Do You Use FaceBook?

The Wiz made a post that made me start this thread. For myself, its a godsend. My wife has 4 sisters and a brother in Canada. we have a son in the AF and daughter who teaches college in NY, and my are inlaws in MT. My nephews and nieces are scattered everywhere. Every day is like a family reunion. Dozens of posts and every week, hundreds of pictures. It makes me sad for the people in the past, especially the immigrants, who waited months for word from their families. I spend at least half an hour a day on FB, its a wonder. My son is stationed in Europe and his beautiful finance is going to visit him this week and take tons of pics and post them all on FB. My wife is so excited she can hardly stand it. Thank god for FaceBook is all I can say..

Well, my parents live one floor below me. My younger brother's in the building directly behind ours (I can see his apartment from my window, actually). My older brother is about a mile away and we work for the same company, though not at the same location. My sister lives only 3 miles away, and I work for her husband (and at the same location). I don't have children nor do I ever intend to. And I was never close with any of my cousins, aunts or uncles.

So no.

No.

My family got involved in it about two years ago. It quickly started to consume my life. I bailed after about a week.


Then in Sept '09, I was at a Wedding Professional's conference. One of the sessions was about Social Media, and how to use it for business. When he got to the Q&A, I asked him: "During your presentation, you got 8 social media pop-up notifications. How do you keep up? Also, it used to be MySpace. Then it was FaceBook. Now it's Twitter. What's next?"

He didn't have a good answer for either os those questions.

I use it a little. At first I was one of the "it is nice for the kids" types. Then I heard about a group on facebook of my old workgroup. I wanted to keep touch with some of the people. So I joined. Somehow I seem to join most of these things during the "early majority" phase and later I realized that was when I joined FB. Anyways, I had little intention of finding the "old high school crowd." Some of them found me. Had a date with one who I didn't and still don't really remember her. But to me it lets you keep touch with people you liked but would never so much as have a beer with after work. So often these types are valuable contacts but tgrying to re-establish touch is awkward at the lease. So you FB every now and then and it is as if you never quit your old job, graduated from your old school, or left the old neighborhood. In a good way I mean :-)

When you do have the contacts it is an easy way to keep touch and send messages. When I moved to AZ I had to put some effort into finding an old college buddy when before I left. If FB existed then we would have been "friends" and I would have known more before I left. It wasn't big effort, but it did take some doing to find him as I had lost his email contact over the years.

Some people get addicted to FB. Women seem more prone to this than guys. I do not have time for a farm, mafia, or anything else, though I did on an old job. My friend list is limited, I do not open-network. They say the average kid has 400 friends on some ad I heard on the radio. That is a lot of people to know.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

it used to be MySpace. Then it was FaceBook. Now it's Twitter. What's next?"

I have been told by an I.T. person that, amongst them, there is an element of puzzlement and envy about this phenomenon. All of these guys dream of making it rich via their abilities, it seems, and felt you just need some good ideas.

So, I am told, sarcastically they say amongst themselves: "hey how about this idea? make a website where you can go and join a group and contact other people and post your pictures and ping this and that back and forth? Great idea huh?" Of course, the idea does not seem original at all! So all the I.T. people get to be glum and wonder, what the hell?

Apparently, MySpace first and then the others have to be given reluctant credit for doing it well anyway.

I do use Facebook but I am not a regular poster. It has been a good tool for tracking down a few people I lost contact with over the years and also for following friends who do interesting things (for example, I have a friend who is in a nationally-known band; I use it to keep in contact with him so that we can get together when their tour is in my area). It was nice to have after our last high school reunion--it keeps us in touch better than other means of communication.

I am not addicted to it--no one needs to know what I am doing all of the time. It really isn't all that interesting most days!! I check in, take a peak, write messages to someone if I need to, and then check on the forums I like. It gets no more time than this forum gets...

Quote: RonC

I am not addicted to it--.

I just look at it a couple times a day and keep caught up. Its a big time saver for me, no emails to write or questions to ask about whats happening.

Some of the Facebook games have taken hour of my life. I try and avoid it these days.

EDIT - although I have now gone on and found out I am the first person to "Like" the Wizard. and sent him a friend request. I need a life.

I use Facebook a lot and so do most of my friends. However I don't play any of the stupid games and block farmshit etc from showing up in my newsfeed.

I use it. Used to be heavily involved in lots of the games, but it got to be too much of a time waster. Now I check it everyday just for a quick catch up with my friends & family, but more more than 10-15 minutes. A couple times a week I may play Texas Hold'Em on there too if I'm in the mood.

