Facebook

[Vinko]

Well I admit that I am not much into technology at the best of times. I know I don't post very often here very much (but may do a bit more now!) and frankly (when not pedalling) I also prefer reading a book and a printed magazine than watching television.

I don't have a "smart" phone, anything at all with "i" in front of it, no "tablet", "notebook", “kindle” or any desire to have any of those either.

However, I have now tried Facebook, and after six months, 168 "friends" later am at the jumping off point with it. I have given it my best shot, not fallen out with anyone, yet watched an endless stream of stuff flow by me every time I log into it. I have found out things I wish I had never found out about people I previously respected and looked at a lot of pictures of peoples dinners, kittens, political views and general rubbish and am wondering if I am missing the point? Certainly I am generally shocked (and bored) by the kinds of things people want me to look at and “like”. It seems to be ego, narcissism and just plain boring half of it.

No, I didnt pour a bucket of water over my head, change my profile picture to something because I was "tagged" to do it, "share" something because "I agree" with a point and I never played any of the stupid quizzes or farmville! OK I might be too grumpy for FB and that is why its not working for me

Yes, I have caught up with people, family and friends from long ago, but I don’t want to be in touch with them all again every day or every time I log on. Those I do have in my life I meet and speak with anyway, others I email, phone and even correspond with by letter….yes….letter! Written with a fountain pen of course!

Mixing all the various people up from the many decades of my life on my Facebook “timeline” has actually caused the most bizarre of comments between people and looking back on the “experiment” it has actually been a fairly consistent waste of time.

I wont look into "tweeting" or even have a clue what "instagram" is, one social media experience is enough!

Anyway, just needed to say that “out loud” somewhere in the digital world and this place seemed about the only remaining place where people generally type sense!

Neo-Luddite at heart maybe. Thank you for letting me rant that out, off now to delete FB account. That will be the first New Year resolution done then

Rant over

[beardy]

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[Vantage]

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[kwackers]

Horses for courses.

FB is great for keeping up with distant friends and relatives. Sure I could write them a letter, but how many really want to know about races I've entered or that I'm buying a new house?
Similarly I have no interest in some of what they're doing and tbh I'd hate to get a personalised letter detailing stuff I have no interest in, otoh I find out stuff about them all the time - interests and hobbies I'd no idea they were into which overlap with mine!

It doesn't always work out, some folk turn out to be tedious or obnoxious but they're easy enough to remove and if they also happen to be relations then I just hide all their posts and am never bothered again - without the danger of them realising what I've done.
Similarly for all the other crap.

There's a whole raft of other stuff on there. Our local community has several pages related to it. Want to go for a bike ride with local folk? There's a Facebook page for it, similar for local matters, buy and selling, freebies etc. Sure you could do the same stuff using forums like this (although IMO timeline views are much better for that sort of thing) but people don't and where they have the number of members is often in the 1's. At least on Facebook everything is under "one roof" and so easy to find.

All IMO of course I appreciate some folk don't like/get it...

[wrangler_rover]

I have never been on Facebook or Twitter and do not intend to.
I hear stories of celebrities being followed by thousands on Twitter, why?
What I don't like is increasingly, companies are running competitions where the only means of entering is on Facebook.
Am I missing out by not going on Facebook or Twitter?

[Psamathe]

Am I missing out by not going on Facebook or Twitter?

In my opinion, No. But I don't use either service (and I survive without them).

Some companies/organisations seem to use Facebook as a "cheapo web-site" (i.e. rather than to update their own web site). And they make them open to non-Facebook users (i.e. you don't have to login to Facebook to see the page). Others for some daft reason don't limiting people viewing their stuff to Facebook members. Somebody here last year started a campaign for something and it was being run on Facebook - but only those with a Facebook login could even view the page. Why ? They wanted support from as many people as possible, yet restricted their supporters to those who use Facebook !!

And these things come and go. Facebook and Twitter used to be all the rage. Yet I am told that these days youngsters no longer use them and have largely switched to something else. And other services will rise, existing ones decline, lots of ups and downs. Even Google seem to have had limited success and given their user base ...

And often deleting an account can be grief. I remember when I wanted to delete my Skype account I had to call Skype (on the phone), and then persuade them I really was the account holder before they would delete it. And I do think it worth completely deleting old unused accounts as leaving them floating around leaves them open to being hacked and then somebody else adopting your identity on that system ...

