How do I sign up / create a Facebook account?

I'm ready to finally give in to my many friends who are pushing me to sign up for a new Facebook account, even as I have been reading about Facebook privacy issues. I figure if I don't put much info on the page in the first place, it won't be a problem. Can you walk me through the signup process, please?

Dave's Answer:

With over 400 million users, you're obviously not the first person to succumb to peer pressure -- or curiosity -- and sign up to join the busy Facebook community!

I've been plugged in for years, but it's only in the last year or so that I started to find it interesting and fun. Prior to that, it was basically the same people who I interact with in other forums and mailing lists, so there wasn't much news. Now I keep in touch with dozens of friends who otherwise are far beyond my usual circles.

It's actually pretty easy to sign up, but if you want to do it right, allocate enough time to fill in at least some of the basics.

To start, go to http://www.facebook.com/ and you'll see right on the home page:

Fill this in and click on "Sign Up". You'll be asked to verify that you're not a robot (really! it's a measure to prevent spammers infecting Facebook with bogus accounts):

Enter the two words you see -- in this case "view" and "doorways" -- and click on "Sign Up" again on this page.

You're in! You have an account set up on Facebook. You're not done, however. First up, it'll suggest some friends you might connect with:

I have no idea who these two people are, so perhaps they're special potential friends to everyone who joins Facebook, I dunno. :-)

Since Facebook isn't much fun without friends being online and connected with you, the system tries all sorts of ways for you to identify your potential friends. Next up is its ability to scan your address book:

If you'd rather not have Facebook scan your mailbox and figure out your correspondences, no worries, just click on "Skip this step".

Next attempt to match you: enter your high school, place of work, or some other sort of identifying information:

Still want to stay relatively anonymous? Click on "Skip"!

Next step is to set up a profile picture for yourself, something I highly recommend:

Click "Save & Continue" and you're set and will be dropped onto your new, relatively austere, Facebook newsfeed page. Along the top it'll remind you that the system has sent an email to confirm your email address, entered in step one:

In your email inbox you should get a message that looks like this:

Click on the link and you'll have confirmed that the email address you entered is legit. Now you're good to go on Facebook and it's time to start sending friend requests and filling in all your personal information so others can find you too.

Have fun! Oh, and don't forget to become a fan of Ask Dave Taylor on Facebook too! :-)

Categorized: Facebook Help (Article 9429, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: create facebook. facebook account, facebook, privacy, sign up facebook
Previous: How do I add a Facebook "like" box to my blog?
Next: How do I deauthorize iTunes on my old Mac computer?

Subscribe!

Never miss another Q&A article! Click to subscribe:

Comments

I was there already

Posted by: Chigbu monday chinyeaka at May 23, 2010 9:28 PM

i find this site very important thanks keep the good work going thanks very much

Posted by: chigozie at August 2, 2010 2:01 PM

How do I create my own facebook account? every time I try it takes me to my wifes page.

Posted by: john at August 23, 2010 6:17 PM

thiis relly sucks dude !!!!!

Posted by: donisha denmark at September 1, 2010 8:13 AM

when I try bring up the sign in page it comes up in a funny language. How do I get this to change back to english. this is the only site that does this. please help.

Posted by: C. Broaddus at September 22, 2010 9:17 PM

it feels good to wrk on facebook itz new fr me bt itz awesome!!!

Posted by: vaidehi at October 10, 2010 8:31 AM

How u can creat my own account facebook please give guide line to for account making on face book it serious problium for becuse my other friends using face book i not

Posted by: khan at October 12, 2010 1:11 AM

finly got ma facebook on track

Posted by: avela at November 3, 2010 4:27 AM

when i start signing it says you cant sign.
stupids foolish

Posted by: laiba at November 22, 2010 3:39 AM

I have been trying to sign up for 30 minutes? What gives? This isn't easy

Posted by: Pat Schultz at December 11, 2010 11:56 AM

I've been trying to sign up but my daughter uses my laptop and I keep ending up on her page. When I click on "Home" - I still end up on her page. I went to Google - clicked on Facebook and ended up on her page.
Is there a way for me to get in to sign up and a way to keep her and I from opening up each others' pages?

My daughter is an adult so I don't wish to invade her privacy.

