Facebook is the place to be if you’re a coupon user.  I am far from a Facebook expert, so I invite others to share they’re knowledge and opinions.

Facebook Account Benefits:

–Coupons, coupons & more coupons!  Most companies (large & small) have Facebook Fan Pages. They will occasionally reward you for “Liking” them by providing coupons.  A few examples: $1/1 Hot Pockets Hot Shots, $1/1 Nabisco Wheat Thins, & Free appetizer at Rudy Tuesday.  Some coupons will be available for a limited amount of time or prints while others stick around.

–Notice of Store Promotions: If you “like” a store on Facebook, you may be amongst the first to know about store or product promotions and discounts.  Old Navy is famous for providing both promotion news and coupons on their Facebook page.

–Extra entries for giveaways: You can usually score an extra entry into blog giveaways by liking the sponsor and/or blogger’s page on Facebook (I typically allow an extra entry for each). 

–Keep up with posts and deals from your favorite bloggers:  Bloggers use Facebook as another way to inform readers about recent posts and in some cases, posts may only be shown on Facebook.  You don’t want to miss out on a fabulous deal!

Protecting your privacy

I know a big concern of people is having personal information available on the web.  You are required to “Allow” basic information when “Liking” certain Fan Pages.  A few ways to protect yourself:

–Limit personal Information: You can limit the information you provide on your Facebook page.  You don’t need to provide your full name (middle or maiden), birthday, address or phone number. You may use your junk email account (if preferred).  You don’t even need to post a picture of yourself.

–Use privacy settings: Go to account -> privacy setting. Choose who sees your information; everyone, friends of friends or friends only (mine is set to all “friends only”).  You can further adjust your privacy settings by clicking “Customizable Settings” (near bottom) and near the top look for  “Connecting on Facebook” and click “view settings”

–Choose your “friends”: You can choose to “Confirm” or “Ignore” the friend requests you receive.  I have severely limited the friends that I’ve accepted to my personal page. 

**I also have a fantastic giveaway coming for the “Dear Santa, All I Want is Everything” event in December.  Gourmet Gift Baskets is providing 1 reader with a Christmas gift basket full of delicious goodness!  However, they are requiring you “like” them on Facebook as the mandatory entry method. 

What are your thoughts on Facebook?

I’m not saying you can’t save money without Facebook; it’s just a nice addition to your money-saving strategies