A Component of Faceleft's Social Networking for a Better World Hosted by ZCommunications

FaceLeft Q/A

FaceLeft is an extensive and powerful site. Many users will take to it quickly and need no help. Others will be less familiar with these type offerings and find it initially a bit overwhelming. The Questions and Answers below should clarify what you can do and how you can do it.

We have also prepared a PDF Manual with more detailed instructions covering the whole website.

Help With Social Networking In General

1. What Is Social Networking?

Social Networking is a generic name for online socializing and information exchange. It typically includes ways of finding people and establishing connections or contacts - often called friending - as well as seeing content from contacts as well as sharing one's own content such as status updates, photos, links, and even videos. If can also have blogging, commenting on all manner of content, etc.

Examples of social networking are Facebook® and Google® Plus as well as less comprehensive systems such as Twitter or some might say, Skype, or a forum system.

2. What Is FaceLeft?

FaceLeft is a particular Social Networking facility. It is meant for people concerned about social change and who want a congenial and friendly place to interact with others. It is for people who do not want their privacy compromised or commercially exploited. It is for people interested in socializing and keeping in touch, but also organizing, sharing, and engaging in more serious debate and exploration of ideas.

3. What Can You Do With FaceLeft?

You can establish contacts and groups of contacts. You can openly or privately communicate with others. You can blog, chat and comment. You can easily access content from web systems and media all over the internet all accessible in one place in FaceLeft. You can share and access content from people you respect and relate to, establish and relate to events you care about or initiate, create and follow groups you create or join, mutually aid others and get aid for yourself, and finally also organize connections and actions.

4. What Is Allowed and Disallowed on FaceLeft?

Oppressive anti social behaviors and behavior that compromises the system or other users is disallowed. Aside from that, basically, anything goes.

5. How is FaceLeft Different From Facebook®?

FaceLeft is a sort of Faceleft - or a Facebook® for people trying to improve the world. Except - FaceLeft is more than that.

FaceLeft is distinguished by the community using it, who you wish to relate to. But FaceLeft is also distinguished by its practices.

Facebook® tracks user behavior and sells or reveals it to authorities. Facebook® uses user actions to direct ads into users' views. Facebook® biases interactions toward the short.

FaceLeft, in contrast, does not track behavior to sell or reveal it to anyone, does not accost its users with ads, and does not bias interactions toward the short, but instead welcomes both serious exchange and lighter and quicker communications.

Depending on how FaceLeft grows, which will greatly affect what additional features can be added, we can confidently predict, that if it has the means, FaceLeft will incorporate diverse tools to facilitate debate and exploration of ideas, creation of shared projects, polling about new innovations and social issues, and other functions designed to build community among folks concerned about social change.

6. Why Join FaceLeft?

People desiring to make a better world should have a place of their own to congregate. It should be free from corporate oversight. It should repel government spying. It should have a tone and tenor consistent with serious as well as light hearted communications, rather than overwhelmingly only the latter.

To use Facebook® to find old friends or to stay in touch with and share worthy content with folks who are not socially concerned, makes good sense. To use Facebook®, overseen by a massive corporation, to contact socially active people, plan activist events, organize socially concerned activities, undertake socially critical projects, and explore innovative ideas, all aimed at improving society - makes considerably less sense. A better choice is FaceLeft.

Help With General Navigation and Using FaceLeft

7. How much does FaceLeft cost users?

FaceLeft is free for the first thirty days. This lets users see if they really want to be part of it before agreeing to any payments. After thirty days, however, the fee is $3 per month. This allows maintenance, hosting, continual innovation, etc. Users can choose to pay monthly or yearly. Users can also opt to pay more than $3 per month, to support the operation at a higher level, if they so choose.

8. Why should I pay for FaceLeft when Facebook® is free?

The answer is because there are bills to pay to maintain FaceLeft and because Facebook® isn't free. It has bills to pay, too. And Facebook® sells your information and access to you to advertisers to get revenues, whereas FaceLeft charges a low fee.So for FaceLeft the cost is $3 a month. For Facebook® the cost is your privacy, sold to corporations and given to governments.

