Facebook

[BEN1972]

I just recently left Facebook for a couple of reasons. One: people post about the most mundane things and two: since it's an election year for politicians, I had all I could take of bashing by both sides. Friends would post anything bashing Obama or Mitt Romney. Not really sure where this post will go. Anyone else feel this way?

[TheHuckster]

I hardly ever use Facebook, although from time to time I'll visit just to see what's up. If someone has something important to share like a new baby or a marriage proposal, they'll more likely email or call me personally. Besides that, I really don't care what most of my friends are up to on a daily basis.

My family actually recently signed up for this new thing called the Family iBoard. http://www.familyiboard.com . It's alright, more geared for families and close friends as the name suggests, but it has helped us keep more in touch than Facebook really did, since it sort of encourages more than just mundane updates. Plus, what I really like about it is it's much more private than Facebook, so some of my much younger preteen cousins who are regularly not allowed to have a Facebook account are allowed there by their parents.

[AdminAssistant]

I use Facebook a lot. Because of school/work/moving around, I have friends scattered to every corner of this country, and more than a few overseas. Without FB, I would probably lose touch with a lot of those people. But with it, I can see pictures of a friend's wedding in Kyoto, read posts from friends about the frustration of Eastern European bureaucracy, check on a friend in Nagasaki after the nuclear reactor incident, and generally keep up with who's working where and what they're working on. And that's really important in both theatre and academia, where "who you know" is everything. I even enjoy reading the "mundane" statuses (statii?) because my friends are funny as hell. As far as the political stuff goes, I usually 'hide' those people (you do know you can do that, right? Saves a lot of headache.) If they're not a close friend, I'll just unfriend them.

[Andara Bledin]

Facebook is too useful overall to just dump.

But there are times when I hardly visit just because I don't have time to bother with everything else that comes with it.

^-.-^

[Rageaholic]

I was about to start a thread on this very thing. I tried facebook, it has it's uses, but the few good things it has are outweighed by the bad. Like not being able to start an account to keep up with a few friends without having a million people bugging me to friend them. Many of whom I don't even know or ever met. Plus I hate that "big brother is watching" vibe I get from it.

And I despise those "your friends are waiting for your reply" emails I keep getting (I suspect it's phishing, but still.)

[Ree]

I enjoy Facebook, and I get really tired of constant bashing by people trying to imply that's a bad thing.

I am not an outgoing person, and do tend to be a bit shy and reserved until I know people better, and then I show my true personality.

Facebook is fun and an easier way for me to interact.

I enjoy mundane little posts that people share.

Maybe what I post is mundane as well.

I share lots of silly pictures. Maybe my friends get annoyed, but most of them send me messages thanking me for brightening their day, or they will tell me when we talk that they love the stuff I post.

I have to say, I don't care for the political stuff that gets posted, but I just skim past them. I am not American and the US election does not interest me.

I don't fault my friends for posting it, though. Like I say, I just ignore what doesn't interest me.

I just hate the way some people make it seem like those who do enjoy Facebook as an entertaining diversion must be mental midgets.

It's like there's this whole "snob" thing going on regarding Facebook.
It's trendy so it must be bad.

Don't get me wrong. I am not criticizing the OP for his stance on Facebook. If we all like the same things, it would be a pretty boring world.

[Bright Star]

Too many people take Facebook wayyyy too seriously. Think of it as a glorified chat room.

[Nekojin]

Facebook's greatest utility, to me, is to be able to throw up a chatroom on the fly for anything I have a mind to, without having to invest in proper forum software and hosting for said software. That said, there's downsides to this approach as well.

[bainsidhe]

I think the thing that gets me is I'm a bit paranoid about the whole internet privacy thing. I'm on FB so I can see updates from family and a few friends, but I don't post much. When I do, it tends to be a silly clip I found on YouTube or something. I REALLY hate getting tagged in photos or when family talks about me, because it's linked online to my unique full name. Maybe it wouldn't bother me so much if I had an incredibly common name.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm not positive, but I think you can actually turn off the feature that allows people to tag your name on pictures.

^-.-^

[guywithashovel]

I'm on Facebook, and I log in almost every day. However, I rarely post status updates.

For a long time, I had a pretty small friends list, and my list is still relatively small compared to some other people. However, some of the people I went to school with found me and wanted to be my friend (even if we weren't all that close back then).

A few of the people who have gotten onto my list--mostly casual acquaintances from years ago--find it necessary to share or repost every single smirky picture or message they come across. I can't tell you how many pictures I've seen of animals that have "cute" captions typed onto them. Like this picture I saw recentlyl of a dog showing its teeth in a stupid, nonthreatening way with the caption "It was me! I farted!" typed on it. Then there was that picture of a tiger with a snowball splattered on its face with the caption "Go ahead. Throw another one. I dare you."

Or how about those stupid "posters" people post and share? Those things with sayings like "Sarcasm: It's there because murder is illegal."

First of all, that's not funny. Second of all, that saying has been floating around in various forms for at least ten years.

I actually do like Facebook. I'm just tempted to get rid of some of the people on my list, though if I do that, some people might get upset. Unfortunately, I'm the type of person who worries about that kind of stuff.

[TheHuckster]

Ugh, I know guywithashovel. I have someone on Facebook who I'm somewhat obliged to keep since she's the mother of my niece, but about 8 times a day, I see in my updates some stupid picture she shares with her simply saying "LOL!!!" or "ROFLOL!!!" or any other variation of it, in all caps.

The worst part is a lot of these stupid pictures she's sharing have been memes for over 10 years and have long since become stale. Hell, some of the jokes that the pictures repeat are likely older than The Internet itself.

And what is with the trend of posting pictures of every meal you eat in your life? Unless someone is posting a picture of a fish on their plate that suddenly started dancing and singing "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" that isn't Billy Bass, I really don't give a shit.

[Andara Bledin]

Fun fact: If your friends post stupid updates, you can stop seeing updates from those friends.

Facebook has a lot of powerful controls. It's a lot less annoying of a place when you take the time to configure a bunch of them.

^-.-^

[Lace Neil Singer]

I use a fake name on Facebook, as I don't want people like my former bullies being able to find me, and my page is private. I hardly ever go on there; just occasionally to put up a funny pic or quote. It's just the best way to keep contact with the members of my family who live far away from me.

[LadyBarbossa]

I like Facebook because it really does help me keep up with people that I care about, but would otherwise not have contact with. It's also helped people get to know a whooooolle side to me that they didn't know existed. I post cheeky statuses, anecdotes from work, and sometimes genuinely serious, heartfelt thoughts that I just felt like sharing. I'm also *that* friend. You know, the one who posts as many pictures of her dogs as you do your kids.

Unfortunately, it's also taught me that some of my friends are really huge assholes. This being especially apparent as it's election season. I actually unfriended my older brother just today because I dared post ONE political photo stating my disgust with a certain candidate. I generally do not get involved with politics, but I shared just this once. And he would. not. stop. pushing. his. views. It only bothered me because he NEVER comments, messages, calls, or anything of that nature ever. But let me post one politics status and he's like a fly on shit. To be honest, our relationship was flaky at best, anyways.

I also do not mess around with all the ridiculous games and such. I want to know about YOU, not your digital potato crop.