How Many Here Use Facebook?

[MediumTex]

I don't want anyone to out themselves (unless you want to), but I am curious about who uses Facebook.

I assume many of you do.

I don't.  I get plenty of community and communication through this forum and a couple of others.

I just don't feel the urge to project myself electronically through a medium like Facebook, but I understand that I am probably in the minority in that view.

It appears to me that Facebook is essentially a video game version of authentic human interactions.  Is that an accurate characterization?

[moda0306]

I do, and while I can see your point about human interactions, I feel (using this term because I haven't really "thought" about it much) that it expands my human interactions in a positive way, though not nearly as positive as places like this forum do.

I like facebook, and feel like it's a positive place for interaction, if used that way.

[MediumTex]

ditto ... i have avoided Facebook twitter and phone texting, i don't see it as being much more than a waste of time and potential self inflicted invasion of my privacy, i stick to email and a couple forums for my electronic community/communications

Come to think of it, I don't phone text or twitter either.

To me, it just sounds like a lot of extra noise in an already very noisy world.

[Lone Wolf]

I don't want anyone to out themselves (unless you want to), but I am curious about who uses Facebook.

I'm not sure that I understand -- how are you able to play Farmville without a Facebook account?  Do you have some other means by which you send your friends "Pokes"?  An alternate means of playing Mafia Wars?  How do you find any sense of validation without friends placing "Like"s on your status updates?

I kid, of course.

In all seriousness, I do use it and find it handy.  It's a great tool for those of us that need the help of a computer in order to keep from losing touch with people.  (This is totally me.)

My natural capacity for keeping in touch with people doesn't scale to the number of people with whom I would like to keep in touch.  It's just another cyber-enhancement, the same way that Google remembers everything for me now.

It appears to me that Facebook is essentially a video game version of authentic human interactions.  Is that an accurate characterization?

Nice. 

[moda0306]

MT,

Facebook > Real life.

[Storm]

Nice pic, Moda... 

I have a Facebook and Google+ account, but I rarely ever check and never post.  I basically have it just because some of my family and friends do, but I dislike the lack of privacy and my wife forced me to delete all my ex-girlfriends from there a long time ago, so there is not much purpose in logging in...

I have noticed that the friends who post obsessively on there are the ones that I care least about... the signal to noise ratio is pretty bad.

[Indices]

The only one I care about is Linkedin.

[moda0306]

but I dislike the lack of privacy and my wife forced me to delete all my ex-girlfriends from there a long time ago, so there is not much purpose in logging in...

That kind of made my afternoon.  Funny.

[Storm]

but I dislike the lack of privacy and my wife forced me to delete all my ex-girlfriends from there a long time ago, so there is not much purpose in logging in...

That kind of made my afternoon.  Funny.

I read somewhere that Facebook consists entirely of:

1. Family members you don't care about.
2. Old friends from high school you slept with.
3. Old friends from high school you wish you slept with.

[AdamA]

My wife forced me to delete all my ex-girlfriends from there a long time ago, so there is not much purpose in logging in...

Ex-girlfriends are the main reason to have a Facebook account. 

[Jan Van]

I really like exploring those sites, but usually lose interest after a while for some reason. I was on facebook but got way too many "friends" after a while. I deleted my account after a co-worker "liked" Palin. That was too much information. I mean, i really like the guy 
I do now have a g+ account. It's new and shiny so fun to play around with...

[escafandro]

I have, mainly because I live far from family and friends.

Although I find it hard to endure these things:
"Weird day..."
"I like people who does not like me, Have me on facebook!"
"Sunday ... family came to visit ... some delicious ravioli and coffee after eating ..."
and pretentious crap like 
"The crowd does not hate, hate minorities, because conquering rights provokes joy, while losing privileges causes resentment."

Random quotes of today.

[Lone Wolf]

"The crowd does not hate, hate minorities, because conquering rights provokes joy, while losing privileges causes resentment."

What in the world does that even mean?

The "Hide all posts by this person" feature is occasionally very useful.  All the peace and quiet of defriending (unfriending?) with none of the awkwardness.

[quenali]

MT, you may not use texting now but you probably will when your kids get older.  We have four kids, all in their 20's and scattered all over the nation.  About 90% of our communication is thru txting- it works great.  We're all on the same Verizon phone plan.

The kids are all on Facebook and have made it clear that I am forbidden to join Facebook (I just turned 60). My biggest challenge is that my kids gave me a new ipad for my birthday and I'm not sure I know how to use the damn thing.

[hogtied]

I have no use for it.  It's all about more privacy for me.  The less people know about me and my personal business  the better I like it.  Why some people need to let everyone know there up to the minute plans, I have no idea!
My father always said: "the more people you know, the more problems you have".  There is a certain truth to that!

[Tortoise]

I finally joined Facebook late last year but almost never post messages or photos.

I just check in every couple of days to read people's status updates on what they had for dinner (surprisingly, they often take pictures!), where they bought their baby's latest package of diapers on sale, or how their mood changed eight times throughout the day. And every time I do, I ask myself why. Dear god, why? Then, I marvel at the fact that every one of those seemingly pointless messages attracted multiple comments by other people.

