Facebook....is it just me?

[Justin]

I just don't get it :oops: I've tried but I just don't.

I signed up a while back, it seemed like the thing to do, everyone else is doing it so I thought there must be something in it. I always used to be at the front of the queue for anything new on the internet but kept away from FB for a long while.

I simply don't see the point in hearing every small detail about peoples lives, details that are often very personal, sometimes offensive and quite often meaningless. I thought it would be nice to catch up with friends and family but I have a small list of people that have never bothered to email me (or return my emails) so what is the point?

As for the games....Farmville? Members of my family play it day in day out, what a waste of life. tender my crops, send me a horseshoe....the life sapping continues. They tell me it's great as they interact with friends.....well, swap nails and horseshoes anyway. Who'll tend to my crops whilst I'm away from the PC? Can you water my flowering whatevers for me? IT ISN'T REAL!

Sorry, I just had to rant. Do I delete my account and turn my back on Facebook? Do I remove all of those long lost 'friends' that I once worked with 20 years ago? The people that come out of the woodwork just to bump up their friend numbers is incredible.

Please disagree with me, please tell me what a wonderful social interaction it is and how wrong I am!

[Ian M]

Justin,

You are right about most of what you say about Facebook. Now Facebook has been very useful for my community.

We have had a gang of youths here for the last couple of years who have caused all kinds of trouble. To give you some idea I have had to replace 4 bderrom windows, two front room windows. 5 rear windows, 1 windscreen, plus damage to the boot, bonnet & roof of my car. They also wrecked my old 1966 Hillman Hunter rally car too. This is on top of their drug taking & dealing plus riding up & down on their motor bikes & driving in their cars & all are under age to drive.

The police needed to know whoall these gang memebers were so, I came up with the idea of using Facebook to track them all down. We set up a pretend Facebook account & hey presto we started adding them all as friends. We have been able to keep track of all their movements etc to the point that next week most of them will be in court to receive their ABSO's. On top of that most of their families will be also evicted from their housing association homes too. The reason for the evictions is because most of them have been using their homes for growing drugs, storing guns etc, ringing stolen cars & bikes & also storing stolen goods.

Most of the information the police gathered was from their Facebook postings & the police were always that one step ahead in the end. The funny thing is none of the gang have yet worked out where the police were geeting their info from.........lol.

So, Facebook does have a use at times.

Ian

[Justin]

What a brilliant idea, thank you for some positive FB feedback! Sorry to hear about all the trouble though, that must have been awful for you.

I have a few companies/bands etc. on my account and don't mind some of their postings. Conde for example have just posted videos on colour management for sublimation which look very interesting........am I talking myself into thinking it may be a good idea after all?!

Please discuss....lol

[John G]

Agree with Justin, tried it and cannot get my head around why I'd want to know indepth info on anybody and everybody. Saying that my daughter is always on facebook and loves it.

Cheers John

[bms]

daughter is always on facebook and loves it.
So is my daughter - mind you most of the time all her friends are on it at the same time and it's a bit like instant messaging (or they're on Skype together).

[Kaz]

I just block all the farmville/cafeville/mafia wars carp that's on there.

I keep in touch with family/friends all over the world on it.

But I agree, it does get a bit tedious reading about how they are off for their tea/down the beach/going to bed nonsense, but I just skim past that :lol:

And I've been watching way too many of Conde Systems videos on there :lol:

I like that I can keep up to date with what's going on with my Amazon Kindle aswell, and I've found a whole new host of sites to get books from, and some freebies to :D

[Paul]

I just don't get it :oops: I've tried but I just don't.

I signed up a while back, it seemed like the thing to do, everyone else is doing it so I thought there must be something in it. I always used to be at the front of the queue for anything new on the internet but kept away from FB for a long while.

I simply don't see the point in hearing every small detail about peoples lives, details that are often very personal, sometimes offensive and quite often meaningless. I thought it would be nice to catch up with friends and family but I have a small list of people that have never bothered to email me (or return my emails) so what is the point?

