Connect and Thrive Online Lesson 5.2

Social Media Basics – Connecting on Facebook

Hi there. Welcome back to “Your Canadian Senior Moment”!

We’ve covered the basics of private sharing. Today, we’re moving on to social media—a tool that is incredibly useful for keeping up with extended family, old friends, and former colleagues. We’ll focus on Facebook, which is often the easiest starting point for seniors. While it can seem busy and complicated, we’ll focus on the essentials: connecting and staying safe.

What is Social Media?

Social media is essentially a digital community centre. It’s a website or app that allows you to create a profile and share updates, photos, and messages with a network of friends and family. The main benefit is that you can see updates from all your loved ones in one place.

The Three Essential Steps to Getting Started:

Create Your Profile: You need a profile to post, share, and connect.
Navigate the News Feed: This is the main screen where you see updates from friends and family. This is where you go to see what they are up to.
Send a Friend Request: You must send a “Friend Request” to someone and have them accept it before you can see their private updates. Only send requests to people you know and trust!

The Most Important Step: Your Privacy Settings

Social media is designed for sharing, but you should control who sees your personal information. This is why Privacy Settings are the most important feature you need to understand.

The Default Rule: When you post something, you should choose who can see it. Look for an option (usually a little lock or globe icon) next to your post button.
- “Friends” means only people you have accepted as friends can see it. (This is generally the safest choice.)
- “Public” means anyone in the world can see it.
Controlling Your Photos: Review your photo settings to ensure that your private albums are only viewable by your friends.

Remember: Never post sensitive information like your home address, phone number, or financial details on social media.

Your Turn to Practice!

If you have a Facebook account, log in and scroll through your News Feed. If you don’t have an account yet, ask a family member to help you set up a basic profile. Look for your privacy settings and ensure your future posts are set to “Friends.”

What’s Next? In our next lesson, we will wrap up our “Staying Connected” module by looking at how to join online groups and find digital communities that share your hobbies and interests. We’ll see you then!

(Please remember: Your device and screen may look slightly different from our examples. If you run into any difficulty, please describe any problem in the comments and we’ll do our best to help you individually.)

Warmly,
Bill and Marilyn
Founders of Canadian Senior Moment