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I would like to invite some more CBBC members to join the new Facebook group for the Costa Blanca Bird Club. This could be a really interesting development for CBBC Members and others as it will allow anyone who is a group member to:-
Post comments about birds or bird related matters;
Add your own comments to other people’s posts;
Add your own bird photos;
Look at, and maybe comment on, other peoples photos;
Post details of your own bird sightings; and
Find out about bird sightings.
For Example:- When Mike Smith saw a Red necked Phalarope at San Pedro, he could have posted a short comment on the CBBC FB Group page. Barry might have read this and decided to go an have a look for the bird, then he might have come back and posted a comment to the effect that the bird was still around. I might have seen this and decided to go and have a look. In this way we can get news about interesting birds seen in the area, out a lot quicker than waiting for me to put an update on the website.
Mike could also have uploaded a photo straight to the site. In fact anyone who may want to post a number of photos may want to set up an album for themselves and put all their photos in that album. This is what I have done if you have a look by clicking on ‘photos‘ on the CBBC FB Group page.
When you add a comment to someone else’s comments, or vice versa, you will receive an email every time someone adds another comment. This then forms a conversation thread. If you don’t want to get involved in a conversation thread, don’t post a comment, you can just read what others are saying.
It is easy to get involved and I have set out below, some details of how to do so.
If you are already a user of Facebook
Follow the link from the CBBC Website Home page, type in your user name and password and you should be taken to the CBBC Facebook page. Here you can read all the previous comments, not very interesting at the moment, but hopefully it will become more interesting when more people get involved. You will also be able to look at the photos that have already been added, mainly mine I’m afraid but hopefully this will also change over time. At first you will only be able to look at the pages. To enable you to add your own comments and get involved in conversations with others you will need to join the group. To do this simply click on the box at the top right hand side that reads ‘join group’ You will not immediately become a member as I will receive an email and will have to either ‘admit or decline’ all requests to join, but I will admit you as soon as I get the email. Now you will be able to make comments, add comments on other people’s comments and add comments on photos.
Once you are a member you will receive emails to notify you if someone has commented on one of your own statements or photos. You can also add people who are already your friends on Facebook to the group, just click on ‘add friends to group’. Again you will have to wait a while until I admit them. If you do this please email me with your friend’s name so I know they are someone we want to add. Incidentally, if I add someone and later find they are abusing the site, I can remove them.
If you are not on Facebook you can easily join
To join Facebook you need to follow the sign up instructions on at www.facebook.com and add a username, which will be your email address, and a password.
It is possible that you have never been keen to join Facebook because you have heard bad reports about it. It is true that some youngsters use it to find friends and partners and may end up spending a ridiculous amount of time on it. In addition, Facebook has been used by unscrupulous older men to befriend young girls by pretending they are about 15. However, we do not need to get involved with any of this! If we use the group just for our own purposes of sharing information about birds and birding everything should be OK. In fact, you do not even need to add any ‘friends’ to your own Facebook page if you don’t want to, you could join simply to enable you to visit the CBBC Facebook Group. Personally, I use Facebook to keep in touch with my family in the UK and it is good to see what they are doing, read their ‘posts’ and see their photos. I also have a few friends who I do not see very often but it is a good way to keep in contact with them.
Joining Facebook
If you do decide to join you will need to check the following things:-
Make sure your PC has adequate and up to date security and anti virus software.
When you get onto Facebook check the website name in the top line shows https rather than http as this means you are on a secure server. To check or amend this go to ACCOUNT, then to SETTINGS, then to SECURITY and on the top line go to EDIT and click to ‘enable’ secure browsing.
These are just my suggestions to give maximum privacy whereby only ‘friends’ can see my information. You can work through and decide on different settings if you wish.
Set up your privacy settings. Go to ACCOUNT, then to PRIVACY, scroll down to ‘control your default privacy’ and click on ‘Friends only’. This will mean that as a default position, only the friends you have added to your Facebook page can see your information.
Go to ‘How You Connect’ - to achieve maximum privacy select the boxes as follows, ‘friends, friends of friends, friends, friends, friends’.
Go to ‘How Tagging Works’ - I don’t completely understand this but I suggest you select ‘off, off, friends, off, off’.
Apps and Websites - I don’t use any of this so I have just left it to go to the default.
Limit the Audience for Past Posts - I haven’t altered this one.
Blocked People and Apps - I haven’t used this one.
As I am by no means a Facebook expert, you will probably have to learn the rest by reading the screen and by trial and error, or by consulting the HELP option from the ACCOUNT menu.
Finally, if any CBBC members would like to join the group but need more advice about this, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will try to help you.
Mary Brazier