For FaceLeft, you pay the low fee, you get anti-commercial social networking, and your money goes to build a system seeking to aid in winning a better world. For Facebook®, you surrender access and information, get commercialized networking, and your money goes to build a significant part of the world we are all trying to replace with something better. We hope you think FaceLeft is worth the expenditure.

9. Are you saying we should use FaceLeft instead of Facebook®?

For Facebook®, you allow access to you and to your information and the money Facebook® accrues builds a gigantic corporation whose agenda is to maximize profits and the conditions of continuing to make new profits. The choice to relate to that is a compromise that may be worth making to be able to find old friends, keep contact with apolitical or conservative friends or family, and reach out to new people who so far lack social consciousness.

For those reasons, by all means, if you so desire, use Facebook®. Some will, some won't. But yes, we are saying that for explicitly progressive and left socializing, sharing, organizing, exploring, studying, you should seriously consider using FaceLeft, both on its merits, and to build our own networking infrastructure.

10. What are contacts? How do I get them? What is "Follow"?

A contact is a person within FaceLeft who you wish to be in frequent touch with, whose updates and contents you want to see, and who you would like to have following your posts and contents, as well.

If Joe is your contact, you are also his. Unless it is expressly prevented, you will see Joe's status reports, shared links, video shares, and other content updates, blog posts, comments, etc. And similarly, Joe will see yours. "Contact" is a two way relation. Soon FaceLeft will add a one way relation - "Follow." This is, if you want to see Joe's materials but do not want him to see yours. You "follow" Joe. If he wants to see yours, but not have you see his, he "Follows" you. (However, each user also has a set of permissions, which allows users to disallow people from seeing content at all.)

To see you Contacts from the FaceLeft top page, (which you can always access by clicking the FaceLeft graphic in the upper left of whatever other page you may be on), just click Contacts in the left menu. You will see your Contacts listed in the viewing area, if you select the tab, "My Contacts." If you click on any Contact, you will visit that person's profile page, where you can see their blogs and other content and information, and from where you can also send a private message.

If you want to add a new contact, choose the tab labelled "Browse Contacts." You can use the search to find a particular person and request that they okay becoming a contact.

If you select "Contact Requests," you will see requests others have made to become a contact of yours. You can accept or reject such requests.

"Import Contacts" gives you a simple way to write invitations to people you may have in a gmail, hotmail, or yahoo email system account. We are working on a way to do the same for Facebook® friends, should you be in that system.

Removing Contacts is possible too - just… - this feature will be added shortly...

11. What is the News Feed and How Do I Use It?

FaceLeft's News Feed is where users see content or links to content you are privy to. This content can be status reports from your contacts, blogs by them, photos they put up, or links they wish to share, as well as requests to you, comments on things you have done, etc. It can also be content from groups you are in, or bearing on events you have subscribed to, or essays from media feeds you subscribe to see. The last is unusual. The News Feed, in this last form, provides an easy way for users to establish a flow of content from sites they appreciate right to their FaceLeft page. It uses what are called RSS Feeds, but it makes it very easy to do.

News Feed lets you filter the media content you see in your News Feed. Just click the down arrow next to the News Feed label and choose what you want to display - "All", or only some particular type of content.

12. What is the Media Facility of FaceLeft and how do I use it?

From the top page of FaceLeft (which you can always access from any other page by clicking the FaceLeft graphic in the upper left), click "Media" in the left hand menu.

You will see a list of media sources in the middle viewing area, if you are on the "Browse Media" tab, at the top, and you can choose to follow any one of them - and as many as you want - just by clicking the link "Follow" that appears with each.

Another option is to click the name of the media source - which is itself a link. If you do that, you will see the feed from just that source. This is a very useful tool, if you like to keep up with many sources. Having them all flow into your feed area might be overwhelming. Doing it this way, keeps even huge volumes of content nice and orderly.

