To truly take advantage of the various free offers on the Internet, a trend seems to be developing — and very quickly. That trend is the need to join online social networking groups. Out of those social groups, Facebook (www.facebook.com) is the most important.

I have talked with various people who love their certain social networking sites and just hate the thought of joining Facebook, but I have a good reason to insist they do so even if you never use the actual Facebook page you create. Companies on Facebook are giving away freebies at a rate that would astound you. Just this last week I signed up for free Oreo cookies, a free skein of yarn, have printed off a couple of high-value coupons and got a coupon for a free bag of chips in the mail. And I have more free coupons coming any day now for things like coffee creamer.

Facebook is easy to join, and you do not have to update your page if you don’t want to. I’d suggest creating an account, even if you dislike Facebook, just to leave yourself open for these various online deals. It is much easier to sign up for Facebook offers if you are already a member, because when a good deal pops up, Facebook can get deluged with people signing up for new accounts. If you are already a member, it will lead to a lot less headaches for you later on. How the deals work is usually very simple. Most times, the company offers a free coupon for an item (or mails you the free item itself) if you become a “fan” of their product or company on Facebook. This requires five minutes, maximum, of your time. Once you are at the Facebook page for the product or company, all you do is click the button at the top of the manufacturer’s Facebook page where it says “Become a Fan” and wait for the page to reload. Then click on the link for the free offer and fill out the form, or in some cases, just click on a link to print your coupon. Very simple. There is one drawback to some of the free offers, though, and that is there is usually only a certain amount of freebies a company will give away. To keep on top of the offers for Facebook freebies (and thus be able to sign up for more of them), I suggest visiting your local coupon blogs to keep on top of the offers available.

Just as a legal side note, I was not compensated at all by Facebook for writing this article, or any Facebook affiliated service.

Erika Buswell runs a blog dedicated to coupons and deals in Alaska (http://alaskanbargainhunter.blogspot.com) and lives in Palmer with her husband and two children.