It is convenient for reconnecting with old high school and college friends though.

I just use facebook to play games.

Quote: miplet

I just use facebook to play games.

LOL! Have you considered professional help?

Quote: EvenBob

The Wiz made a post that made me start this thread. For myself, its a godsend. My wife has 4 sisters and a brother in Canada. we have a son in the AF and daughter who teaches college in NY, and my are inlaws in MT. My nephews and nieces are scattered everywhere. Every day is like a family reunion. Dozens of posts and every week, hundreds of pictures. It makes me sad for the people in the past, especially the immigrants, who waited months for word from their families. I spend at least half an hour a day on FB, its a wonder. My son is stationed in Europe and his beautiful finance is going to visit him this week and take tons of pics and post them all on FB. My wife is so excited she can hardly stand it. Thank god for FaceBook is all I can say..
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I just had FB post a "memory" from 15 years ago! How time flies. I wonder how many people still use it like EB says he did in this old post. 90% of my contacts are people I have never met. Over the years I made contact with a few people who had similar posts and interests but they came and went. Currently I have around 5 people I have been actual friends with who post and reply on a regular basis. I do use the marketplace as it is now better than CL. I interact with a comic strip fan page or two.

I did have fun with it during the virus with a "Day X" count. Based on one of the networks counting the days for the Iran hostages. We were told it would be "2 weeks to flatten the curve" but I kept count as I wondered how long all it would really be. I forget how far I got, but it was over 600 IIRC. I stopped when we got to most of normal. People actually paid attention to it.

But it is not like back in the day when my training class was issued computers and within a minute almost everyone pulled up FB.

I got kicked off of Facebook for pointing out that Disney could fire everybody who wasn't a Nazi so DeSantis wouldn't kick them out of the state. This was well before DeSantis took over the Disney amusement park board of directors.
In other news, Spectrum just awarded me with a Disney+ Basic subscription on my Roku 3 today.

I use Facebook. My wife is addicted to it and spends many hours a day on it. I probably average less than 1/2 hour. Its a good and efficient way to keep track of extended family and friends -although most of male friends are not on it at all.

I am active in community theater and have recently appeared in a feature film, so Facebook gives me a way of keep track of what's going on in my local stage and film communities. I stay far away from politics and religious topics, and wish more people did that.

Quote: gordonm888

I use Facebook. My wife is addicted to it and spends many hours a day on it. I probably average less than 1/2 hour. Its a good and efficient way to keep track of extended family and friends -although most of male friends are not on it at all.

I am active in community theater and have recently appeared in a feature film, so Facebook gives me a way of keep track of what's going on in my local stage and film communities. I stay far away from politics and religious topics, and wish more people did that.
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For some reason women always took way more to it than men. Which was weird to me as most forums on the internet have always skewed even more but to the male side. I have seen sites there for casting calls and such as you describe.

FB did turn very, very political for some tine, which seems to have driven off users. Who there has not been unfriended over politics?

I got talked into Facebook either senior year of High School or late Junior year of HS (honestly do not remember, and it's gone now.) It was pitched to me as a way to stay in touch with people as everyone goes to college or off to do their own thing. I deleted in early 2020 (right as COVID was getting big.) I doubt that I will ever go back, it is freeing. Sure, the arguments that you can stay in touch with family, friends, high school people, college people, army people, former work people, whatever, from all stages of life has it's appeal, I think the cons outweigh the pros.

Also, worth noting, everyone I know that works for such a company (ironically including two from High School who originally talked me into it,) quickly deleted their social media upon getting such a job, and makes it clear that you are a fool to keep it. Now, privacy fears were not my main reason for getting rid of it (my stuff is out there, and even deleting it is only marginally useful.) But, it is a valid consideration for those concerned. And, for those concerned the best option is to never make an account in the first place (because it is never truly gone.)

But, for me the biggest issue was the drama, not only personal drama which happens. But, FB turns into a soundboard for conspiracies and nonsensical rants. And, I suspect that was the final nail in the coffin for me (after years of being tempted to delete,) during the start of COVID, nobody was travelling (or even working much,) so people were just sitting at home ranting endlessly. This meant that the few positive posts you could see (interesting travel photos, exciting work stories, etc....) were basically zero, and every post was some conspiratorial rant, or just nonsense. The first couple monthish of COVID was a great example of the few good aspects of FB being removed and all of the negatives being amplified. And, you can only engage so much with distant uncles posting about how BLM and China were planting COVID in schools or whatever, before you realize that there is no point to the platform (for me.) I have text messaging and email, people who want to send me photos and talk, easily can, I don't need to scroll through 95% meaningless content to find stuff.

