Poll

Have you signed up to Mr Zuckerberg's walled garden?

Yes
No
Yes, but the details are false
Yes, but I never log in or anything

Author Topic: Are you on Facebook?  (Read 127700 times)

Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #50 on: 05 February, 2012, 10:58:33 am »
My children use it - as they're away at school I don't get any say in the matter - but I'm not sure I'd want to be fb "friends" with them. It would seem a bit intrusive.
Yeah, but I actually am friends with my children.

Same here. Mine are grown-up (ish) and live their own lives, but we catch up both on FB and by actually meeting for food or drink. Also, I seem to have become part of a company that deals in social media, so I would tend to use it.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #51 on: 05 February, 2012, 11:01:11 am »
One of my work colleagues is exasperated by her two geek friends (they both work in IT, sysadmins or something) who go to the pub with their laptops, sit at the same table and (in her words) "Facebook each other" all evening.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #52 on: 05 February, 2012, 11:02:13 am »
No.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

AndyK

Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #53 on: 05 February, 2012, 03:22:46 pm »

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #54 on: 05 February, 2012, 04:44:52 pm »
The privacy concern with Facebook isn't really about what you put on there, or even what their settings-change-of-the-month exposes.  It's about what people associated with you put on there, and the findability thereof.  There's approximately bugger all you can do to control that.

ian

Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #55 on: 05 February, 2012, 06:41:38 pm »
I have an account, which was obtained after a bout of prolonged peer pressure. You have to be on FB, came the plaintive chorus from across the pub table. Presumably so I could tell them that I was in the pub. Yes, I had to be on MySpace too, and look how that worked out.

Never got around to using it. I already hold honours for world's worse email correspondent, most infrequently blog updater, and was voted least likely to deliver a short story on time. Not to mention finishing my novel about sarcastic vampires before I die, which would be useful, otherwise I'll have to come back from the dead too. If I did everything computer-related I was supposed to do, I'd spend more time in front of this screen than a teenage boy who has just discovered what the internet is really for.

Or possibly I'm just a misanthrope.

Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #56 on: 05 February, 2012, 08:30:19 pm »
I am on FB.  A bit like here, I read a lot more than I post.
MrsC is rather more into it than me.  When she was out of work a few years ago, a friend (a 'real' one, not an FB one) told her about Catbook, which is an FB app for people who are mad about cats.  Out of that we have got to meet some new people with whom we have something in common, even if it's only the cats!  We had a lovely day with a couple in Belgium a year or two back, met another 'friend' in London back in the spring--with said friend coming to see us for a weekend in the summer.  The Belgian couple are over in the UK this weekend for a cat show and we met up and they ended up coming back here to meet our cats.  All good stuff.  Obviously you have to be careful when meeting people to start with--the friend we met in London is a PhD student.  She'd arranged to meet us when her parents were over.  So the 'virtual' can become 'physical'.
MrsC also uses it to keep in touch with her extended family--making contact with some of them for the first time this way.
We also belong to a group which is rather scattered across the country.  They've tried using a private forum, and still do for some things, but the traffic was so low it's proved easier to do most of the communication via FB. 
So lots of uses.
As to privacy, I assume that anything I post on the net is effectively public domain, so I'm a little careful.  I don't mention work (or at least, very very rarely) for example.
I don't expect everybody to use or like it.  What does surprise me is the vehemence with which some people express their anti feelings.

S
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #57 on: 05 February, 2012, 08:36:40 pm »
Lamebook is a selection of indiscreet or ill-informed photos and comments taken from FB, and is worth a read.  The best stuff usually gets lifted from there and posted on happyplace.com, though.

http://www.happyplace.com/13713/the-most-humiliating-accidental-status-updates-ever-posted-on-Facebook
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #58 on: 05 February, 2012, 10:27:10 pm »
You're right, but the flipside is that it discourages physical interaction. For every photo emailed to grandfolks in Oz, there is a couple emailing each-other from adjacent rooms.

