Facebook

[Jack]

Young people, such as college students, use their pages to--

This is ageism and assumes that all college students are a certain age. Most may be, but not all are. It's one of my pet peeves, and I'm not even that much older than most my friends..

Wow. Maybe when you're truly older you'll see that these kinds of imagined insults are a waste of human energy that could be used in far more productive ways.

Perhaps, but now that's how it feels and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. My friend Sharon who is 42 and a college sophomore is the one who pointed it out to me.

[Flyingcursor]

I recently joined Facebook at the insistance of a friend. Who else here is on it? I need to add more "friends". I've already found one of you.

[izzarina]

I'm on Facebook, but mostly to keep tabs on the kids. Oh, and to play Scramble But you won't be able to find me if you type in "izzarina"

[emmline]

Wow...I hadn't checked back to notice how much fun this thread had become, what with further references to dancing squids, and insults, and such.

I have a Facebook page. I was put up to it by a friend a good bit older than myself who maintains both professional and personal contacts via the network.

I don't use it much, but--and I say this with some pride--all four of my kids are, willingly, my Facebook "friends."

[BigDavy]

I thought bebo was the current trendy social network site?

David

[Innocent Bystander]

I thought bebo was the current trendy social network site?

David

Depends who you ask. I am on several, but only pay much attention to Facebook. Bebo seems aimed at teenage schoolgirls.

Tagged, Hi5 (Curse it!), MySpace, Wayn, ... anybody at a loose end starts up a networking site and one (but ONLY one) of my acquaintances joins it.

[eoghang]

I thought bebo was the current trendy social network site?

David

I use facebook and recently noticed a surge in 'friends' joining, especially my siblings from Ireland. This surprised me because I thought BEBO was the default social network site of my Irish brethren.

Just two days ago I was simultaneously IM'ing (is it an adverb?) three 'friends'; a childhood friend, my younger brother and my college age (typical college age that is) daughter.
This, of course, can be done without being a member of a social networking site, but since it is integrated with other tools like photos, blogs and wall-to-wall comments, you get a better image of what someone you are close to is doing at any given time.

I've learned recently that corporations are seriously looking at social network sites to enhance their profile and monitor how they are viewed by the membership. Free and relatively easy study of demographic trends and habits.

There is also the perilous side of such sites:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hot ... 05699.html

[Thomaston]

Facebook is like the Hotel California. If you want to leave, you can only deactivate your account. You can't delete. And, if you ever change your mind, you just have to log back in and all your stuff is still there.

[Congratulations]

My favorite thing about facebook (one of the few things I like about it, really) is it's a good place to keep those people that you don't really like, but that you feel you should maintain a friendly relationship with. So let's say I meet someone and they think we're friends but I don't much like them: I friend them on facebook, they accept, a little message-exchange, and we're set. Every now and again I comment on something they've said or done, and they're placated, and I don't have to deal with them.

[fyffer]

[raises hand]
I'm on facebook, too. I joined at the request of a real friend (as opposed to a facebook friend) back in January, becuase they wanted to share something with me, and that was the easiest way for them to do so.

Since that time, I have reconnected with scores of long-lost high school and college friends, created new virtual networks of people I know through my fife and drum-related activities, and shared most of my very busy goings-on with friends and family with whom I've sadly lost more physical personal contact. All-in-all, I think facebook is bringing people closer together.
btw - if you want to 'friend' me, Click here for my profile

[izzarina]

If we're doing the add thing, I don't mind adding people from here. But you'll have to pm me your FB name because I have my friend request thing turned off.

[Congratulations]

Link to my profile.

Add me!

[Flyingcursor]

That's three so far. I can't check it from work so I'll do it later.

[Azalin]

Yeah to me Facebook is great to connect to people you havent seen for a long time, and stay in touch with far away friends you'd normally not think about calling or emailing. I got a bunch of musician friends in there that live in England and Ireland and it's nice to be able to see what's going on in their lives sometimes, just by browsing a few pages.

I think some people are clearly obsessed with Facebook and will update their status and post pictures every hour or so, I think this is when it becomes a bit "sick".

[anniemcu]

Thanks emmline. You have increased my understanding immensely. The whole stalking thing I already encountered and find a bit errie. Case in point: I went to my Friend's page just after she invited me to join, I navigated around aimlessly a bit, recognised one of her Friends and clicked on her name. I the find myself wondering whether my Friend's Friend would want me reading personal messages to her.

It possibly works better for a real network like old classmates etc. and maybe even better still for young people

One does have the option, apparently not chosen by your friend's friend, to keep one's private conversations private.

I use it with a few special friends as a place to gather at our 'kitchen table' and kibbutz. Our church has a group there and several of us have a few (yeah, right) causes we like to support, at least morally. It's fun, a bit confusing, but loads cheaper than phone calls, and you can post your message at 3 in morning and no one gets mad.

YMMV