If you are considering getting off, go for it. You would be shocked how good it feels. And, it is very easy to make a new account if you somehow regret it. You will quickly realize you lose nothing by deleting, and gain an incredible amount.

Quote: gordonm888

Its a good and efficient way to keep track of extended family and friends

There is just too much Facebook fluffing.
Pictures, posts, and stories about how great they are doing in life, including their finances one day.

Over the next few days, the phone rings from someone who's been posting such things. You're thinking it's probably to catch up so they can tell you in person how well things are going now, unfortunately you hear the opposite and they ask for a loan. Being puzzled, you mention that by all accounts on FB, they seem to be doing very well. They just pass it off as "Oh, well, you know how Facebook is.

One example wouldn't be notable, but I had a rash of similar situations happen in a relatively short period and began to take notice.

Fluffy isn't new, but it seems to be amplified on FB.

I rarely ever go on FB.

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Quote: AZDuffman

Who there has not been unfriended over politics?
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Dang. I was about to say I hadn't, but then I remembered the brother of a crazy ex-roommate disappeared off my feed shortly after a minor political disagreement.

Nowadays, I mostly link amusing (benign) videos I find, endure my female extended family members making disapproving comments about me, and have casual chats with my ex-brothers-in-law - sometimes Big News is "supposed" to trickle back to ex-family.

There are, of course, too many people trying to convince themselves that they have a wonderful life and that an up-thumb has value or meaning.

I use FB for the my sport activities club and hobbies clubs. Newer use it for politics. Got a big picture and deep discussion on the topics of my interest. Great communication tool but use it carefully

Quote: Dieter

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Quote: AZDuffman

Who there has not been unfriended over politics?
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Dang. I was about to say I hadn't, but then I remembered the brother of a crazy ex-roommate disappeared off my feed shortly after a minor political disagreement.

I used to have an add-on that told you if you were unfriended. I never replaced it when I replaced that computer. But it can be interesting how they happen. One guy did it after I told him off about some of his positions. Lets just say he complained about some things then did and said the same things but to his side in the right. I worked with him for years and was on good terms then. Some rants I lightly said something. But it got to the point when I had to tell him to sidownandshaddup. A day later he was no longer in my feed.

Other people just disappear. You wonder about them because usually you used to work with them or the like. You do not see things from them and look in your friends list and they are gone. Which differs from here and USNET before these kinds of forums where the person just stopped posting but you had no idea why.

I don't think I ever had a Facebook account. I did have a MySpace account just to monitor my daughter. In the last two years I have started looking at Facebook about once a week using my wife's account. Since I moved from Vegas that is how I keep up with some of our old friends. I have never posted anything but I like to read what some friends are up to.

Quote: DRich

I don't think I ever had a Facebook account. I did have a MySpace account just to monitor my daughter. In the last two years I have started looking at Facebook about once a week using my wife's account. Since I moved from Vegas that is how I keep up with some of our old friends. I have never posted anything but I like to read what some friends are up to.
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That's what I do, I read about what other people are doing but I never post anything except maybe once a year. I figure that I'm barely interested in what I'm doing why would anybody else be interested in it. I do make comments on people's pictures once in awhile.

How different FB and Wizard of Vegas forum? It is The same concept! Read& post or just read...
FB is a great communication tool. It is like sharp edge knife... use it. Nothing wrong here,,, be responsible to use. Follow to communication post rules. Use to run with a smart administration

Quote: VladAlex1

How different FB and Wizard of Vegas forum? It is The same concept!

Yes and no. WoV and other forums are the next generation of USENET. USENET groups were set up to give a common place for people with common interests to go. it was self-governing. Pre-WWW you had to find a way to get internet access. Even on a college campus not everyone was granted an account, though most people did not know it existed in the first place. This made it remarkably self-governing. Spam had not yet been invented and any poster "spamming" was handled.

After AOL let anyone have an account USENET was destroyed. Spam flooded the place, and behavior changed. It was no longer a place where everyone behaved because everyone was expected to behave. Places like WoV came about and appealed to those of us who remembered the old days and those who would have liked those days. It was about chatting, like on a shortwave radio.

