4. Search your email In some cases when you sign up for Facebook, especially if you use a 'free' email system such as hotmail or Gmail, Facebook can search your email addresses and see if anyone in your address book is already on Facebook. 5. Profile information school, university, company The first piece of profile information Facebook asks for is your School (leaving year), University (leaving year) and Company - this starts the first basic groups links so you can find Alumni and colleagues from work - if you don't want to find anyone there, leave it empty and click skip. 6. Profile information - picture your photo or avatar doesn't need to be of you, but it's usually a good idea to use a shot of yourself so that people that aren't sure they've found you can add you. Many people change their profile photos weekly though, so you can use just about any image you hold copyright to. 7. Profile information - basic information Once you've gotten into Facebook, you can fill in any or all personal information on the basic information box, and depending on your security settings, people will be able to see this - it's sometimes the difference between knowing whether it's you or another person that they'll friend, so this information can be useful. 8. Profile information - is Facebook a dating site? One of the core pieces of information that Facebook asks about on signup is what you're looking 'for on the site, along with your religious standing. Don't be afraid to mark 'friendship' in that box, even if you are actively seeking a relationship - it makes little difference to people adding you. Facebook is not a dating site, though there are groups on there for finding partners.