Facebook

[emily_in_nc]

I just signed up for FB about two weeks ago after resisting for years. It finally got to the point that so many links were on FB that I couldn't get to that I gave in. A lot of these have to do with our condo in Belize -- FB is huge down there as cell phone minutes are very pricey compared to in the states, so people tend to email and FB more than call or text. So many businesses post specials and information via FB only that you almost have to be on.

I have only allowed 7 friends so far, and all those are real friends except for a semi-crazy aunt I have who I didn't really want to be watching me. Before I signed up, I researched how to set my privacy settings super high so that only friends can see anything I do, I can't be found through google or FB searches, and I even managed to block my aunt specifically from reading my status updates or seeing new photos I post. I just don't want to share everything with her!

Most of my friends who are on FB used it to reconnect with high school or college friends, but I really haven't wanted it for that at all. One of my friends is my best friend from HS, but she would be my friend with or without FB. I mostly signed up to connect with businesses, as I mentioned, and to see vacation photos from a few special friends.

So far, other than the first couple days when I was getting it set up, I've only spent 10-15 minutes per day on it, and that I can easily handle.

Now Twitter...another story!

[malkin]

I opened a FB acct to get pictures from my daughter and to check in now and then with my nieces and a few other people.

I use a name that no one at work will recognize, as these are parts of my life that need to be separate. I don't respond to friend requests.

[Veronica]

facebook knows a lot of personal information about you and there is no law that keeps them from sharing that info with anyone and their dog.

Veronica

[jobob]

No Facebook here. They have no respect for the users' privacy.

If you use it and you don't pay for it, YOU are the product being sold.

facebook knows a lot of personal information about you and there is no law that keeps them from sharing that info with anyone and their dog.

Like what, V? Apart from what I choose to post about myself, what else does facebook know about me?

Kjay has very politely asked for specifics. I am asking as well.

- Jo.

[snapdragen]

Facebook has nothing about me but my name. I did not enter my address, phone number, city, employer. I've also got the privacy settings pretty much locked down, and I check the regularly. Dear Mr Zuckerberg seems to make changes on a whim.

FB was invaluable to me when my Dad was dying. A friend up in Washington sent me messages regularly, helping me cope while I played "the strong one" for the family (she had lost her Dad a couple of years ago). Other friends posted prayers, wishes or just hello, we love you notes. It meant a lot to me.

Like anything else, FB is what you make it. If you post every intimate detail of your life, the world will know it. Same goes for posting on TE......

[jobob]

It was great to hear from DirtDiva on fb a few hours after the Christchurch earthquake and know that she was OK.

Oh dear, is that Mark Zuckerberg sitting on my toilet ...?

[shootingstar]

There is a twitter page somewhere but that's all it's used for..to auto-post some blog article references. Not used to engage in dialogue with folks.

I know it's under-used. But it's just another distraction to me, away from face to face people who are close to me.

After 3 wks., one of my sisters finally emailed me tonight. I think she's been too busy with her babies and working, etc. No, she's not computer illiterate. She does use her Blackberry, etc. Life just overtakes some folks' schedules.

I always find it interesting how much people do write by email in families whereas in my family, we're fundamentally lazy. Phone is the preferred method. I'm the gabber in family in emails, etc. (No one else in my family blogs.)

I haven't even arranged to Skype with any family member, except my dearie and I'm not pushing them hard when some are juggling other priority things. We're aren't Luddites, it's just hard to express some complex family situations in text vs. verbally. Facebook? Oh, forget it. Just getting emails is an achievement in my family and that's not all family members. Not everyone has a computer.

[jobob]

Not everyone has a computer.

It might be safe to assume that most people who participate in this forum do.

[Veronica]

Like what, V? Apart from what I choose to post about myself, what else does facebook know about me?

Kjay has very politely asked for specifics. I am asking as well.

- Jo.

There is a long Wikipedia article about problems with Facebook.

I know that many of you are very happy with it. That's great and if it lets you stay in contact with people and gives you information, fantastic. It's not something I wish to participate in for a whole host of reasons - (privacy issues, time sump, closed social circle...) I have other ways to stay in contact with people.

Veronica

[Catrin]

I have my FB account locked down tight, and it is a good idea to check your privacy settings regularly. For some of my family this is really the only way we connect with each other - our schedules are so opposite each other...

I only have 54 "friends" - but I know every last one of them and they are, indeed, friends and family. I still won't post anything really personal - I pretty much limit things to cycling updates and links that I like. I suspect that my non-cycling friends and family (most of the 54) are convinced I am a little nutty where cycling is concerned, but that is fine

As with any website of any kind, nothing in the internet every has been or ever will be "private". Especially with social networking sites of any kind, it pays in the long term to remember this...

To illustrate, I can still find emails to a list I subscribed to back in the late 1980's when I was much younger and quite rebellious! Thankfully no one knows that was ME My user names/email addys were far more creative in those years, fortunately.

I am quite thankful that the content from the old bulletin boards (pre-www protocol days) no longer exists, though they were quite fun at the time!

[Crankin]

I have less "friends" than you, Catrin. And they are all people I know.
The most disturbing thing I have found on the internet about me was directly tied to TE. There is a site that tracks your postings on websites; they had my daily average, with my real name by the average. This seemed to be a site that TE must subscribe to, so I let Susan know. I don't remember the name of the site now, but it did seem a bit over the top.
If anyone thinks the stuff you post is private, well, they are dumb. I often wonder if other women riders I know around here look at TE and see my posts. It wouldn't be hard to figure out who I really was, if you knew me in person, even slightly.

[jobob]

As with any website of any kind, nothing in the internet every has been or ever will be "private". Especially with social networking sites of any kind, it pays in the long term to remember this...

Bingo.