FB was set up as a "social network." It was not little groups such as sci.econ where people came to discuss economics and everyone say everything. It was where you had "friends" and you discussed this or that among that group. The difference is EB saw his friends and I saw mine, we never crossed. You met new "friends" by seeing friends of friends. Later the games allowed people to make friends, though I have not heard of people using FB games in forever.

That is where it is different. WoV is about Vegas and gambling. People who are interested in casinos or Las Vegas in general come here. FB is about networking and used as such more.

Quote: VladAlex1

How different FB and Wizard of Vegas forum? It is The same concept! Read& post or just read...
FB is a great communication tool. It is like sharp edge knife... use it. Nothing wrong here,,, be responsible to use. Follow to communication post rules. Use to run with a smart administration
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This was well answered, but some of the pragmatic differences are overlooked.

It is harder for a new member to spam us with advert photos or links.
The "Thank You" feature is dissimilar to the "Like" feature. (Different people mean different things when they thank a post; some people are marking that they've read it, some people are signifying agreement, some people have other meanings.)
Facebook seems to be "general interest", where WoV is substantially more specialized.
Facebook is heavy on clickbait SEO links to mommyblogs that are supposed to be giving me a recipe for the most amazing hot apple cider, but getting lost in 3 pages of backstory about family applepicking trips at the orchard while wearing new matching flannel shirts and how little Sandy got bounced off the haywagon.

OK I got this WoV forum is very much filtered and well administrated. But FB group rules can be also filtered by membership allowance and group stricter rules.
We can learn some lessons from FB admin rules

Here is My Bike private group example:

Private
Only members can see who's in the group and what they post.

Visible
Anyone can find this group.

Group rules from the admin
There is enough negativity and disrespect in the world, don't bring it here. Bikes are fun, and SS's are even more fun so don't ruin by being an ass. You will be blocked.

In some eligible groups, admins have access to a tool that flags potential violations of the Facebook Community Standards. The admins can then do one of the following:
Agree and remove the content

Request that a Meta review team take another look. If the review team decides that the content doesn't violate the Facebook Community Standards, the content will be automatically restored. If the team determines that the content does violate the Facebook Community Standards, they will take down the content and the violation will show up in the group's Group Quality.

Restore the content (only available in some groups for content flagged for bullying and harassment). An admin might use this option if their understanding is that the content was not intended as bullying and harassment (example: “I hear you, dog”).

If your content was flagged and held for admin review:
You’ll receive a notification.

You can see the flagged content by going to your group, clicking more , selecting Your content, then selecting Flagged.
You’ll receive another notification if the flagged content was then removed by an admin or the Meta review team.
Note:
If this tool is available to admins of a group you’re in, there will be a notice in the group’s About section saying that this group may contain flagged content.
If you see content that was restored by the group admins but you think it should have been removed, you can still report it.
Admins of some groups also have the option to choose what happens by default to all content flagged for bullying and harassment.
The tool flags potential violations by both members and admins/moderators.

I haven't had Facebook in almost ten years now. I can't believe it's still around... I feel like the novelty wore off years ago.

Quote: TigerWu

I haven't had Facebook in almost ten years now. I can't believe it's still around... I feel like the novelty wore off years ago.
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No novelty, you have an extended family that's where they all stay in contact with each other. It's absolutely perfect for that. I was just there today reading about what people are doing. Pictures videos, you can make real-time comments. Certainly beats the days when you had to wait for a postcard from Grandma to come in the mail because she's the only one that knew what everybody in the family was doing.

Agreed 100%. FB is a great family-friends-clubs tool. It works perfect for few billions happy users across generations They are very comfortable to use and contribute. Novelty and usability are different things.

Quote: VladAlex1

Agreed 100%. FB is a great family-friends-clubs tool. It works perfect for few billions happy users across generations They are very comfortable to use and contribute. Novelty and usability are different things.
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I wasn't joking about the postcard. In the 1960s we used to get periodic postcards from my grandma and she would tell us what everybody in the family was doing. My dad had four brothers and one sister and she would tell us what everybody was up to. Nobody talked long distance because it was so horrendously expensive. But everybody wrote letters to Grandma and she just conveyed the information to everybody else. Facebook has taken the place of that. When I was a kid we only got long distance calls when somebody died. If the phone rang at 3:00 a.m. the entire house was up because we knew it was bad news. Calling somebody long distance just to find out how they were doing, unimaginable. And even with the emergency call in the middle of the night they only talked for less than a minute because if you talk for more than a minute you paid more money.

I still use Facebook a few times a week, though I don't post to it as much as I used to when I first joined around 2009.