At this point, I am tempted to just delete my Facebook profile. Private communication like e-mail or phone is a useful "barrier to entry" in one's social circle. If someone is not close enough to me to make private communication natural and desirable, what does that say about the real importance of that relationship in my life?

If Henry David Thoreau were alive today, I wonder if he would be on Facebook

[Jan Van]

About 90% of our communication is thru txting- it works great. 

Check out whatsapp. Might be cheaper.

Google Talk or Yahoo messenger might work too.

[FarmerD]

ditto ...  i have avoided Facebook twitter and phone texting, i don't see it as being much more than a waste of time and potential self inflicted invasion of my privacy, i stick to email and a couple forums for my electronic community/communications

I don't have any of those either and never will.  I can't use Twitter or phone texting since I refuse to write one line replies consisting of disjointed sentence fragments.  I simply can't convey any meaningful message that way.  Message boards are far better since i can write out my thoughts in a couple paragraphs and actually have coherent exchanges with other people.

I have read studies where most people who text or Twitter a lot have a 50% smaller vocabulary than people who don't.  I suppose Texting/Tweeting are probably OK as long as it's not your only mode of communication with others. 

[MediumTex]

I have read studies where most people who text or Twitter a lot have a 50% smaller vocabulary than people who don't.  I suppose Texting/Tweeting are probably OK as long as it's not your only mode of communication with others. 

Whut iz u tryng 2 say? :-/

[Coffee]

I use Facebook.  Although I'm at the point where I'm starting to suffer FB fatigue, as are a lot of other people it seems. 

That being said: It's allowed me to make A LOT of professional connections within the dog training industry. Dog trainers generally fall into two camps: Cookie-bribery trainers and balanced trainers.  So, "getting to know" other trainers in other parts of the country through Facebook has helped me to identify who the commies are.


Millionaire self-publisher John Locke has described FB and Twitter as the main tools he used to propel his sales of books into the stratosphere-- after finding that advertising and most of the more traditional tools failed him.

YMMV.

[smurff]

I used to be openly on Facebook until a couple of years ago.  Sought out all my old friends, bosses, the works.  But after critical reports about how potential employers could read stuff that winds up on my wall that was put there by others, on put on their wall and wound up on mine because we are friends, and how Facebook was becoming a vast information database, and a location where people unwittingly enroll for some serious Big Brothering, I cancelled my account during one of those great  mass Facebook sign off protests.

I soon found that many manufacturers of pet foods and household stuff only give coupons now to people who "like" them on Facebook or click on the printout icon on the manufacturer's Facebook page.  There are also other corporations who seem to have transformed their traditional websites (Web 1.0) into tunnels of love, purely to channel people to their Facebook sites (Web 2.0).  So if you want to find out stuff about their products that you'd ordinarily get from company websites, you have to be on Facebook.

So I had one of the family cats sign up on Facebook.  I could have asked one of the dogs to do it, but for some reason various young family members seem to like the cat idea best.  The cat only logs on to Facebook if he wants to print out a coupon to buy cat litter, cat food, or treats (or wants to buy something for me using a coupon). Or see what kids, dogs, and other cats in the extended family are up to, if one of them or their parents alerts me about a crazy discussion.  Friends (old or new), employers, or clients--I interact with in person, on the phone, or by email.  Facebook--only for extended family members and their pets and stuff (including my niece's first car, who has his own Facebook page), and food/household companies who insist on dealing with them via Facebook. 

So far, not perfect.  There are probably photos and movies and stories about the cat cross-posted all over the Internet.  But doing it this way keeps me from becoming angry at Facebook's changes without notice/warning and their incoherent privacy policies.  There was an announcement just today that got so many people riled up.

[Liz L.]

I find Facebook pretty entertaining.

It was harder for me to get with the Twitter program, but now I like it too.

I use Facebook for access to updates from friends, frenemies (I have a lot more of these than actual friends) and favorite writers and artists, not so much to discuss my own tedious doings.

I find Twitter worthwhile for keeping up with certain traders and investors.

[clacy]

I have avoided FB for a number of years because I'm afraid that I would spend too much time on there.  I see how addicted my wife is to it and I'm grateful that I abstain.

[Jan Van]

So I had one of the family cats sign up on Facebook.  I could have asked one of the dogs to do it, but for some reason various young family members seem to like the cat idea best.

Nice. Too bad I don't have cats or dogs. My car does have it's own phone number though...

[Pkg Man]

I don't want anyone to out themselves (unless you want to), but I am curious about who uses Facebook.

I assume many of you do.

I don't.  I get plenty of community and communication through this forum and a couple of others.

I just don't feel the urge to project myself electronically through a medium like Facebook, but I understand that I am probably in the minority in that view.

It appears to me that Facebook is essentially a video game version of authentic human interactions.  Is that an accurate characterization?

I am on FB but don't use it much.  The one very cool thing I will say about it is that it can enable you to re-connect with long lost friends that you really would like to hear from but can't find.  That happened to me when I got a friend request from a high school buddy that I hadn't seen in 25 years (he joined the army, got into one of their elite units, and basically dropped off the face of the earth). 

We eventually got together in person and it was quite a treat to see an old friend after such a long time.

But I also tend to think that 95% of it is a pure waste of time.