Posted by: Daryl at December 13, 2010 7:10 AM

I have seen this same problem Daryl with my daughter and I. General rule of thumb: if things are going weird, use the "Logout" option on the top right menu, off the "Account" menu. If that fails, perhaps you could have two browsers, one for her account, one for yours? I have also seen some weirdness with Google Chrome in regards to Facebook, if that's a possible factor?

Posted by: Dave Taylor at December 13, 2010 8:37 AM

how can i use facebook?plz tell me

Posted by: somigull at December 20, 2010 12:49 AM

My wife is registered on facebook already with our home e-mail address. when I try to sign myself up it just tells me that the e-mail address is already in use by another facebook member. How do I register myself with our home e-mail address as well?

Posted by: Johan at January 12, 2011 1:40 PM

i am having a problem signing in to facebook please help

Posted by: bantu at January 15, 2011 11:55 PM

Join facebook

Posted by: Rediffmail at January 22, 2011 7:53 AM

plz plz i need facebook

Posted by: Noma at January 24, 2011 7:32 AM

i have been trying to create a facebook account and i can not get through. I am asked to write my e-mail so many times and dont know the problem. Please help

Posted by: matshidiso merafhe at February 5, 2011 11:16 AM

I try to get in the facebook but they said i had faq with my email adress and had already block my page.How i get back on again?

Posted by: darrion moore at February 26, 2011 5:15 PM

WHY FACEBOOK AINT WORKIN ON DIGICEL PLEASE HELP ITS BEEN A MONTH I AINT BEEN ON FACEBOOK CANT I CHECK MY MAIL ON YAHOO

Posted by: SHENITA HARE at March 2, 2011 4:52 PM

How do you get Facebook to work if there were problems?

Posted by: patkunam at March 3, 2011 5:16 AM

Hi need to creat an account in face book help me out

Posted by: Mukthiyar Pasha at March 26, 2011 4:07 AM

i have difficulty to login

Posted by: willie pienaar at March 31, 2011 7:26 AM

wat r u doing

Posted by: jenny jolimeau at April 1, 2011 1:27 PM

I have tried lot of times to join of facebook but not success,please tell me procedure for joining to facebook

Posted by: ARUP MONDAL at April 7, 2011 1:23 PM

i've a problem in creating an account in facebook

Posted by: abirami at April 15, 2011 12:10 AM

I cannot creat my facebook account,it is very difficult to do.Is there any one who can guide me to do same?

Posted by: Nirmal Gurung at April 15, 2011 1:08 PM

How can i open my facebook ?

Posted by: manoj at April 24, 2011 9:03 PM

I have 2 year old my facebook account. But trying to open since 1 month. please help to join facebook.

Posted by: manoj at April 24, 2011 9:12 PM

Help. Please help me. Please email me. Tell me what to do!!!

Posted by: Leom Sheng Rui at May 11, 2011 8:12 PM

I had mistakenly changed the language from english to something else now I CAN'T GET BACK TO FACE BOOK CAN YOU HELP ME GET BACK ON FACEBOOK

Posted by: ROBERT GUY at May 17, 2011 10:35 AM

I have an already facebook account. But I want to create another facebook account

Posted by: Mahbubur Rahman Afjal at May 28, 2011 11:39 PM

how can i open my face book

Posted by: fatema at May 29, 2011 12:31 PM

thanku so much

Posted by: Eemo Girl at June 11, 2011 3:13 AM

i just wanna to have a facebook account!
why it is so difficult?
i just to have one
don't you know???

Posted by: amira at June 18, 2011 5:39 PM

How do create my account?

Posted by: Prasath at June 18, 2011 9:48 PM

my brother has a facebook account on my computer. i want to create my own account now . how can it possible.

Posted by: nikhil kumar at June 23, 2011 8:56 PM

I've been trying to sign up on facebook but no luck they send me an email to confirm my email address and password when i confirming it says my email or password is incorrect.plz help i want to join facebook.

Posted by: Nosipo gayiya at June 25, 2011 2:05 PM

i can not complete sing up process . as there come.,,,, go to yahoo mail to comform your e mail ,,,,,,,,,,,this is the step i donot know

Posted by: mohiz at July 3, 2011 5:56 AM

please i want to open facebook account hlep me

Posted by: Adjei at July 22, 2011 7:58 AM

my account facebook its cant opened..coz have somebody send a virus to me.. can u help me get my account fb???

