Making a social media account (easy read)
How to make social media accounts for Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
This guide tells you how to make accounts for:
- X (which used to be called Twitter)
- YouTube
This guide is for making an account on a computer.
Making an account on a phone or tablet might be different.
We also have a guide on keeping safe on the internet and social media.
Go to the website www.facebook.com.
Click the green button that says ‘Create new account’.
You will be asked to give:
- Your name
- Your email address or mobile phone number
- A password
- The date you were born
- Your gender
Facebook will need to check that your email address or phone number is real.
They will send a code to your email address or phone.
Put the code you are given into Facebook.
You have now set up a Facebook account.
Go to the website www.x.com.
Click the blue button that says ‘Create account’.
You will be asked to give:
- A 'username' which will be the name that shows on your X account
- Your email address or phone number
- The date you were born
You can not use the same username as someone else.
You might need to add numbers or letters to the username that you want, so it is different.
Choose if you want people to find you with your phone number or email address.
Choose if you want to see adverts that X think you will be interested in.
If you are not sure, you do not need to choose these options.
X will need to check that your email address or phone number is real.
They will send a code to your email address or phone.
Put the code you are given into X.
You have now set up an X account.
If you already have a Facebook account you can log in to Instagram with it.
If you do not have a Facebook account, go to the website www.instagram.com/accounts/emailsignup.
You will be asked to give:
- Your mobile phone number or email address
- Your name
- A ‘username’ which will be the name that shows on your Instagram account
- A password
- The date you were born
You can not use the same username as someone else.
You might need to add numbers or letters to the username that you want, so it is different.
Instagram will need to check that your email address or phone number is real.
They will send a code to your email address or phone.
Put the code you are given into Instagram.
You have now set up an Instagram account.
You do not need an account to watch videos on YouTube.
You do need an account to save a video, add your own video or follow a channel.
YouTube uses Google email addresses for accounts.
Go to the website www.youtube.com.
Click the blue button that says ‘Sign in’.
If you already have a Google email address, sign in.
This will create a YouTube account for you.
If you do not have a Google email address, click the link that says ‘Create account’.
You will be asked to give:
- Who the account is for
- Your name
- The date you were born
- Your gender
- Your email address
YouTube will need to check that your email address is real.
They will send a code to your email address.
Put the code you are given into YouTube.
You have now set up a YouTube account.
Go to the website www.linkedin.com/signup.
You will be asked to give:
- Your email address
- A password
- Your name
- The country you live in
- Your postcode
- Information about your most recent job
LinkedIn will need to check that your email address is real.
They will send a code to your email address.
Put the code you are given into LinkedIn.
You have now set up a LinkedIn account.
Sometimes social media companies want to check that you are a real person.
This is called 'authentication'.
They might ask you to do a task.
These tasks can be really hard.
If you can not do the task, you might not be able to make your account.
If you need help, ask a friend or family member.
Or you can contact the social media company for help.