a typo and want to correct it), you have to delete the post and rewrite it. In G+, there's a drop-down arrow button by each of your posts that gives you the choice to delete it, edit it, link to it, or you can disable comments on it if you want to put something out there but don't want people posting their responses on it, or you can block resharing if you don't want others to "steal" your brilliant words and repost them with a single click (of course, they can always copy and paste it into their update box, but that's a little more trouble). I like this flexibility a lot; it can save perfectionists like me a great deal of time.

Another "big deal" in G+ is its video chat feature, but Zuckerberg fired back quickly on that one, partnering with Skype to provide video chat within Facebook, a week after the debut of G+.
http://www.wxpnews.com/110712-Facebook-Skype

The biggest difference between the two, at least at the moment, is that the FB/Skype combo allows you to conduct video calls with only one person at a time. G+ gives you more of a videoconferencing experience, with the ability to chat with a group of up to ten people.
http://www.wxpnews.com/110712-Google-Plus-Hangouts
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As I wrote in a discussion (on Facebook!) about this, it seems most people today want things to be extremely simple, even at the cost of flexibility or quality (hence the popularity of locked-down Apple products). Even a small "hassle factor" deters them from adopting something new - but they will stick with something familiar despite its level of hassle because switching isn't simple. When I put out a message on Facebook telling my friends to email me if they wanted to be invited to G+, almost everyone who responded was a techie. The rest didn't seem to be very interested. They have something that works for them and although they might get frustrated with its quirks at times, they don't want to bother with starting over with something else.

Finally, I think the biggest obstacle G+ has to overcome has to do with trust. I hear from newsletter readers all the time who say they don't trust Google with their information. Now, I'm not sure why they think Facebook is inherently more trustworthy; my philosophy is "If you would be mortified to see it on the front page of your local newspaper, don't post it on any social network." But the problem with Google isn't just about security or privacy. Because they have come out with so many new services and products and then killed them, many people don't trust that G+ will still be around a year or five years from now, so they don't want to commit to it. Google has its fingers in a lot of pies, whereas Facebook does this one thing and does it, if perhaps not extremely well, well enough. People may not trust FB about privacy, but they do trust that it's going to stay around.

One issue that is left out of the article is the user base. For social networking systems to work, your friends and potential friends have to be using it too. If they are not, it's useless. Currently, Google+ has about 70 million users worldwide. Facebook has about 750 million users.

Facebook - What it is and is it for you.

Facebook has been public now for a couple of months. In that time it has grown exponentially. The Toronto network on Facebook is largest in the world for a city (over 500,000 members and growing fast).

I've been on Facebook now for about a month. It is great for a number of things. But, it is also a big time-waster and can get addictive. If you have a lot of friends it can get to be like a 24 hour party on-line. A party of typing and clicking. Ha!

Old Friends
I've found it useful for finding and connecting with old friends that I had lost touch with.

Searching for friends
You can easily search for friends who are on contact lists for web-based email (like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo...). And, you can also search for friends who are in your address book if you use an email program like Thunderbird, Outlook, etc. Open your address book, export it as a file, then you can upload it in the search page. Facebook searches your contact list to see if any of these people (by their email address) is on Facebook. If a person is using an address you don't have, it won't find them this way though.
You can also search by typing in the name. Or, by looking on friends Friends Lists.

Privacy
You can customize the privacy settings in many ways. Unlike MySpace, where you can see someone's page if you are not a member, you can't see anything in Facebook unless you are a member and you log in. You can set it so only your friends can see your profile, photos, etc. And you can also customize what different friends can see or not. You can set up secret events that only the invitees can see.

If you want to NOT be found by old high school "friends", then don't use your full name/real name and/or don't list your high school under Education. Most people use their real full names, but some use a nickname and some use a first name and last initial. Also, you don't have to post your photo. You can put up any picture you want in place of your photo.
You can set things up so can remain hidden from those you want to hide from - This includes potential employers doing checks on potential employees (for if you put up embarrassing photos of yourself and talk about things on your profile you don't want certain people to see). And, you can set things up so your close friends can see all you want them to see.

Blocking
You can completely block people (like stalkers) if you want. You might bump into someone on another friends Friends List that you don't want any contact with. You can block this person. What this means is that they cannot find you if they do a search in Facebook. They cannot see you on a Friends List. And they cannot see any information about you that might pop up on another of your friends pages (like status updates, wall posts, photos you are tagged in, etc).

Facebook Marketplace
They just added free classified ads (sort of similar to craigslist). If you aren't in a network, you have to join a network to post an ad. I posted my business, Thor Tech Support, to it yesterday. Remember to adjust your privacy settings when you join a network if you only want your friends to see your profile. By default, when you join a network, anyone in the network can see your profile.

Photos
You can post photos, tag photos, create photo albums, and you can also share your photo album with family and friends who are not on Facebook (via a special link at the bottom of the specific photo album page).

Theres lots of other things you can do on Facebook, but I've mentioned some of the basics above.


Is Facebook For You?
If you don't have any friends, or family, and/or you don't want any, if you hate using a computer, especially anything to do with the Internet, if you are a Luddite, then Facebook is not for you.

Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with friends, family members, co-workers, school friends, etc. With Facebook you can share photos, ideas, send out invitations, etc. If this is you, then Facebook is for you. If you are a parent and your kids want to get into a social network, Facebook can be (along with proper Internet-parenting, instruction and privacy settings) a safe environment for children/teens too.

It can be very addictive and a time-waster, but it can also be a great social tool, whether your Friends List is 5 or 500 people.