And? It's hardly the end times, is it? We email one another, put things on facebook to make one another laugh, and then compare notes on other people's funny posts when we get together and talk in 'real life'. It's all communication, whether it's on Basildon Bond, by text, on Facebook, or lying on the couch - it all has its place.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #59 on: 05 February, 2012, 10:40:40 pm »
I don't use FB much but was delighted when my 98-year-old great uncle accepted my FB friend request...
He's uploaded pics of today's walk in the SNO.
What's not to like?

gordon taylor

Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #60 on: 06 February, 2012, 06:03:32 am »
I'm a recent convert to Facebook. I have barely a handful of close friends in real life, and am awkward in social situations, yet have quickly accumulated 100+ Facebook friends. That suits me perfectly; I can see what's going on - at a superficial level - with family, distant relatives, real friends and former colleagues.

The flexibility is wonderful - it is easy to switch off feeds or (just) photographs from friends who insist on sharing hundreds of baby photos with the world. I can get feeds from the local Police, our town "What's On" pages, Mark Cavendish... and just switch them off if they become dull, repetitive or patronising.

Two months ago I would at scoffed at the idea of me having a FB profile, now I use it as a primary social and communication tool. Email and fora (such as YACF) seem as archaic as semaphore and megaphones, suddenly.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #61 on: 06 February, 2012, 07:56:27 am »
And? It's hardly the end times, is it?
I don't think anyone said it was. You seem very defensive about this.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #62 on: 06 February, 2012, 08:12:08 am »
Ha, not at all - you just seemed to be suggesting Facebook went from pictures of grandchildren to this terrible end point  :)

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #63 on: 06 February, 2012, 08:15:15 am »
Ha, not at all - you just seemed to be suggesting Facebook went from pictures of grandchildren to this terrible end point  :)
"went from" - that's an odd interpretation. I'm saying there are two sides. Nothing went anywhere.

"terrible end point"?  Well if you say so.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Pancho

  • لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #64 on: 06 February, 2012, 09:09:23 am »
Lamebook is a selection of indiscreet or ill-informed photos and comments taken from FB, and is worth a read.  The best stuff usually gets lifted from there and posted on happyplace.com, though.

http://www.happyplace.com/13713/the-most-humiliating-accidental-status-updates-ever-posted-on-Facebook

I think the contemporary phrase in response to that is "OMFG!!!".

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #65 on: 06 February, 2012, 08:33:09 pm »
The one where the poster thought they were typing a search term into Google Toolbar, but shared it with the world on FB, is both funny and horrific at the same time  ;D
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #66 on: 06 February, 2012, 08:44:43 pm »
Fortunately, the worst I've done is type PuTTY console session commands into an IRC window by mistake.   Actually, I've done this several times.  :facepalm:
But only once including a password.

Rhys W

  • I'm single, bilingual
    • Cardiff Ajax
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #67 on: 07 February, 2012, 08:59:47 pm »
I love/hate it. I love being in contact with old school friends, university friends, people I've worked with, 2nd cousins who grew up in the USA and New Zealand. It's also useful on a daily basis - last Sunday I woke up and it was borderline icy, and while I sipped my espresso I was reading several posts by my clubmates on how icy it was in other parts of Cardiff and further up in the Rhondda (where we planned to ride). It saved me kitting up, riding to the meeting place and going straight back home.

I despise the advertising and am concerned about privacy issues to an extent - but I'm adept at ignoring adverts and I'm careful who I allow to be my friends. I wouldn't friend any current work colleagues for sure.

Lycra Man

  • SR 2011, 2012 & RRTY
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #68 on: 08 February, 2012, 01:54:49 pm »
I'm on Facebook, but mainly because I was co-erced by my wife. She is a teacher, and there is a lot of facebook traffic between her colleagues. One member of staff even got rescued from a locked area of school by using Facebook to communicate. So it has its uses.

