The Complete Idiot's Guide To Facebook

Facebook will be hosting a special news event at 5:00 p.m. 5:15 p.m. PT today. During the event, Facebook representatives will provide an update on many of the service’s features and products. You can watch the event live via the player below or by visiting the Event tab for Facebook Live:

Want to know what Joe and I sound like? Here’s your chance. We were interviewed earlier this week by Connie Bennett, host of Gab with the Gurus on BlogTalkRadio.com. Here, Joe and I discuss the most compelling reasons for using Facebook, Facebook’s privacy settings, how to promote your business on Facebook, and more.

Have a listen by clicking the play arrow below, and then be sure to let us know what you think.

Facebook is more than the largest digital hangout on the planet. It’s a thread in the social fabric of our culture or, as some might say, a tear in the social fabric of our culture. Whatever the case, Facebook has become a social phenomenon, complete with scandals or at least alleged scandals that typically accompany American celebrity and success. (In the United States, we love success almost as much as we love to witness the demise of the most successful.)

Facebook’s phenomenal success was destined to draw its own mob of detractors poised to criticize it and its founders and profit in doing so. One of the first and most successful so far is Ben Mezrich, author of The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls it fiction, and there’s probably plenty of that in the book, too. I don’t know. I haven’t read it. I’ve been spending too much time on Facebook. Besides, I always like to see the movie first, so I won’t be disappointed in the movie because the book was so much better.

Fortunately, the movie version, The Social Network, is scheduled for release in theaters in October of this year. I think I’ll wait until it comes out on DVD, but if you’re interested, here’s the trailer.

I recently received a Facebook message from Abnoos Moslehi, a translator in Iran who has read Bipolar Disorder For Dummies, which I co-authored with Dr. Candida Fink. Abnoos wants to translate the book into Farsi. Following is her letter of introduction, posted with her permission:

Dear Mr. Kraynak,

I was once diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder II, in Iran, my home country, where there was and is no information resource on this disorder.

I am not sure where I first saw your book , but it was the first real/complete thing I read about my condition and it has been helping me a lot.

Due to lack of information in this field I have been thinking of translating this book into Farsi and somehow hopefully get it published in Iran. It is a huge task and being a BP, I can’t tell you whether it’s one of those highs or not!

Iran doesn’t follow the Copy Right law and basically it is OK to translate anything from anyone and publish it without their permission. However I’d like to make sure that this is OK for you, it really does matter to me that if I get it on the market, it should be decent by all means.

Thank you for your time,

Abnoos

Abnoos found me on Facebook via the Bipolar Disorder For Dummies Facebook Page, which I set up and co-host with Dr. Fink.

As Mikal and I explain in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Facebook, Facebook is a powerful tool for connecting with friends and family. But we also explain how to use Facebook as a business tool for marketing and for pursuing potentially rewarding and profitable opportunities.

Were it not for that bipolar disorder Facebook page and my own presence on Facebook, I would probably never have had the opportunity to “meet” Abnoos and be able to assist her in her efforts to get my book published in Farsi.

Facebook helps to facilitate global connections and make things happen. Of course, ultimately the driving force is comprised of the individuals who make it happen, but technology often provides the introductions and infrastructure necessary get people connected and support their collaborative efforts.