Blog Lady's Internet Guide

If you already know how to get on Facebook, you’re ready to create a new account.  Joining the social network is free and easy.  It isn’t much more involved than signing up for a Web-based email address like Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail. An email address, by the way, is the only thing you need to register on Facebook aside from some personal details.

How to Register for a Free Facebook Account

Ready to join Facebook?  Choose an email address to use with the site.  It’s prudent to select a different one from your “main” account that you use for business, work, family, etc.  If you don’t have a secondary email address, create one for free at any of the big email websites like Gmail or even your Internet service provider.

Here’s what you do.  Oh, and if you prefer a more comprehensive guide, I recommend Facebook for Grown-Ups by bestselling author Michael Miller.

Step 1: Go to the Facebook welcome home page.

First and foremost, make sure you are on a genuine Facebook login page.  Go to www.facebook.com and check your spelling.

Figure 1. Find Facebook at its address: www.facebook.com.

Step 2: Complete the registration form.

Here you must enter your first and last names, a working email address that you own, a new password for your Facebook account, your gender and your birthday. After you fill out the form, click the green Sign Up button.

Figure 2. You must fill out a short registration form to create a Facebook account.

Step 3: Type the challenge code.

The strange-looking text that you must decipher and type in is the Captcha code.  It’s designed to prevent spam.  The characters are not case-sensitive.  If you misspell it, the code will change and you must enter the new one.

Figure 3. Prove you are a human by entering the characters correctly.

Step 4: Add friends to your account.

As soon as your Facebook account is created, you can start to look for friends.  Facebook can scan your email account for your friends’ addresses, but you must first grant it access to those accounts.  If Facebook finds contacts of yours who are not yet on the site, you can invite them to join.

You do not have to add anyone right now.  If you would rather postpone searching for friends, click Skip this step.

Figure 4. Are your friends and family already on Facebook? At least some of them probably are.

Step 5: Set up your profile.

Next, Facebook asks you to fill out some basic details in your profile.  If you want, you can enter your high school, college and employer here.  This, too, is optional.  You can skip it and never fill it out if you don’t want to.  See also How to Make a Facebook Profile.

Figure 5. Entering your basic profile details can help friends find you on Facebook.

Step 6: Upload a photo of yourself.

Finally, Facebook gives you the opportunity to associate a picture of yourself with your account.  Click Upload a Photo to use an image on your computer (or removable device) or click Take a Photo to use a webcam if you have one.

Your picture must be in JPEG, GIF or PNG format and no more than 4 MB in size.

Keep in mind that the picture you upload here will be linked to your profile and that it will always be visible to everyone who checks you out on Facebook.  It is one of the few things that you cannot make private on the site.  Happily, you don’t have to upload a photo if you don’t want to.  Some people never do. 

Figure 6. Upload a picture from the computer or take a new picture with a webcam.

Step 7: Verify your registration.

When you finally get to the Facebook home page for logged-in users, you will see a message with a yellow background at the top of the page: “[Your name] go to [your email] to complete the sign-up process.”  Check your email and follow the verification instructions to finalize your registration.

Lastly, you will receive the Facebook welcome message.  You should get one in your mailbox, similar to the following:

Figure 8. Welcome to Facebook, the virtual social network!

Can You Make a New Facebook Account If You Already Have One?

In other words, can you have multiple Facebook accounts?

If you read the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, you shouldn’t. Only one account per person is allowed.  However in actual practice, all you need is a unique email address to make a new account.  So you can do it… but that doesn’t mean you should.

Why would someone want multiple Facebook accounts?  Well, you might want to create separate profiles for various online identities you have.  You also might want to keep circles of friends separate from one another.

So the answer is: Nothing can stop you from doing so. But as said above, this is technically against the Facebook user agreement.

Now you have an account, learn about the Facebook login home page, and the Facebook homepage when you are logged in.  Learn how to protect your Facebook login information – your password. You have many security options at the site, and it’s important to know how to use them.

When you’re set, why not learn how to express yourself with a Facebook blog of your own?   It’s easy!

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Filed under: Facebook | Tagged: facebook account, facebook friend finder