The items listed in Browse Media have two origins. The hosts of FaceLeft have put a number of sources for your quick and easy use. But, as well, FaceLeft members can add items they wish to follow, which are not already listed, and, these too, thereafter, appear on this page. A feature soon to arrive is that the feeds will be listed in order of their number of subscribers.

If you click the tab labelled "My Media," at the top, you will see only those media you have clicked to follow. You can always remove one, if you so desire - just by clicking to stop following it.

The content from any and all feeds you choose to follow will appear when you choose "News Feed," in the left hand menu of the top page, and then you chose, in the middle area, using the downward pointing arrow next the the Large News Feed Heading, either "All" or just "Media." This displays your media content. Typically, sources provide a link and brief description. You click it, to see the article in full. If you try it, step by step, you will see that it is quite simple.

13. What is a Blog? How do I post one? Where will it be visible? How do I read other people's blogs?

A blog is another name for an essay. If you click "Blog" in the top page left menu, you will be taken to your blog page. If you click create a blog, in the upper right, you will be able to post one using the form that appears. This will not only appear in your display, as you will see it and as others can see it if they click to visit your profile page, but also it will flow to all your contacts, and appear, as well, in their NewsFeed when they filter for blogs by contacts, or just look at everything.

Commenting On a Blog, as on anything else, occurs by clicking the appropriate link below each blog post. All comments, at all times, need to be civil. Violations will not be permitted to persist. Comments also go to Contacts, and to the blog author, and to your profile page.

14. What is a FaceLeft Event? How do I create or relate to one?

Users can enter an event - with a description, time, etc. To relate to events in the system, you click "Events" on the left menu of the top page. If you click "Browse Events" you can see those that are in the system. You can subscribe to anyone you may wish to - and then you will see notes and reports associated with it in your News Feed. If you click "My Events" you can see the ones you have subscribed to. You can send an invitation to relate to an event you are part of, and you may receive invitations from others, to events they are part of. To create a new event, you just click that option.

15. What is a FaceLeft Group? How do I create or relate to one?

A group is a bunch of users arrayed together into a set of people concerned with some issue, or project, or whatever the case may be. People in groups see content related to groups. You browse existing groups, and can join them, or create one, by clicking Group in the left menu from the FaceLeft top page, and then choosing the option you want. "My Groups" shows the groups you are in. You may receive and can send invitations to a group. You can create a new one, as well.What goes into my Account? What is my profile, what settings do I have, what information about me, and how do I access and alter it?Each user of FaceLeft has an account and a Profile Page which includes a bio, photo, and other information you enter. You can access your account, and edit your Profile Data, and add Photos and even Photo Albums, and add a Bio or Political Information, all by using links that appear next to your name, in the upper left, when you are logged in. You can also include a payment plan, enter your relevant payment information, etc.In the same links next to your name in the upper left, there is also a "Settings" link. This lets you control various aspects of the system as they relate to you, such as who you want to be able to see your status and other posts, and what kinds of email notification you want to receive - or not receive - from the system.

16. How can I communicate with users?

You can visit a user's profile page and click to send a private message, and of course you can also receive messages from others, depending on your privacy settings. You can have a user as a contact and have them see your posts. You can also chat with other users.

17. How can I create a photo album and upload photos?

You can use the photo album feature to upload photos and share them with your contacts.
To do that, click My Account at the top bar menu, and when inside your account, use the left navigation link named Photos.
From there, just create a new Photo Album and you're ready to start adding new photos to it.

18. How to work with my account information to change my details, affect my payments, etc.?

You can change every and any personal account details by following My Account, in your Menu.
If you wish to change any detail of payment,follow the Billin Plan section in the bottom of the info edit form page.

19. Can I invite my friends on other systems to become part of FaceLeft and a contact of mine, here?

Yes, you can invite friend from other systems or networks, such as Yahoo!, GMail or Hotmail by choosing to import your contacts in the Contacts link in the left hand menu.
We are currently working on a Facebook® import tool too, in order to allow contacts invitation within that social network.

20. Do you have a privacy policy?

Yes, you can find our privacy policy here