Can Someone Explain Facebook/Twitter?

[itself]

Ok, I'm forty-eight, but not stupid. I am pretty savy with computers, but this whole facebook and twitter thing just does not make sense to me! Why would I want to have a conversation with a friend and have everyone see it on a "wall?" Ok, maybe a new form of phone conferencing perhaps, but I just do not get it!!

Lisa

[7rider]

The "It's All About ME" crowd has found a larger megaphone for broadcasting their banalities.

[Blueberry]

The "It's All About ME" crowd has found a larger megaphone for broadcasting their banalities.

+1

Seriously - I do use it to check in with people I might not otherwise keep up with as well as I would like. But, I very rarely have wall conversations with anyone (and if someone starts one, I'll take it to private message).

CA

[papaver]

I use it for business purposes mainly. As a freelancer i don't see my clients often so it's a great way to interact and stay in the picture.

On twitter I only post business stuff that might have interest to other colleagues.

But i don't do farmville and other stuff...

[itself]

Ok, then I had the right impression...it's an egocentric crowd that is using it. That's what I thought. What is this generation coming to...

Lisa

[SheFly]

For me, it's a way to keep in touch with far flung family. After a couple of deaths in our family this year, Facebook has allowed me to keep in closer contact with cousins, aunts and uncles - all of whom live a significant distance from me.

I'm also a pretty social person. And at some level, I guess it intrigues me to see what my "friends" and family are up to...

And I wouldn't say it's sole an "egocentric" crowd. Like I said - this has let me rebuild relationships I would not have any other way...

SheFly

[papaver]

Ok, then I had the right impression...it's an egocentric crowd that is using it. That's what I thought. What is this generation coming to...

Lisa

that's a little too dark. It's a great way to find people you haven't seen in a long time. I have re-established some old high school friendships thanks to facebook. I don't see the egocentricity in that.

[lph]

Well, posting on your wall is not equivalent to having a private conversation with a single friend, it's equivalent to chatting in a large group where anyone can join in. I rarely have "conversations" on my wall, but for example: a colleague of mine is now in Vietnam on business. She's never been there before. She has a few snapshots and random observations of interesting things she's seen or done, but instead of sending them all collected as a letter to one specific person or more, she just posts them on her wall in case anyone feels like commenting. And we do, and I think it's fun to see my other co-workers comments. It's just an informal group conversation. Actually it's pretty much like posting here.

But people only tend to post on their walls if they actually get feedback. Posting "it's snowing out!" is only fun if you have friends who are yearning for ski season themselves, and will join in in praising the snow, or conversely you know you have friends who loathe the snow and will tell you so. If you always post to express your opinion without expecting or assuming you'll ever get a response that seems self-centered to me. But that isn't really the norm.

[Zen]

But people only tend to post on their walls if they actually get feedback.

Not true. I enjoy looking at others photos without commenting and I'm sure people do the same with mine. I get updates from Adventure Cycling, Team Estrogen, a local training facility and a county commissioner on FB.

Get with the times, you old farts
And GET OFF MY LAWN!

[staceysue]

I thought Facebook was just a shallow waste of time, until I started using it.

What I love is that it allows you to keep kind of a loose connection to your friends and family, all of the time. I moved away from my home town years ago and I have a lot of friends and family in a lot of different places. I wonder how everybody's doing, but if I wanted to keep up with them through phone calls and letters it would be a full time job. I don't want to contact each of them individually to share all of my news, either. So - I post pictures of my son's graduation on Facebook, or news of a new job, pictures of my bicycle. When I rode my bike 64 miles I was proud of myself and posted it on Facebook.

Every day (sometimes several times a day) I just pop in and see what everybody's posted on their walls. I know when somebody has a new baby and when somebody passes away, when somebody's kid got made it into a great orchestra playing the cello, etc. It's great.

For me, Facebook is like going to my own little community filled with only the people I care about. I don't have to have anybody I don't want to share my life with on there.

And the old highschool friends I've reconnected with - that's wonderful. We don't have to spend a lot of time catching up, we just add each other as friends and make a casual comment here and there on each other's walls and gradually get back in contact.

What is Twitter? Is it like Facebook but with your phone or something? It drives me INSANE that all the under-30s at work constantly have their iPhones out chatting with other people. I'm like "HELLO?! You're HERE now! You're missing out on what's going on HERE!"

[lph]

Not true. I enjoy looking at others photos without commenting and I'm sure people do the same with mine. I get updates from Adventure Cycling, Team Estrogen, a local training facility and a county commissioner on FB.

Get with the times, you old farts
And GET OFF MY LAWN!

No, I meant that most people (yah, yah, I meant me but I do think it goes for most of my friends too) wouldn't post stuff to their walls if nobody ever gave feedback.

I.e. it's not just mindless egotistical "broadcasting", most people are sharing things they actually think some (not necessarily all) of their friends will like and respond to.

Groups, shops and suchlike are a bit different, their pages have a different newsfocus than personal FB pages and they probably don't expect that much feedback.

stacysue put it beautifully - it's like going to a community filled with only the people I care about. I am a lot more up to date with several of my friends now than before, and I like being able to share the little things in our lives too.

[krisl6]

I really like Facebook. It helps me keep in touch with all of my family and friends back home in the US. I don't think there's anything egocentric about the way most people use it (ok some people can get carried away). As for Twitter I have an account, but more to follow other people than to say stuff myself. If used properly it's a pretty powerul social marketing tool. I find it most useful for business though.

[staceysue]

There are 3 places I go on the computer every morning: Facebook, Team Estrogen, and my email - in that order. My email's becoming obsolete, though. Since I got Facebook I haven't got an email in aaaaaaaaages.

I feel connected again for the first time in forever. I keep saying "Facebook is a modern day miracle!" Since I've moved so much and don't live or work with anybody I've known for more than 5 years, it's so comforting to me to hear from somebody I've known for 10 years or more.

[Crankin]

I barely write on my Wall and have no pictures up. Facebook has let me reconnect with a couple of college friends, but basically I use it to see what my friends in AZ are up to. I've vicariously seen quite a few of my older son's friends and classmates from first grade because of a circuitous connection between one of my "friends" and them.
I could sign off today and it would make no difference to me. As far as Twitter, it seems extremely egocentric. Even my 20 something kids think it's useless.

[Veronica]

I like Twitter for finding out how the people I follow (non pros) have done on various events.

How else would I know that 3 of the people from our RAAM team did a 250 mile bike ride this past weekend in Texas? And I knew my friend who was doing a half marathon on Sunday would post how she did on Twitter so I wouldn't have to wait until I got to work to know how she did.

Thom doesn't like a lot of Facebook's policies, so I don't use that.

I don't think Twitter is anymore egocentric than a blog.

Veronica