Facebook is a major component of social life in today’s incredibly connected world. Though it started off as a craze for the college-age community, it has extended rapidly to include middle aged and older adults as well. If you aren’t ready to log Facebook away as one of those kid things, read on. We’ll talk here about how to set up a Facebook account.

Creating Your Account

You’ll need to start by heading to Facebook.com where you’ll see the Facebook sign on page. This is also the Facebook log in page you’ll come back to whenever you want to sign into Facebook. In the blue bar at the top, you’ll see two fields: email or phone and password. That’s for later, once you have an account. This time, you need to fill out the fields under “Sign Up: It’s free and always will be.” Type in all the required information and be sure to write down your password somewhere. Then, click “Sign Up”.

Next, check the email address you used to sign up. You should have a confirmation email from Facebook with a link you need to click in order to verify your account.

Setting Up Your Profile

Facebook will take you through a number of steps for personalizing your profile. It will offer to look through your email address book for friends who have Facebook profiles and give you a chance to add them as friends. Select the ones you want to add by checking the boxes to the left of their pictures and clicking “Add to Friends” at the bottom. A few of these options will go by, allowing you to add classmates, co-workers, and a regional network.

Now, it’s time to build a profile. Click “My Profile” where you’ll see the Facebook face and a lot of empty fields. You don’t have to fill out everything. In fact, you don’t have to fill out anything. Remember that anything you post is public. Add a profile picture to replace the Facebook face by clicking the “picture” tab and uploading a picture of yourself that others will be able to see. You can also add a cover picture at the top of your page, right above your profile picture.

Making Your Homepage Facebook

To make your homepage Facebook, you’ll first need to choose the browser you’re using.

Internet Explorer: Go to tools and then internet options. Then, open the “general” tab and type www.facebook.com into the field under “Home page” in order to make your homepage Facebook. Click “apply” and then “okay”.

Google Chrome: Click the wrench on the top right corner and select “Options”. In the “On startup” section, choose “Open the home page.” Then choose “Open this page” and type www.facebook.com to make your homepage Facebook.

Mozilla Firefox: Click the “Firefox” menu and then click the “Options” menu. Choose “options.” Go to the startup section and select “When Firefox starts: Show my home page. Type www.facebook.com.

It will take a little exploring and practice to get the hang of Facebook, but it’s quite intuitive. Ask for help if you need it, and enjoy connecting with friends and family!