Customizing Your Facebook Profile
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After you’ve set up your Facebook Profile, it’s time to add your personal information and (most importantly) your photograph.
Note: I suggest you take this step before attempting to add any friends, because if you send friend requests to people on Facebook before your account has been updated with your photo and personal information, they will be directed to your account and see a blank profile photo. They may recognize your name, but having a blank Facebook Profile photo is not a good first impression for making friends. So it’s important that you complete this step before we move on and add people as our friends.
To do this, log into Facebook and click “View and edit your profile”. If you are continuing from the previous video on “How To Set Up Your Facebook Profile” then this will be one of the two options on the screen.
You will then be asked to enter some basic information about yourself.
You’ll select your sex and then choose whether or not you want this information to show up in your profile. I usually leave this box unchecked.
Your birth date should already be entered for you, but in the drop down underneath where you enter your birthday you can choose whether you want to:
- Show your full birthday in your profile
- Show only the month and day in your profile
- Or to not show your birthday in your profile at all
What you decide to do here is ultimately up to you. I’ve chosen to leave the month and day that I was born available, but to exclude the year.
If you do include your birthday in your profile, Facebook will automatically remind your friends when your birthday rolls around and you will be greeted with all sorts of birthday wishes via Facebook, which is kind of nice. So if you want that to happen, I’d suggest leaving at least your birth date month and day in your profile. But if you are uncomfortable sharing this information or simply don’t want those birthday wishes, then select the drop down option that reads “Don’t show my birthday in my profile”.
You’ll then enter your hometown and your home neighborhood.
Note: In the video above you may have noticed that I accidentally selected Salt Lake City, India as my hometown instead of Salt Lake City, Utah. If you make a mistake in this area, you can come back and change your information at any time. No big deal!
After entering your hometown information, you’ll then be asked to enter some somewhat controversial information, such as your relationship status, preference towards men or women, and your political views.
In almost all cases, I suggest you leave ALL of the following boxes blank.
There are only two cases where I think it is okay to enter some information in these boxes.
The first is if you are married. If that’s the case then it would be fine to share this information. But in almost all the other cases, it’s best if you simply leave your relationship status unaccounted for.
Secondly, if you work at a religious school, such as a private Christian high school, for example, then being Christian might be an important part of being an administrator/teacher/staff member, so you may want to include your religious background here. But again, in almost all other cases, I suggest leaving this information blank.
After you’ve worked through the “”Basic Information”, click the “Save Changes” button and let’s continue.
You’ll then be asked to enter some “Personal Information” about yourself. In this area, you will enter your hobbies, interests, favorite music, movies, books, quotes, etc.
It is a good idea to enter some information here, but you don’t want to be too revealing. Be careful what books, movies, music and quotations you enter. You have to remember that your profile will be visible to your Facebook friends, and those friends could be any of your co-workers, teachers, parents, students, staff, or community members.
I recommend you stay away from any kind of religious or political media and/or quotations.
Share a little bit about yourself here, but keep the information G-Rated and professional.
When you are finished entering your information, click the “Save Changes” button and continue.
You’ll then be asked to enter your contact information. Your email address will have already been entered, and you can provide additional emails at this time if you so choose.
You can enter any Instant Messenger accounts you might have, as well as your address, phone number(s) and/or websites.
Note: Keep in mind that this is still your personal profile and this is not the place to list your business/school’s phone number, website, email, or Instant Messenger information. This is still your personal Profile and you should treat it as such – only providing personal information in these areas. If you do not want to provide your home phone number, cell phone, address, or personal website, then you can simply leave this information blank. But this is not the place to enter school information. We will enter the school information once we get around to setting up the Page and/or Group.
Finally, you will be asked to enter your “Education and Work” information.
By entering what schools you attended and which companies you’ve worked for, Facebook will be better equipped to match you with people you might know.
Entering your education background is, in almost all cases, a good idea.
Entering your past jobs, however, is not.
If you are currently working for a school and happy with your job, then I suggest simply entering the name of your current job and excluding any past work.
Many Facebook users use the service to find jobs within their industry… and in this case, it would be a good idea to include your past work history, job titles, etc. For many people, Facebook is like an online resume. But in this case, you probably want to exclude your past work. If you enter your past work history, your current employer and/or peers may interpret this to mean that you are looking for new work. So, my suggestion is that you simply enter the name of the school/company/organization that you are currently working for and then click “Save Changes”.
The last (and most important) step we need to take now is to update your Profile with your picture. This is the picture every Facebook user will see when you make a comment on another user’s Wall, or remark on any Page or Group.
To change your Profile picture, hover your mouse over the blank Profile picture in the top left corner of the screen and select the option that reads “Change Picture”.
You will then be given the following five choices:
- Upload a Picture
- Take a Picture
- Choose from Album
- Edit Thumbnail
- Remove your Picture
Hopefully you have a good picture of yourself already on your computer. If so, you want to select “Upload a Picture”.
If you don’t have a good photo of yourself on your computer, I suggest you get one on there ASAP.
Note: You also have the choice of taking a photo of yourself through your computer’s web cam, but I suggest you avoid this if possible. Web cam photos are notoriously bad. If you can upload a digital photo, you’ll be much better off.
After selecting “Upload a Picture” you will then need to find the photo of yourself on your computer by browsing to the correct location on your computer’s hard drive and selecting the photo.
After uploading the photo, you may want to crop it down to size. I suggest keeping the dimensions as square as possible and showing as much of your face as possible. Watch the video at the top of this article for further instructions on how to crop and re-size your photo.
Tips & Suggestions For Picking Your Facebook Photo
The photo you choose for your Facebook Profile is extremely important. I can’t stress this enough! It’s so important, I’ve put together a couple examples for you of great Facebook Profile photos… and some that are not so great. Hopefully this will give you a better idea as to what kind of photo you should use and which kind you should avoid.
Bad Profile Photos:
- Top Left – Too many people in the photo.
- Top Right – Frowning and with political signs and buttons in the photo.
- Bottom Left – Demonstrates that he is a teacher, but he’s too far away and you can’t see his face very well.
- Bottom Right – Good, but it’s obvious she cropped out the people standing next to her in the photo. Additonally, the backlight ruins much of the photo.
Good Profile Photos:
- Top Left – Professional, smiling and personable. Neutral light-colored background.
- Top Right – If she’s an art teacher, this photo says exactly who she is. White backgrounds are fine.
- Bottom Left – She’s zoomed way in on her face, but she’s smiling and professional.
- Bottom Right – He’s sitting at his desk with a chalkboad in the background. It says exactly who he is. Black and white is fine, but don’t go crazy with photo filters and effects.
Click here to go to the next Facebook Module.
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