facebook ?

[LolCat]

Wow. Where to begin.

1. Facebook is a widely popular social networking site.. what that means is it's made for chatting, messaging, bonding, networking..whatever you want to call it. Everyone's page is basically the same - you can't add background layout, or music (well, you could with an application), or themes, which is the good thing because it focuses on communication.

Everyone has an Inbox and Outbox (you message people by typing in a facebook friend's name). You also have a wall which is public to everyone. You can click on links that can take you to other peoples' walls, or view your wall-to-wall with someone (your chat history, or wall post history), write on others' walls, comment on pictures, get "tagged" in pictures (so you can see pictures that other people post of you, and untag yourself if you don't want other people to see the picture if they are looking for it from pictures tagged of you).

You can add as many or as little applications as you'd like. Facebook makes several fundamental applications (Photo, Video, Notes) but there are applications by miscellaneous developers for pretty much anything - countdowns, music, photos, comics, quizzes, etc.

You add friends by finding them from other friends, Facebook can also suggest friends you may know based on mutual friends, find them from your e-mail/msn, and you can search for them. When you find someone you know, their profile may or may not be private, meaning you may be able to view it if you're not their friend or you may not - depending on their privacy settings. You add your friend, and you wait for them to verify that they know you, and then you are friends. You can talk to each other and view pictures of each other and stuff.

2. You do not have to download anything. You can download applications but they don't go on your computer, only on your Facebook.

3. Facebook is as safe as you make it. You must tweak your Privacy Settings - you can make your Facebook so that no one can see it if they search for you on, say, Google. People who aren't your friends can't see it. People who aren't in your Network (meaning your school or your region, whichever network(s) you decide to join) can't see it. You can also "block" people, or put them on "limited profile" meaning you restrict how much of your profile they can see.

4. I don't think you can get a virus from Facebook directly.. the only way would be if someone sent you a link with a virus on it and you clicked on it which has never happened to me.

Hope this helped and wasn't too long