For me, I hate the idea of others seeing my private family communications, so I think I've got it set to friends only, but I'm not sure, and I'm thinking of closing the account.

Is it like Hotel California - you can check in but you can never leave?

Lycra Man

Pancho

  • لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #69 on: 08 February, 2012, 02:18:55 pm »
I'm on it. Only because I have an international background and it became the easiest route for people to stay in touch. However, I rarely log in and even more rarely post anything.

My children use it - as they're away at school I don't get any say in the matter - but I'm not sure I'd want to be fb "friends" with them. It would seem a bit intrusive.

It appears that I am "friends" with my children. It's just that I log on so rarely that I'd forgotten.

As a side note - it's worth logging off. If you don't, it tracks where you go and lets other people know. I once forgot to log off and, reading an article on the Indy, was surprised to see a box telling me that Friends X and Y had also read the article. That sort of sharing is not something I'm entirely (or, rather, at all) happy with. Good job it wasn't something embarrassing such as the Daily Mail. A bit like bumping into a pal in the queue for a brothel.

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #70 on: 08 February, 2012, 02:32:43 pm »
As a side note - it's worth logging off. If you don't, it tracks where you go and lets other people know. I once forgot to log off and, reading an article on the Indy, was surprised to see a box telling me that Friends X and Y had also read the article. That sort of sharing is not something I'm entirely (or, rather, at all) happy with. Good job it wasn't something embarrassing such as the Daily Mail. A bit like bumping into a pal in the queue for a brothel.
It only does that if you have added The Independent app to Facebook. Which will post to your wall whever you read an article. I think you can set the privacy settings to stop others from seeing what you are reading.
The Guardian has a similar sort of Facebook app.

hulver

  • I am a mole and I live in a hole.
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #71 on: 08 February, 2012, 02:33:48 pm »
It appears that I am "friends" with my children. It's just that I log on so rarely that I'd forgotten.

As a side note - it's worth logging off. If you don't, it tracks where you go and lets other people know. I once forgot to log off and, reading an article on the Indy, was surprised to see a box telling me that Friends X and Y had also read the article. That sort of sharing is not something I'm entirely (or, rather, at all) happy with. Good job it wasn't something embarrassing such as the Daily Mail. A bit like bumping into a pal in the queue for a brothel.

I use an extension for Chrome which stops any access to any Facebook URLs unless you're actually browsing facebook. It stops all that nonsense. Very handy.

The only thing it also blocks is Facebook pictures on other web site, which makes browsing some photo threads a little frustrating. But I gladly live with the hassle of that rather than have facebook tracking everywhere I go.

Pancho

  • لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #72 on: 08 February, 2012, 03:20:32 pm »
As a side note - it's worth logging off. If you don't, it tracks where you go and lets other people know. I once forgot to log off and, reading an article on the Indy, was surprised to see a box telling me that Friends X and Y had also read the article. That sort of sharing is not something I'm entirely (or, rather, at all) happy with. Good job it wasn't something embarrassing such as the Daily Mail. A bit like bumping into a pal in the queue for a brothel.
It only does that if you have added The Independent app to Facebook. Which will post to your wall whever you read an article. I think you can set the privacy settings to stop others from seeing what you are reading.
The Guardian has a similar sort of Facebook app.

I have no Facebook apps. Just a bog standard account with privacy, I thought, dialled to zero.

Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #73 on: 08 February, 2012, 03:28:56 pm »
Check Privacy Settings -> Apps and websites Edit Settings
A whole bunch more settings.
In the first section, ignore "Edit Settings" and go to Turn off all apps in the text instead.

Of course, they will invent some new settings every few months and default them to zero-privacy* every time.  So this is an ongoing losing battle rather than a one-off fix.


* - in the opposite sense to what you used, I think.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Are you on Facebook?
« Reply #74 on: 08 February, 2012, 07:16:58 pm »
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.