Social Media 101 Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Pinterest. Snapchat. Twitter. techboomers.com/c/social-websites Alliance for Safe Kids: Social Media 101 Facebook Created in 2004, Facebook is what is known as a "social network". It's an online community set up to facilitate people finding and forming friendships with each other through an exchange of different content. Facebook is one of the biggest social networks because of how much you can do with it. How Facebook Works: 1. Find people to connect with in a variety of different ways: Facebook gives you lots of options for connecting with people you know. You can find people to become "friends" with on Facebook based on where you live, go to school, work, or even who else you are friends with. 2. Get the latest updates from top brands and celebrities: Facebook also allows you to follow your favorite corporate and pop culture icons, including actors, athletes, bands, clothing companies, car manufacturers, and so on. Plus, you can also see what's making headlines in sports, politics, science, entertainment, and more. 3. Share news with your connections through text, pictures, videos, and more: You can let your "friends" know what you're up to with photos of your pets, interesting internet articles, or a video of an activity on your vacation. 4. Keep the discussion going with "likes" and comments: When you see news on Facebook from your friends or the people or brands that you follow, you can "like" what they post to show your appreciation for it, comment on how it makes you feel, or even share it with your other friends. 5. Use chat and messaging features to talk to people directly: Sometimes, you only want specific people to hear or see what you have to share. That's when you can use Facebook's internal email system to send private messages to people, or use the "chat" function to swap text messages and other content with one or more of your friends at once. 6. Get some face time with video chat: Why just sent text messages, pictures, and videos back and forth to communicate with your Facebook friends when you can talk to them face-to-face? Similar to Skype, if you have a miniature camcorder (known as a "webcam") attached to your computer, and your friends do as well, then you can use the "video chat" feature to start a conversation in real time! 7. Join groups of people who enjoy the same things that you do: You can join "groups" on Facebook that are focused on a particular activity or theme. Then, you can post content and discussions that can be seen and contributed to by all group members. Some groups are open to the public, while others require you to be invited in order to join and see them. 8. Organize events in real life: Use Facebook's to set up an event with the time, date, and other details. Then, send out invitations to your Facebook friends, and have them reply as "going", "not going", or "maybe". No "phone tag" or mailing out RSVPs necessary! For more information visit: https://techboomers.com/p/facebook AllianceforSafeKids.org | Techboomers.com Alliance for Safe Kids: Social Media 101 Instagram Instagram is an easy-to-use mobile application that lets you capture and edit photos or videos on your tablet computer or smart phone. How Instagram Works: 1. Find people to follow: If you need some inspiration for what to post on Instagram, or just want to see what the world is up to, you can follow the activity of other people on Instagram. Many other people use Instagram, from celebrities and corporations to budding photographers and blog enthusiasts. Some users may be friends, family members, or other people whom you know! You can connect with them and follow what they do, and they can do the same for you. 2. Hash out a conversation: Once you start following people on Instagram, you're going to see photos and videos that the post. If you see one in particular that piques your interest, you can "like" it or leave a comment on it to let people know what you think of it. Also note that Instagram supports the use of "hashtags", short words/phrases/abbreviations preceded by the "#" sign that you can add to your posts or comments to help categorize them. This not only makes them easier to find for you, but it also helps other people find them as well! 3. Upload and edit your own photos and videos: You can put also put your own photos and videos on Instagram. You can use ones that are already on your mobile device, or you can use Instagram to take a new photo or record a new video. After that, you can use filters and other effects to give unique looks to all of your creations! 4. Post your photos and videos on Instagram, or on other social networks: Why just stop at sharing your photos and videos on one social network? One of the major selling points of Instagram is that you can connect it to various other social media services. Then, when you post a photo or video on Instagram, you can share it on your accounts for Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, or Foursquare all at the same time with a few taps of your mobile device's screen! 5. Make your account private if you don't feel like sharing: Are you the shy type who would rather use Instagram as their own private online photo album? No problem! You can set your Instagram account to private, which means that only people whom you approve as "followers" can see your stuff. You can also use "Instagram Direct" to send a private post to a friend that only they can see... it won't show up in any public place on Instagram. For more information visit: https://techboomers.com/p/instagram AllianceforSafeKids.org | Techboomers.com Alliance for Safe Kids: Social Media 101 LinkedIn LinkedIn is a social network designed to be used by businesses and work professionals. Individuals can create profiles that act as CVs, and connect with contacts who can endorse their skills. Companies can also create their own pages to advertise to potential partners, and post job openings that users can apply for. How LinkedIn Works: 1. Put your work experience in front of people looking for it: At its most basic, having a profile on LinkedIn is like having an online version of your resume, which gets you exposure to many more potential employers than distributing resumes by hand. Some of the most influential businesspeople in the world, such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, have profiles on LinkedIn. 2. Make your company available to potential partners: By the same token, many famous companies around the world have company pages on LinkedIn, eager to show themselves off and maybe even hire some new employees. 3. Establish and expand your professional network: Connect with people you know, either professionally or personally. They might point you towards a job you'd like, or you can do the same for them! 4. Show off your credentials: Connections can also endorse your listed skills, and you can do the same for them. Your abilities look a lot more impressive to potential employers if you've got people to vouch for them! 5. Hiring happens here: Companies both big and small post job listings on LinkedIn, so there are plenty to choose from if you're looking to get into the workforce. Or, if you're already running a business and are looking for fresh talent, you can post a job yourself! 6. Get advice from industry veterans: Join groups of people with similar jobs or skills, and have discussions with them about professional matters that you care about. You might get advice on how to take your career to the next level, or find a new job that's perfect for you! 7. News from the working world, at your fingertips: Keep up to date with the latest business and workforce news, either from your contacts or from LinkedIn itself through LinkedIn Pulse. For more information visit: https://techboomers.com/p/linkedin AllianceforSafeKids.org | Techboomers.com Alliance for Safe Kids: Social Media 101 Pinterest Pinterest is a website that lets you find, collect, and organize interesting image-based things that you find on the Internet, find on Pinterest itself, or put on Pinterest yourself. It does this through “boards” (a series of user-created categories) and “pins” (a series of visual bookmarks) Pins on Pinterest can be all sorts of picture-based elements: photos, drawings, videos, animations, Internet links... some will even show you the location that they depict on a map! And boards on Pinterest are used for all sorts of different topics, as we'll demonstrate below. How Pinterest Works 1. Sign up for Pinterest, and let it know what you would like to see. Creating a Pinterest account is fast, easy, and free! Just enter your name, age, gender, and email address, and pick a password (or sign up with your Facebook account instead). Then, pick at least four categories of stuff that you're interested in. This will help Pinterest show you some neat bookmarks right off the bat to get your inspiration going! 2. Create your own custom Pinterest "boards" to organize your "pins". Before you make any bookmarks on Pinterest, you have to have places to put them! You can create categories -- or "boards" -- to store your bookmarks in. Give one a title and a description, and then file it under one of Pinterest's pre-set topics so that it's easier to find.