Pointers: Recommended Reading (Facebook edition)

Facebook for beginners
Source: PC Magazine

Reviewer Michael Muchmore walks readers through the latest version of Facebook, highlighting the new features and addressing some of the story behind users complaints.

One point of controversy is the news feed, which shows the status updates of your various friends. Does Facebook show too many items in the newsfeed or too few? According to Muchmore, Facebook once had an algorithm that would weed out excessive postings.That is no longer the case, resulting in a very lengthy feed, in which recent posts can easily get buried. "Do I really need six separate consecutive entries from one person containing photo upload sets?" he writes.

Other topics include the chat function, friend-list creation and customization.

Who's who in social media
Source: WebWorkerDaily.com

This blog is tailored to individuals who specialize in Web applications, but it also serves as a fine guide to the leading social-networking sites.

Blogger Eric Berlin focuses on four big ones: Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook and LinkedIn, explaining each one's basic function and assessing its reach in social-media circles.

Berlin recognizes the popularity of Facebook among Web professionals but insists that LinkedIn remains the most important site for professionals, in particular noting its work-related discussion groups. FriendFeed, meanwhile, is the place to for people looking for information about leading edge social-media applications.

A manager's guide to social media
Source: CIO.com

David Kelleher, a consultant and research analyst at GFI, steps managers through the potential problems of allowing employees to access Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking sites while at work.

Some concerns are legitimate, including the loss of worker productivity, a spike in network activity and increased risk of Internet viruses, Kelleher writes. But that does not mean businesses need to ban access to these sites.

Instead, they should invest in Web-monitoring software that can limit access to specific times of the day — such as lunch or after-hours — or to specific users. These software packages can also limit what files users can download.

Facebook apps for a better life
Source: Select Courses

Select Courses, an online college, highlights 100 Facebook-based applications that are designed to make users more productive or help them learn new material.

The list includes 15 applications that make it easy to share files or links through Facebook. Notecentric, for example, is designed for taking and sharing notes with classmates. Meanwhile, you can use Visual Bookshelf to catalog the books you read and Books iRead to exchange book lists with others.

On the lighter side, use the Netflix application to track movies in your rental queue and share movie lists with others.