Ian

[easyroller]

Pfffffft..... All the cool kids use Snapchat!

[kwackers]

And these things come and go. Facebook and Twitter used to be all the rage. Yet I am told that these days youngsters no longer use them and have largely switched to something else. And other services will rise, existing ones decline, lots of ups and downs. Even Google seem to have had limited success and given their user base ...

There are lots of social network sites, most businesses these days employ people whose job it is to monitor trends, set up company accounts and post to them. Ignoring social sites these days is akin to ignoring the web 10 years ago, you'd be hard pushed to make a mark these days without 'gaming' them.

Facebook is still by far the biggest player - for most things and particularly for consumers in their 30-50's. There's also a lot of traction for specialised groups by virtue of the ease with which the can be set up, found and users registered.
The death of Facebook is often forecast but imo it has a lot of traction and inertia to overcome before it can be killed. The user base is still growing at a phenomenal rate the main difference is it's now favoured more by the older webizens...

[al_yrpal]

I agree about Facebook, total waste of time, I have an account to look at the odd thing but no-one knows I am on it. I do use Twitter though. I rarely tweet but find it a very good way of getting local news. But, only when I look at it.

Al

[Flite]

I joined facebook (under a false name) because some clubs I belong to use it instead of putting news on their websites, and I could not access the news without joining facebook.
I have never ticked a like or a friend or suchlike, but some days I get several e-mails telling me I have lots of friends on facebook. It gets a bit like panto season, as I shout "oh no I haven't". Anyone know a way of stopping those e-mails - they just really irritate me.

[kwackers]

Anyone know a way of stopping those e-mails - they just really irritate me.

They can't irritate you that much if you've never tried to stop them either by simply looking in settings (notifications -> email) or at the very least Googling for an answer...

[Bicycler]

I was an early adopter of Facebook and have never really gone for any of the others as pretty much anybody I want to contact is on Facebook. I like it as a social tool.

Problems arise where some people forget that not only their friends can see things that they post to a group. I've seen people slagging off others who are perfectly able to see the comments.

I was recently considering trying a cycle group only to go on their Facebook and encounter lots of dirty linen airing and obvious hostilities between members. Some people view these as informal groups of friends, which some are. However, it isn't an unofficial group if you link to it from your website! More and more are being used as ways of reaching out to new members, who really aren't going to be drawn in with resentful remarks about club hierarchy or lengthy condescending helmet diatribes.

[horizon]

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[Lambretta]

Well I admit that I am not much into technology at the best of times. I know I don't post very often here very much (but may do a bit more now!) and frankly (when not pedalling) I also prefer reading a book and a printed magazine than watching television.

I don't have a "smart" phone, anything at all with "i" in front of it, no "tablet", "notebook", “kindle” or any desire to have any of those either.

However, I have now tried Facebook, and after six months, 168 "friends" later am at the jumping off point with it. I have given it my best shot, not fallen out with anyone, yet watched an endless stream of stuff flow by me every time I log into it. I have found out things I wish I had never found out about people I previously respected and looked at a lot of pictures of peoples dinners, kittens, political views and general rubbish and am wondering if I am missing the point? Certainly I am generally shocked (and bored) by the kinds of things people want me to look at and “like”. It seems to be ego, narcissism and just plain boring half of it.

No, I didnt pour a bucket of water over my head, change my profile picture to something because I was "tagged" to do it, "share" something because "I agree" with a point and I never played any of the stupid quizzes or farmville! OK I might be too grumpy for FB and that is why its not working for me

Yes, I have caught up with people, family and friends from long ago, but I don’t want to be in touch with them all again every day or every time I log on. Those I do have in my life I meet and speak with anyway, others I email, phone and even correspond with by letter….yes….letter! Written with a fountain pen of course!

Mixing all the various people up from the many decades of my life on my Facebook “timeline” has actually caused the most bizarre of comments between people and looking back on the “experiment” it has actually been a fairly consistent waste of time.

I wont look into "tweeting" or even have a clue what "instagram" is, one social media experience is enough!

Anyway, just needed to say that “out loud” somewhere in the digital world and this place seemed about the only remaining place where people generally type sense!

Neo-Luddite at heart maybe. Thank you for letting me rant that out, off now to delete FB account. That will be the first New Year resolution done then

Rant over

yep I totally agree although the smartphone is handy to log your rides.
Mine is set to private obviously