+ Reply to thread
Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: Facebook

  1. #1
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    3,762

    Default Facebook

    My (younger) friends are nagging me to join facebook. I don't see the point. Does FB offer anything that messageboards/Skype/email don't? Anything GOOD, I mean...

  2. #2
    A Groupie Marsilia's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Mississippi
    Posts
    1,988

    Default

    Other than being more widely used? I know exactly one person IRL who uses Skype, and Zuul is the only person I'm on a message board with whose face I've ever seen in person. As for e-mail, I'm far more likely to fire off a note to Facebook if there's something I actually want to get out to multiple people (I'm even using it to invite people to a couple of birthday events). Hell, considering they have a private messaging feature, I'm more likely to "e-mail" people from there as well. I don't see much reason not to do it beyond just not wanting to do it.
    So, I'll whisper in the dark, hoping you'll hear me.

  3. #3
    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Nowhere
    Posts
    2,933

    Default

    Well privacy's an issue too. I don't use it either.

  4. #4
    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Chicagoland
    Posts
    5,891

    Default

    I like it...it's an easy way to communicate with people, and to know what's going on with people who don't live near me and I don't get to see too often, like high school friends, my cousins, my niece & nephews, etc.

  5. #5
    Oliphaunt
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    5,174

    Default

    I think it's useful for keeping in touch with far-away friends and relatives. Privacy can be an issue, so I don't give them much personal information, and I keep my settings pretty restricted.

  6. #6
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    3,762

    Default

    OK. It's useful for keeping in touch with friends/loved ones far yonder. But I still don't get how FB is any better for this purpose than messageboards type things/email/Skype etc.

  7. #7
    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Nowhere
    Posts
    2,933

    Default

    Quote Originally posted by spitz View post
    OK. It's useful for keeping in touch with friends/loved ones far yonder. But I still don't get how FB is any better for this purpose than messageboards type things/email/Skype etc.
    Because in a way it replaces all of them. In a way it replaces the whole of the rest of the internet ultimately.

  8. #8
    Oliphaunt
    Registered
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    5,174

    Default

    Quote Originally posted by spitz View post
    OK. It's useful for keeping in touch with friends/loved ones far yonder. But I still don't get how FB is any better for this purpose than messageboards type things/email/Skype etc.
    I'm not on message boards with friends from college/it's less work to update facebook than maintain regular email correspondence with a couple dozen people/same for Skype, and also I don't have a webcam.

  9. #9
    Jesus F'ing Christ Glazer's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Atlanta, Ga. U.S.A. (Male)
    Posts
    1,485

    Default

    To me it seems a little rude to start a facebook page just to say, Fuck All Y'all!
    Welcome to Mellophant.

    We started with nothing and we still have most of it left.

  10. #10
    Clueless but well-meaning Hatshepsut's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Indonesia
    Posts
    2,832

    Default

    I have a FB account which I started because it was the only way to get in touch with an old friend who had just been diagnosed with bone cancer. I'm really glad I let her know I was thinking of her, because - although her prognosis was reasonably optimistic - she unexpectedly died about a month later.

    I almost never check the account now, however. I made a good faith effort to incorporate FB into my life, but abandoned it for two reasons:

    1) I find the level of discourse to be agonizingly mundane. Maybe its just my FB friends, but they always post dumb stuff like "stood in line in the grocery store behind a fat person, it was amazing." True, some of my friends use it more intelligently than that, but who wants to read through dozens of crap posts every morning to get to the one or two comments that MIGHT be worthwhile.

    2) It's not personal, it's just a broadcast. (I know you can send private messages, but that's why Bo invented e-mail.) It dilutes the whole concept of friendship when you are telling dozens (or hundreds) of people the exact same thing in a way that does not invite individual, meaningful interaction.

    Now, that's just me. I know I'm an old fart who is set in my ways. I recognize that if I was more adept at using FB well, it could be a great tool.

    Oh, the one good thing is that you can often answer the question "whatever happened to...". I did locate a few people from my past that I had lost touch with. By friending them, I was able to catch up with what has happened to them since 1985, or whenever I saw them last. That's nice. But it doesn't make FB a part of my daily routine.

    ETA: Only one person from my distant past (high school) has found me and friended me on FB. As far as I can tell, she and I are the only 2 people from my high school class who have joined FB. Not surprising, since all 33 of us graduated in 1976. Since my name IRL is the equivalent of Sue Smith, it's pretty difficult for people to find me - hundreds if not thousands of FB users have the same name I do. Maybe if my name were peculiar and more people had looked me up, I'd have a more positive take on FB.

    Funny thing is, people friend me on Linked In rather often. I have more Linked In "friends" than I do FB friends, and 100% of them requested to link to me.
    Last edited by Hatshepsut; 09 Mar 2011 at 07:41 PM.

  11. #11
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    3,762

    Default

    Firstly, sorry to hear about your friend, Hattie. Good that you got that bit of time in, though...

    The 'Whatever happened to...?' feature is my biggest problem with FB. I had an account, and had to kill it with fire because I was constantly getting evidence of people finding me who really should just leave me be.

    And Glazer, I totally get where you're coming from
    Last edited by Trojan Man; 09 Mar 2011 at 07:50 PM.

  12. #12
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
    Registered
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    3,762

  13. #13
    A Dude Peeta Mellark's avatar
    Registered
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Posts
    1,028

    Default

    Quote Originally posted by Orual View post
    I think it's useful for keeping in touch with far-away friends and relatives. Privacy can be an issue, so I don't give them much personal information, and I keep my settings pretty restricted.
    Yeah, I'm pretty concerned about the privacy aspect of it too. I only have a very few number of relatives I even have on it, use a throwaway email address for it, etc. It's mostly for keeping track of online people (like a bunch of you lot). I just don't like being all that public. As an example, one of my FB friends has family members and friends who will upload and tag every picture anyone has ever taken of her. She uploaded two pictures of herself and is a very private person, but there are hundreds of her covering almost everything she ever does. She hasn't removed the tags because she doesn't want to be rude, but...dude.

+ Reply to thread

Posting rules

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts