BKFCBKMM.RVW   20080415

"Facebook: The Missing Manual", E. A. Vander Veer, 2008,
0-596-51769-6, U$19.99/C$19.99
%A   E. A. Vander Veer emilyamoore@rgv.rr.com eamoore68@gmail.com
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   2008
%G   0-596-51769-6 978-0-596-51769-4
%I   O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O   U$19.99/C$19.99 (finally!) 800-998-9938 nuts@ora.com
%O  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596517696/robsladesinterne
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596517696/robsladesinte-21
%O   http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596517696/robsladesin03-20
%O   Audience i- Tech 1 Writing 1 (see revfaq.htm for explanation)
%P   268 p.
%S   Missing Manual
%T   "Facebook: The Missing Manual"

Rather than an overview of Facebook, the introduction of the book
mentions that Facebook is very popular, and lists a few of the
activities that might go on if you have an account.  There is so
little information that the material is less appetite-whetting than
frustrating.

Part one covers aspects of initiating an account on Facebook and some
basic operations.  Chapter one's review of getting an account started
has an over-emphasis of the ease of the process, which is immediately
contradicted by details of the procedure itself.  This internal
discrepancy does not give the reader confidence in other assertions
the author makes about factors such as privacy, particularly in view
of the many exploits that have made the news recently.  There are tips
noting that you should protect the confidentiality of your
information, but most of these notices are forward references to
(much) later chapters in the book.  The major reason for using
Facebook, and the utility recommended for the system, is to join a
"network," which is kind of like a "group."  (There is a barely
mentioned distinction between "networks" and "groups," which is not
explained at this, or any other, point.)  According to the
instructions given in chapter two, joining is surprisingly difficult
unless you have managed to hold on to old email addresses dating back
to your college days, as well as those from all of your past
employers.  The instructions on finding "friends," given in chapter
three, contain screenshots, but very little else that would enhance
what you can see on the Facebook Website.  Chapter four lists various
forms of personal communications between Facebook members.  More
broadly-based communications, such as newsfeeds and blogs, are in
chapter five.

Part two looks at the functions of groups, still without making an
explicit distinction from networks.  Chapter six goes through the
basics of joining or creating a group: again, it doesn't give you much
more than the screenshots.  Arranging events and meetings (face to
face) is described in chapter seven.  Online shopping and classified
ad posting is in chapter eight.

Part three turns to more business oriented activities.  Aspects of job
search and recruiting are in chapter nine.  Chapter ten is supposed to
talk about using Facebook for collaborative work, but most of the
content is about how to put photographs into your Facebook account. 
Different types of ads you can buy on Facebook are listed in chapter
eleven.

Part four is a grab-bag of leftover topics like security.  Chapter
twelve notes that there are applications that work within Facebook,
but doesn't provide an awful lot of information about them.  (A
paragraph at the end of the chapter does mention that applications can
access *all* the information you have provided to Facebook.)  In terms
of protecting your privacy, chapter thirteen does not equip the reader
with significant information about the implications of the various
settings available on Facebook.  Chapter fifteen remarks on using
Facebook via your cellular or mobile phone.

Part five is an appendix with limited resources and references.

At one point in the book, the author notes the difficulty of creating
a book to assist people with using a Website that is developing and
changing extremely rapidly.  She doesn't do herself any favours by
concentrating on the screenshot style of presentation.  By the time I
received the book, enormous numbers of the pages referenced had
changed.  In some cases it was possible to puzzle out an alternate
means of getting to the desired function.  In many cases it was not
possible to figure out whether the function had moved to a different
location, or had simply disappeared.  Many readers will be frustrated
and disappointed by the fact that the book fails to provide the
promised assistance.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2008   BKFCBKMM.RVW   20080415