It used to be that you'd see everything that your friends were posting, but now you usually see their postings only if they included a photo.
Most everything in your feed is now some kind of advertising or a video of something that you've indicated you're interested in. For example, I have to stop myself from clicking on a funny or interesting NFL, MLB or NBA video, or else I'll just keep getting more of them suggested to me. So now I don't click on any of them.

Also, if I don't sign in for a few days, Facebook sends me several emails about what friends are posting, but they're usually LIES! It'll say so-and-so posted a new video, and I know it's a lie because that person never posts videos!

The main thing that I look forward to is Facebook Memories, which is an anniversary of something I did years ago, usually pictures I posted of my kids when they were toddlers, or jokes that I made 10 years ago and even I forgot them!

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: VladAlex1

Agreed 100%. FB is a great family-friends-clubs tool. It works perfect for few billions happy users across generations They are very comfortable to use and contribute. Novelty and usability are different things.
link to original post

I wasn't joking about the postcard. In the 1960s we used to get periodic postcards from my grandma and she would tell us what everybody in the family was doing. My dad had four brothers and one sister and she would tell us what everybody was up to. Nobody talked long distance because it was so horrendously expensive. But everybody wrote letters to Grandma and she just conveyed the information to everybody else. Facebook has taken the place of that. When I was a kid we only got long distance calls when somebody died. If the phone rang at 3:00 a.m. the entire house was up because we knew it was bad news. Calling somebody long distance just to find out how they were doing, unimaginable. And even with the emergency call in the middle of the night they only talked for less than a minute because if you talk for more than a minute you paid more money.
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Long distance was such a luxury that there was a tax placed on it to pay for the Spanish-American War. It lasted until the 1980s IIRC. The idea was it was a tax that only the upper classes would actually pay since nobody used long distance then. Even in the 70s you waited until the rates went down to make a call.

(snipped)

Quote: AZDuffman

Even in the 70s you waited until the rates went down to make a call.
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Some variant of this still existed in the 1990's and 2000's, with "Night and Weekend minutes" for cell phones.

Facebook is a Cesspool of Fraud, Fake Accounts, Scams and Worse..

Ironically modern printed postcards are overpriced $5-$10
it is a luxury way to greet and popularity is growing. A lovely paper make a huge impact for many people. It is not nostalgic gift anymore. Can not compare with text msg or email. Today it is Super Cool thing

FB chart by countries
https://www.statista.com/statistics/268136/top-15-countries-based-on-number-of-facebook-users/

By age
https://www.statista.com/statistics/376128/facebook-global-user-age-distribution/

US read #8
https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-statistics/

Quote: VladAlex1

Ironically modern printed postcards are overpriced $5-$10
it is a luxury way to greet and popularity is growing. A lovely paper make a huge impact for many people. It is not nostalgic gift anymore. Can not compare with text msg or email. Today it is Super Cool thing
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The postcards my grandma used were the ones you bought at the post office for two sets each. You can write a lot on them if you write small and for two cents she could send one to everybody. I never thought about that, she actually had to sit down and write probably half a dozen postcards all saying the same thing. What a job.

One thing I don't like about Facebook and somebody already mentioned it. Like one time I clicked on a leather jacket and for the next year I got ads for leather jackets. And I didn't even want one. It's that way for everything on the internet you don't dare click on anything because you'll be bombarded with ads forever.

Quote: EvenBob

One thing I don't like about Facebook and somebody already mentioned it. Like one time I clicked on a leather jacket and for the next year I got ads for leather jackets. And I didn't even want one. It's that way for everything on the internet you don't dare click on anything because you'll be bombarded with ads forever.
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... and once you get a "tracking pixel", any web browsing you do gets mixed in. So if you look up an RV dealer to help your brother-in-law find a part, you get ads for new RV's for the next few years.
I'm partly convinced that "they" start advertising to you based on what your social group is interested in, so if your girlfriend's friend starts searching for jewelry, you get ads. (I have no proof, but...)

Quote: Dieter

(snipped)

Quote: AZDuffman

Even in the 70s you waited until the rates went down to make a call.
link to original post

Some variant of this still existed in the 1990's and 2000's, with "Night and Weekend minutes" for cell phones.
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In 1998 I had unlimited weekends and free LD on my cell so I started calling my parents every weekend. But they still limited it to 500 minutes a month otherwise so was not able to cut the landline at that point.

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: miplet

I just use facebook to play games.

LOL! Have you considered professional help?
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I quit playing Facebook games cold turkey one day and haven’t played one since.