As for the games....Farmville? Members of my family play it day in day out, what a waste of life. tender my crops, send me a horseshoe....the life sapping continues. They tell me it's great as they interact with friends.....well, swap nails and horseshoes anyway. Who'll tend to my crops whilst I'm away from the PC? Can you water my flowering whatevers for me? IT ISN'T REAL!

Sorry, I just had to rant. Do I delete my account and turn my back on Facebook? Do I remove all of those long lost 'friends' that I once worked with 20 years ago? The people that come out of the woodwork just to bump up their friend numbers is incredible.

Please disagree with me, please tell me what a wonderful social interaction it is and how wrong I am!


I would't say that in better words :)

facebook is enterteiment for lazy people :D

[Justin]

I just looked through todays entries in my FB account. I was going to make a sarcastic post......

"a has gone to the loo"
"b was late for work"
"c has just bought a new lettuce"

but guess what? Nothing that interesting, it all makes no sense other to that particular person and a small group associated with them. So why post this to all of you FB friends?

The internet is a wonderful place, full of knowledge, friendship, entertainment, but boy is it also full of rubbish! Such a useful tool that gets abused.

I must be wrong though, 500 million members? DSF has over 250 members now.......Maybe I should rename it to DSFacebook and encourage you all to enter in what you ate for your tea last night! I'm getting so cynical in my old age.

[Andrew]

Twitter I find far worst. Don't like Facebook either though.

Done them all for the Business side of things but never bothered with a personal account.

[Kaz]

Yea, what's the point of Twitter? :?

[Justin]

I find Twitter to be a bit 'stalker-ish' Knowing someones every move or so it seems. I do wonder about the security side of these sites, "We're all off on holiday" Translation: "The house is empty and we woin't be back for a fortnight so help yourself"

Of course if it's just family and friends that you can trust.......but many folk are obsessed with geting as many 'friends' as possible.

[Paul]

Yea, what's the point of Twitter? :?
there is no point :D

[Kaz]

Didn't think so Paul :lol:

[Paul]

We should start it on here :)
I will be the first one :)


"...I just born my eggs"

[Louise]

I dont get the point of twitter at all, I have an account but tbh never bother with it, I think I have verbal diarrhoea as I cant say what I want to in just that short space :lol:

Now Facebook I dont mind, I have friends across the country and world and its a fab way for us to keep in touch, but also I have a lot of "mum" friends on there so the fan page for my website is a great showcase for what we do and new gifts, and indeed its amaszing that so many people work for themselves and have had me do their workwear too via facebook. But its a bit like a vegtable patch, you on reap the crops if you put the time in to in and it does need time.

[JSR]

I use Twitter, but not in the way most people do.

For example, I like Formula One and so I follow a couple of people involved in that. It's great to get instant mini-reports from people at the race track (such as Mike Gascoyne, the Chief Technical Officer of Lotus F1) and some of the drivers (such as Karun Chandhok).

You don't get this kind of "instant" contact with these people via news reports and generic websites.

As a way of "connecting" to people you otherwise couldn't connect to, these things are great. But most people seem to use them just to tell the world they've eaten a turnip or as an ego-trip trying to get as many "followers" as possible - that's hardly potential-stretching stuff.

[Justin]

I'd like to eat a 'little' humble pie....only a little mind you!

I'm off work for a couple of weeks and thought I'd spend a few extra minutes on Facebook. I'm now in touch with a handful of friends/colleagues that I wouldn't otherwise be able to contact. I've also 'befriended' a few bands I like along with some businesses, Conde for example and I find this quite interesting.

I'm still concerned that some of my friends seem intent of detailing every detail of their daily lives which is a shame. Maybe they'll get bored of this....maybe I'll use the 'hide' button ;)

So, at this stage I still feel it's over-rated but I'm enjoying catching up with old friends.......I remain un-convinced....but maybe I'm getting there!