A. FamDing is a free, family social networking website. The site helps you and your family stay connected.

Q. How is FamDing different than Facebook?

A. Unlike Facebook, FamDing emphasizes the family connection. FamDing will help you stay in touch with your family while Facebook is geared towards staying in touch with your friends.

Q. How much does FamDing cost?

A. FamDing is free!

Q. How old do I have to be to join the site?

A. You need to be 13 to join the site.

Q. How do I create an account?

A. From the main page (http://www.famding.com), you have two options. Either click the "Register" link at the top of the page or the "Signup Your Family Now" link at the bottom.

Q. How do I create a family?

A. When you login for the first time, you should see a link that says "You aren't connected to any families yet. Search for or create one". Click that link. From there, you will be able to either search for your family or create a new one! If your family is already on the site, you can then request to join.

Q. I have created my family. What do I do now?

A. Now you can invite your family members! You can do this by clicking "invite" underneath your Current Families. You will be asked to enter in the e-mail addresses of the members of your family. You can type a quick note to those members, and you'll be on your way. Your family members will receive an e-mail asking them to join your family. All they need to do is click that link, sign-up for an account (if they haven't already), and they'll join your family!

Q. Why do I get an e-mail stating that "New User Requesting Access"?

A. This means someone has searched for your family and has requested to join it. Click the link in the e-mail. If you want to let the person join, approve them. If you don't think that the person is part of the family, deny them.

Q. How many families can I join? How many can I create?

A. As many as you want!

Q. How do I leave a family?

A. Click the "my families" link. Under the family you want to leave, hit "leave". You will be asked to confirm this decision.

Q. How do I delete my family?

A. Click the "my families" link. You must first remove all members of your family by clicking the "members" link. Once you are the only remaining person, you can hit "delete". You will be asked to confirm your decision.

Q. What is a Ding?

A. A Ding is an update from your family. It can be a post or a new event.

Q. What if one of my family members has a potty mouth? I don't want to see bad language on this site.

A. Since this is a family site, we've added in a filter so common bad words are bleeped out.

Q. How do I change my e-mail notifications?

A. Click on the "my account" link at the top of the page. From there, click on "Change Notification Preferences". You can have new notifications sent to you every hour or just once a day.

Q. How do I change my password?

A. Click on the "my account" link at the top of the page. From there, click on the "Change Password" link.

Q. I'm not getting any e-mail notifications from FamDing. What is wrong?

A. Make sure you check your spam folder and change your settings so that you can receive e-mail from FamDing.

Q. How do I update my profile?

A. Click the "Profile" link at the top of the page. Fill out any information that you want, and you are on your way! Don't forget to upload a picture of you!

Q. How do I post to the message board?

A. Click the "Dings!" link at the top of the page. In there, you'll find a link called "Create a New Post". Click that and you are on your way! If you are part of multiple families, you'll notice that you'll be able to select which families you want the note to go to.

Q. How do I comment on a Ding?

A. Click on the "Dings!" link at the top of the page. Underneath each Note, you can post a Comment.

Q. How do I delete a Comment?

A. You can only delete Comments that you have made. You can do this by clicking the "X" on the right hand side of the Comment that you have made. You won't be asked to confirm the delete, so be careful!

Q. What is the Address Book?

A. The Address Book lets you see everyone in your families contact information (e-mail, address, phone) on one page. You can also view the person's address with Google Maps!

Q. What is the Calendar?

A. The Calendar is a place for you and your family to keep track of all of your upcoming events. By default, your birthday is automatically entered into the calendar from your profile. As new events get closer and closer, you'll see the events pop up on the right hand side of the website.

Q. How do I create an Event on the Calendar?

A. First, click on Calendar on the right hand side of the page. In there, you'll see a link called "Create New Event". Click on that and you will be on your way! Just like Dings, you can post Events to multiple families.

Q. Do I need a web camera to video conference?

A. In order for people to see you, you will need a web camera. However, you can still chat with people (just like a phone call) if you have a microphone. If the other members of your Video Conference have a web camera, you will still be able to see them.

Q. How many people can I video conference with?

A. In total, you can video conference with 4 people (e.g. you, your mom, your aunt, and your brother).

Q. Can I video conference with someone who isn't in my family?

A. You bet. All they need is a FamDing account. Just send them your video conference link.

Q. When I video conference, I hear an echo. How do I fix that?

A. When you hear an echo, that basically means you are hearing yourself repeated back through someone else's microphone. The best way to fix this is to make sure everyone is wearing a headset. You can either buy a headset or you can just plug any set of headphones into your machine and turn off your speakers.

Q. What is a Family Administrator?

A. By default, the person who created your family is the Family Administrator. They can delete any post, comment, event, or person from your family. They can also invite/deny people to the family. The Family Administrator can also make other members of the family administrators. The Family Administrator cannot make changes to your profile.