I use Facebook daily. I use it to find phone numbers, addresses, hours of operation, and hopefully discounts. I check out restaurants without having to stop in. And most times I do this without signing into my account.
Facebook is now part of our culture, with more than half the US population having a Facebook account (yes I admit some of these accounts may belong to dogs and cats). Most of us are on Facebook daily, catching up with friends and relatives as well as posting about ourselves or items of interest for our friends to check out. There are still many of us who have privacy concerns and don’t use Facebook. However you can use Facebook to your advantage even without an account without any privacy concerns.
Every business entity you can think of public or private has a Facebook page. Restaurants, libraries, schools, stores, brands, newspapers, towns, politicians, radio and television programs, celebrities, all have pages. There are even links to Facebook pages from company web sites. Just click on the Facebook logo, the small white “f” on the blue background when you see it online and it will link you to that company’s Facebook page.
What is nice about Facebook business pages (and personal Timelines) is their format is the same, so it is very easy to find what you are looking for, it will always be in the same place in contrast to customized web sites where sometimes you need to find the site map to find what you are looking for. What can you find on a Facebook page that is helpful? A company’s phone number, hours of operation, address, a link to their mapped location and directions, events, photos, discounts, their latest posts as well as comments from others. For instance many restaurants post pictures of their dishes, and you might also find customer comments about the food or atmosphere.
Are you aware that you can access Facebook pages like any other website? You can enter facebook.com/name of entity and directly access the page. For instance facebook.com/obama. Note that most internet browsers no longer require you to enter “www”.
In summary, there are 3 easy ways to use Facebook without signing into an account.
1. Search Engine – use a search engine and enter a business name or a person’s name followed by “facebook”. For example “Huntington Patch Facebook” or “Seniornet LI Facebook” or “name of restaurant facebook”. Click on the link that is returned from your search, and you should land on the Facebook page for that business. The link will be “www.facebook.com/name you are looking for”.
2. Facebook logo – When on a web site, click on any Facebook logo you see. This will take you to that company’s Facebook page. This also works for other logos you may see usually Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest.
3. Directly – just type “facebook.com/name” in your web browser.
What to do once you are on Facebook:
Once on Facebook, click on About to find the phone number, hours of operation, email link, and link to entity’s website if you need more info. Each business customizes how much information is presented here, so you may see more or less information from page to page but where the information is will be constant, making information easy to find.
Click on Photos to see any photos, there may be an Events link or other links, and scroll down to see posts and other’s comments. Before you know it, you’ll be using Facebook as a resource to make your life a bit easier.
Jeri Usbay 