Many of us are right at home on the web, getting news and updates at lightening speed. We schedule our tweets, monitor multiple accounts and are plugged in through our iphones and blackberries. But for many others the wild world of social networking can be so fast and daunting that they just don’t know where to begin. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” and so we begin.

The very first step (in my humble opinion) is to create an account on Facebook.

1. Go to www.Facebook.com

2. Sign-Up: enter your name and email and choose a password

3. When it asks you to “Check your email for friends” click OK – Facebook won’t store your password, all it does is check the emails in your address book against the Facebook database to let you know if any of your contacts have an account on Facebook.

4. Select the people in your contacts that are on Facebook that you want to be connected with. If you don’t want your Aunt Mildred to know you’re on Facebook then don’t select her.

5. Once this is done you will be prompted to update your profile. Make sure your name is spelled correctly, that you choose the appropriate city that you live in and that you have a clear picture of your face for your profile. This will help people to identify you.

6. As people confirm you as a friend you will be able to see their profiles, their pictures, and their status updates. This allows you to keep in touch with old friends and contacts very easily.

Now you can sit back and enjoy reconnecting and the feeling of community. And don’t stress, I’ll cover some of the finer points of Facebook, plus Twitter, Youtube, Delicious etc etc in subsequent blogs, for tonight just give yourself a pat on the back – you have taken your first steps into the world of social networking.

~Kate