Posted by: yati riders at July 22, 2011 12:46 PM

my link is broken within 3 days what can i do
on face book site massage came surver not found

Posted by: kishore kanwalu at July 28, 2011 11:04 PM

Knowledge is power.

Posted by: Anoop raina at July 31, 2011 12:04 AM

face book is awesome ma!!!

Posted by: arun kumar.g at August 4, 2011 12:33 AM

please help open a new account.

Posted by: pani jamesmoilameku at August 9, 2011 10:34 AM

i have a problem in creating my account when i click on sign up it comes please enter your email address but where do i create it?

Posted by: anjali singh at August 13, 2011 1:35 AM

I keep losing facebook.Lost it for 2 weeks , just got it back yesterday and now its gone. Getting real tired of this.Hope you can fix this.

Posted by: Wanda Laite-Becker at August 13, 2011 4:24 AM

i have the same problem as someothers. signing up for new account, it keeps bringing up my husbands facebook site, what am i doing wrong?

Posted by: joan smyth at August 23, 2011 2:48 AM

i m finding difficult in creating my fb account

Posted by: harshithacgowda at September 2, 2011 11:15 AM

my life my rules

Posted by: sachin kamble at September 5, 2011 9:44 PM

My brother tried to open his existing account but could not, if anyone tries to login his/her facebook account a certain homepage appear that means my brother needs to resend his email to ymail for confirmation.

Posted by: Geoffrey Kumi Sarpong at September 10, 2011 12:07 AM

LOVE IS LIFE

Posted by: Ganeshkumar at September 14, 2011 10:56 PM

my question i take on my pictures on my kyocera cell phone and i put them on my facebook pg, they are not on there... do i need a facebook emailaddress?? write bx..

Posted by: tressie glenn at October 5, 2011 12:52 AM

This is torture all a want 2 do is restart my fb. USERNAME&PASSWORD.BUt dont know how anybody out their tht can help?!!!

Posted by: shaun robertson at October 16, 2011 5:23 AM

Hi i had an account on facebook. then latter on they asked me for a phone number in order to log on. i don't have a phone, i use a public library. i tryed to email them on facebook.com but never got a response. they now put my account on disabiled. what can i do. how do i contact them. and if facebook listens to you. let them know that everybody don't have a phone. and this is how i stay in touch with people.

Posted by: Blanco White at October 27, 2011 8:14 PM

IIII LOOOVEEE THIIISS!!!! THANXXX

Posted by: SasGe at November 22, 2011 10:32 PM

i like it

Posted by: marmayangyangbow at December 7, 2011 9:49 AM

A person named Daniel Hickory has used my Email address to open an account. I cannot open my account, contact anyone, or get help in removing Dan from my address. I am John Ciolina and my Email is my name @comcast.net. I helped Dan a few years ago and he has stolen my Email address to open many accounts that I have had to close to get rid of him.

Posted by: John Ciolina at January 13, 2012 2:23 AM

i want to sign my 11 yr old daughter up i will b monitering all her stuff but it wont let me

Posted by: shell at January 14, 2012 1:37 AM

cant log in,seems my number and pin dont match and dont have mobile email address

Posted by: modise at January 18, 2012 5:26 AM

thanks dave

Posted by: saurav tyagi at January 20, 2012 11:45 PM

my number psswr

Posted by: veer at January 28, 2012 6:36 AM

My gmail id is submit but I have two password i submit any password but it is not opened my gmail id plz some advoice

Posted by: Bhanu pratap singh at January 28, 2012 9:57 PM

how can i create my account on face book???

Posted by: aaqib at February 2, 2012 1:49 AM

sir ,please help me .i forgot the password .i don't know what to do?

Posted by: vaishnavi at February 5, 2012 7:28 AM

I want to unsubscribe to facebook, as already posted on my site. My niece Pat James died last year yet is still shown as a current user. Her son Simon James and sister Val Rudd would confirm her death, Peter Knight

Posted by: peter knight at February 5, 2012 9:08 AM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!