Chapter 5
In This Chapter
Finding answers to your Facebook questions
Getting help from others in forums
Protecting yourself online
Finding helpful resources outside Facebook
As you use Facebook, you’ll invariably have questions about how to do something, where to find information, or whether an action is against the Facebook terms of service. In this chapter, we explain how to find Facebook Help Center so you can find answers to your questions. We also show you where you can find information about online safety and privacy for both children and adults.
The Facebook help files cover many topics, and most answers are concise. If you're looking for more complete information, this book and a few resources we point you to later in this chapter will help.
You can find Help Center at http://facebook.com/help.php or by clicking the down arrow or gear icon at the top of the page and choosing Help. The screen shown in Figure 5-1 appears.
Click the Visit the Help Center link at the bottom of the screen. The Facebook Help Center page, shown in Figure 5-2, appears. On this page, you see
The following sections provide an overview of each help topic to help you find exactly what you’re looking for.
If you know what you need help with, it may be easiest to type a keyword or question in the text box. As you type, Facebook autopopulates a list of related questions. You can continue typing your question or term, or you can choose one from the list. You’ll also see a link to see more results, which will take you to Help Center–related items for your search.
Facebook returns related questions and answers (even if they aren’t exact matches). You can click a question to expand it to show the full answer. If you want to share the question and answer with others, you can click the permalink option under the question to see a single page with the question and answer. Now you can copy/paste the URL (or permalink) for this article and share it on your blog, in an e-mail, on Twitter, or anywhere else you may want to. Or you can click the Share link below the question to share a link to the question and answer on your timeline, a friend’s timeline, a group, a business page, or by private message. Use the drop-down list to choose which one to use. Type an explanation in the text box to give some context, and then click the Share Help Content button to share the question and answer.
You can also click the share drop-down list (which sports two silhouettes, a globe, a lock, or a gear, depending on your current settings) to share a link to the question and answer on your timeline, a friend’s timeline, a group, a business page, or by private message.
In the left sidebar of the Help Center page, Facebook provides a list of common help topics. When you click a main category, you’re shown more specific categories and related questions. You can click each question to expand it and see a detailed answer. In addition, each question and answer has its own permalink or the option to share the question and answer with others.
In addition, the center of the Help Center screen displays six topics that provide answers to the most common questions:
Facebook has provisions to remove content that violates its terms of service. If you think that a person or business is violating those terms, you can report them, and Facebook will take action if necessary. Any reports you make to Facebook are confidential. The person or business you report will not know who alerted Facebook.
Just below these six topics is a Top Questions area that lists the top five questions asked in Help Center. Click any one to go directly to the answer.
When you click the Community Forum link (at the bottom of the left sidebar on the main Help Center page), you’re presented with the Browse Questions page, as shown in Figure 5-3.
In the left sidebar, under your profile image, are links to questions you're following and questions you’ve asked or answered. This is a great reference point to find out if your answer was accurate or not. Next in the sidebar are links to popular discussion topics.
The Browse Questions area in the center of the page has the following three tabs:
Click a tab and then click a topic link to see a list of questions from others in the Facebook community.
To ask a question in a forum, click the Ask a Question button in the upper right. The form shown in Figure 5-4 appears. Fill out the form as completely as possible. Include a screenshot if possible. Then click the Post button to post your question to the forum. When asked, decide whether to post your question or change it.
The Facebook Tips business page (www.facebook.com/facebooktips) is a great place to find tips on using Facebook. This page is updated at least a few times a month. If you don’t want to check Help Center for updates, you can Like the Facebook Tips page to see its updates in your news feed.
Facebook has over 1.19 billion active users but just under 6,000 employees (see http://facebook.com/press for more Facebook stats). As you can imagine, it’s hard for Facebook to address individual inquiries. Unless your issue is legal in nature, Facebook doesn’t usually respond to individual questions or issues. Instead, it’s best to go through the proper channels and submit the Facebook form associated with the problem you want to solve.
For instance, if you want to report a spam comment left on a status update you made, you can move your cursor over the comment, click the X that appears in the right corner of the comment, and choose whether to delete the comment or report it as spam or abuse. If you need to report a business page, click the gear icon below the cover photo and then click the Report Page link.
Facebook has specific guideline documents and forms to address particular issues. The problem is that users may not know that the documents exist or where to find them. Many times, these documents provide the most efficient way to answer your own questions or contact Facebook for help.
You may find the following web pages helpful as you navigate Facebook:
If you’re interested in staying up-to-date on Facebook updates, we suggest checking out a few blogs that make it their business to share Facebook’s newest features and how they may affect your personal timeline or your business page. Here are a few of our favorites: