Facebook Love It Or Hate It?

[DownLoLarry]

Seems that our Members have strong feelings about Facebook.

So is it an easy communication tool of the new millennium?

Or is Facebook a dangerous invasion of privacy?

Let's discuss it here so other threads don't meander too far off topic.

[duke007]

Never had it so dont miss it, so I'll never miss it because Im never gonna have it

[johnlbx]

Never had it so dont miss it, so I'll never miss it because Im never gonna have it

The same can be said for this forum, the newspaper, your cell phone (if you have one), the TV...

If you never used them in your life you wouldn't miss them (as that presupposes that you once had them) but

there is no doubt that there is information you will miss out on. The consequence of missing out on information

is making decisions based on incomplete information.

Certainly we can't follow all news sources -- there are just too many -- but what's happening in America (at least) is that one political party (the Republicans) are making ignorance a point of pride. They are quick tell you that Obama's speech was terrible and proudly admit that they never heard it. Intellectuals are evil to Republicans as are the 'fact check nazis' who point out lies told by their candidates.

Certainly if you drink the Facebook Kool Aide and put your whole life online on Facebook you are putting yourself and your future in danger. This is not a requirement however. You can get Facebook account and not put a single piece of information on it (and even use a fake name) and that just gives you access to a world of information. It's like putting a special web browser on your computer that allows you to visit links that are otherwise invisible.

[strocube]

I like it.

I keep in touch with friends and family on there.

Also, I've actually made friends on there.

I figure if anybody wants to know anything about me they're gonna find out anyway, Facebook or not.

[xrayspecs]

I wouldn't say hate, more dislike it (or rather how people spend their life post inane crap on it). I'm currently on my third Facebook account, I keep quitting it but for some weird reason I keep going back.

Third time around the only people I have on their are either ladyboys or people who travel to Thailand. I only check it when someone leaves me a personal message.

[Hefe]

Here's why I am very, very wary of FB & give it a wide berth: at work I am occasionally obligated to use screen grabs of FB pages & so had to join up.

I used my real name but fictitious places for birth & hometown, no entries for birthday, age ,employer etc. I created a new email account that I only used once to confirm FB membership, no friends nor do I look for any.

In a month or so FB sent me a list of people that I might consider friending including the guy who sits 1 desk away from me, a coworker on another floor & a college age cousin who lives on another continent (we have different family names).

How the hell could they do this when I didn't volunteer any valid info but a (not unusual) name?

I do have an account for Hefe that is strictly for mongering contacts.

[ArchieBunker]

Dont have an account. Dont want one. Dont need one. If anyone thinks its a threat in any way shape or form, why on earth would you go out of your way to have one???

Its like a TV channel/radio station you dont like. Why the fuck bitch about it, dont watch it/change the station....

[SiamSam]

Right on Mr. Bunker!

[deepthroat]

Don't like, never really have. Very wary of what they want to do with my personal info and mostly concerned with how they view "my personal info" as they've made it clear that it's not MY info once I post it on THEIR site. So I really only use it rarely, and then usually only to catch up with what others are doing or to post a link to a video or story I want to share.

[farangbah]

I really struggle with this issue. Remember like twenty-ood years ago when they floated the notion that "someday we'll all be in our separate rooms, attached to something called 'Virtual Reality'"? Well, the tangible beginning to that end actually happening can be traced back to the advent of Facebook.

I don't have time to reinvent the past for all the introverts in high school that finally grew a pair and want to be my buddy. One of the saddest sights to me these days is when you walk into just about any restaurant -- you're virtually guaranteed to see a table surrounded with a group of people and not one of them is talking to each other, but has their nose glued to their phone. I think the title, in the end, should be renamed to "Anti-social Media".

But on the other hand, I also know I'm largely missing out on seeing my good friends' kids grow up, and of their adventures. But I just can't stomach some of the policies of this company, and how they have essentially forced the end of any last sense or semblance of human privacy. And nobody seems to care!

No, I don't have a Facebook account. But because of my work and the general direction of this world, I sometimes feel the stiff-arm on me...

PS -- Dave you've seem to have taken to ThaiFriendly like a fish to water (a little worryingly so, mate, be careful). What if we told you that Facebook was ThaiFriendly times nine hundred million...?

[duke007]

PS -- Dave you've seem to have taken to ThaiFriendly like a fish to water (a little worryingly so, mate, be careful). What if we told you that Facebook was ThaiFriendly times nine hundred million...?

I have not sent many messages on TF but you should see me on DIA where I actually do have conversations with the girls, its starting to worry me too

Back to facefook, Im not interested in the slightest with it and never will be

[farangbah]

This is the shit I'm talking about:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19699205

How many more of these "untrue" reports do we need before we read the writing on the "wall"...? Facebook has no moral compass...

[JaiDee]

To be honest, it seems a bit odd for post-50 people like me [and most of the readers here] to have an account, even post-40 people; Lets face it, this thing is for kids. With that said however, I opened an account after I got home from Peru in 2008, to keep in touch with the people I had met there.

Then all my friends from Koh Phangan, lots of Euro's and a few Thai's and Israeli's as well.....never any ladyboys, as always I keep the 2 lives completely separate......so now I have hundreds of 'friends' on there, but in all honesty I rarely go there. As I say, it's for kids for the most part [and I would never 'add' mine, they deserve their privacy]. So I have over 300 people now, and at least I know if I am going somewhere near where any of them live I can reach them easily with a quick message and perhaps get together in our mutual travels.

If you want a time-wasting website much better than FB, try this; http://www.reddit.com/

[MalcolmR]

Well I'm unique in this discussion. I like it and I use it. However, it is a data/information gathering tool. But it is that - a tool. If you use it wisely then it can work well for whatever purpose you want to use it for. The trick is to only put information on it that you don't mind everybody seeing as once you put it out there it is there for ever. However that is true of any web, email and even phone/text activity you engage in. The trick is with anything like that to carefully managed your 'electronic foot print'.

I run two FB accounts. My personal one for family, friends and some business which I am very careful with and another entirely separate account for my ladyboy activity.

[farangbah]

Lets face it, this thing is for kids.

Actually, I think this may, in the end, become the place for the 30-somethings and 40-somethings, and -- gasp! -- even 50-somethings.

The kids are over it. I mean, as a kid, how could you respect yourself being associated with something that has a billion people as members? They are over it.

I actually polled a roomful of teenagers yesterday about it. They unanimously said they don't go there as much as they used to. They're still doing essentially the same thing, but in different places. As is seemingly logical, the thing became too big for one audience, and now it's fracturing and becoming more niche-oriented...

[JaiDee]

The kids are over it. I mean, as a kid, how could you respect yourself being associated with something that has a billion people as members? They are over it.

I actually polled a roomful of teenagers yesterday about it. They unanimously said they don't go there as much as they used to.

Agreed, FB.....my teenage girl and her buddies all tell me the same thing as well. .Also, how cool is it to go to a place where your parents and THEIR friends hang out?

That's why the stock is tanking also, and IMO will never get back to their IPO price; less and less people are visiting and using facebook, and that means the adverts which wall street bases the company's value on will not get viewed. And even if they were, who is actually buying anything from ads they see there?

As the years go on facebook just *may* be the place for the older generations as the youngsters get faded out. Either way, it seems like a dying business to me and the fact that they have messed with it so much in recent years - after leaving it alone for years and letting it grow 'as is' - shows me they are getting greedy and messing with success; bad move.

Coming soon; a Facebook phone....methinks Apple and Samsung won't be losing sleep over that one.

[mikibyne]

Facewhat?

[bumblebee]

Facewhat?

Welcome aboard Miki.

[Lefty]

I like it.

I keep in touch with friends and family on there.

Also, I've actually made friends on there.

I figure if anybody wants to know anything about me they're gonna find out anyway, Facebook or not.

My sentiments exactly. Anyone who closely examined my profile would probably surmise that I like lbs, among other things. If they don't like it, fuck 'em. They can unfriend me. I post a fair amount of lesbian pix there too. Why? Because it pleases me to do so. If someone is offended by that, fuck 'em. They can unfriend me too. They will also likely determine that I am agnostic and I think weed should be totally legal. If any of my beliefs are offensive to any on my friends list, then oh well, tough shit.

When you reach the half century mark and then some, I think you're more likely to not give a shit by what others think of you. Or, find out that despite all your anxiety about it, they ain't even thinking about ya at all. Don't apologize or feel shame over being who you naturally are.

JMO.