Should I join Facebook?

[farmkid]

So far, I have not joined Facebook or any of the other similar sites. Lately, however, I've been hearing from various sources about how big Facebook is getting and how it is becoming the main communication medium for many people, and I wonder if I need to join as well so that I'm not left behind. Its importance has only been underscored by its role in the civil unrest currently going on in the middle east. I don't want to be like someone who didn't get online or get an email account until 2005 because they could still send letters through the mail. On the other hand, I read through my wife's Facebook page and my eyes quickly roll to the back of my head at all the inane pointless stuff people post. I would never post about what I had for breakfast, or the household chores I'm doing, or how much I hate/enjoy my commute to work. Nor do I care about what anyone else had for breakfast, etc.

So, I ask you, should I join? What are the pros and cons? Is there really that much more than just inane idle chatter?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Pros - easy to communicate with people and share things that need sharing. If people are annoying, you can always ignore them.

Cons - people are annoying.

Is it really much more than inane idle chatter? Not much more, although more.

 

[CaptainStoner]

If you have *real* friends scattered across your State, across the country, or the planet for that matter, then yes.

 

[RoJoHen]

If you have *real* friends scattered across your State, across the country, or the planet for that matter, then yes.

Agreed.

Facebook is the main way I keep in touch with a lot of people that I would have otherwise completely lost contact with by now.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

There's no right or wrong answer to your question. If you're joining just because you think you "should", don't bother.

The cons:

-All that inanity that makes you roll your eyes. People who post much of that crap, I unfriend quickly (except my godchildren -- see below).
-Privacy issues. If you do join, you need to set your privacy controls very carefully, or you may be telling the whole world things that you don't want the whole world to know.
-People friending you whom you have no interest in, like the kid who remembers you from elementary school. (If we don't start having relatively interesting conversations, I unfriend them after six months or a year.)

The pros, or rather why I personally like FB:

-I have reconnected w/ my godchlldren. Given their ages -- late teens through 30ish -- this seems to be their main form of communication.
-I have reconnected w/ a couple out-of-state cousins whom I hadn't heard from in years.
-I chat w/ a few interesting people whom I am unlikely to have met in real life, like a couple writers and musicians whom I admire.

BTW, I have never posted what I ate for breakfast (or any other meal) on FB. But, for the record, I'm about to have fettuccine alfredo for lunch.

 

[farmkid]

There's no right or wrong answer to your question. If you're joining just because you think you "should", don't bother.

The cons:

-All that inanity that makes you roll your eyes. People who post much of that crap, I unfriend quickly (except my godchildren -- see below).
-Privacy issues. If you do join, you need to set your privacy controls very carefully, or you may be telling the whole world things that you don't want the whole world to know.
-People friending you whom you have no interest in, like the kid who remembers you from elementary school. (If we don't start having relatively interesting conversations, I unfriend them after six months or a year.)

The pros, or rather why I personally like FB:

-I have reconnected w/ my godchlldren. Given their ages -- late teens through 30ish -- this seems to be their main form of communication.
-I have reconnected w/ a couple out-of-state cousins whom I hadn't heard from in years.
-I chat w/ a few interesting people whom I am unlikely to have met in real life, like a couple writers and musicians whom I admire.

I do have friends I would like to keep in contact with, just not that much contact. I would like to communicate with them once in a while, when there's something worth communicating about, but not every day about such pointless stuff.

BTW, I have never posted what I ate for breakfast (or any other meal) on FB. But, for the record, I'm about to have fettuccine alfredo for lunch.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I do have friends I would like to keep in contact with, just not that much contact. I would like to communicate with them once in a while, when there's something worth communicating about, but not every day about such pointless stuff.

That's actually a good reason for joining Facebook. You can use it to send messages to people directly if you just want to talk to them, but more often than not people post photos or updates on their life on their wall so that everyone on their friend list can read it. When you go to Facebook you have a feed that continually updates what your friends have said or posted or changed in their profile.

So while I have no desire to send specific messages or have long conversations with, say, my extended cousins, it is nice to be able to know when they are engaged, or see pictures of their newborn, or find out what colleges they were accepted to. If I wasn't part of Facebook, I would just never know or see those things as I rarely speak to them on the phone or through regular mail.

Sure, there are the annoying people who update with their boring daily routines, but most people use it for updating major life events or posting photos or wishing friends and family happy birthdays, that sort of thing.

You might as well join and try it out for a little while. You don't have to post anything yourself - I rarely post any updates unless something major has happened - but it is nice to be able to stay up to date on the lives of people you care about but don't speak to otherwise. You can always block some people from showing up on your feed if they are super annoying, this way you can stay friends with them but don't have to read their inane drivel.

And if you find yourself really not caring about anything you've seen then you can delete your account and move on with life!

 

[Alidar Jarok]

you can block their statuses if you want.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I do have friends I would like to keep in contact with, just not that much contact. I would like to communicate with them once in a while, when there's something worth communicating about, but not every day about such pointless stuff.

BTW, I have never posted what I ate for breakfast (or any other meal) on FB. But, for the record, I'm about to have fettuccine alfredo for lunch.

Like Spot's Meow said, FB is very flexible. You can communicate w/ someone as much or as little as you want. I rarely post my own "status"; when I do, it's usually a comment and link to an article that I think people would be interested in. Mostly, I comment on their posts.

Oh, I should mention... I just had an apple for dessert.

 

[Trekker4747]

Cons: People are VERY insistent you play annoying flash-games designed with Fisher-Price graphics with them.

 

[RoJoHen]

Cons: People are VERY insistent you play annoying flash-games designed with Fisher-Price graphics with them.

Until you block those games, and then they never bother you again. I haven't seen anything for a game in over a year.

 

[doublegoodprole]

Only join Facebook if you are a well-adjusted person with lots of self-esteem and friends. Otherwise, it will just be a big, ugly, annoying reminder of all your failures in life.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I abandoned Facebook awhile ago. It's useless to me. Plus I find it a gross violation of privacy.

 

[Kestra]

I absolutely think you should join. It's a unique experience and it's difficult to describe in enough detail for you to make a decision. Plus, I feel the experience varies considerably based on who you friend on there.

I was on Facebook for several years before the cons outweighed the pros. I've deactivated my account and haven't really missed it since then. But I'd never consider joining a mistake in the first place. I say join, see if it's useful, and get rid of your account if you don't like it.

 

[RoJoHen]

Plus I find it a gross violation of privacy.

Only if you allow it to be.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Good luck finding out how. Facebook's privacy controls - what little of them there are - are not what you would call clear. It's like a damned maze.

The best advice I can give anyone regarding Facebook? This.

 

[RoJoHen]

Um, I have found out how. It's really not hard. You go under the tab that says "Privacy Controls."

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Cons: People are VERY insistent you play annoying flash-games designed with Fisher-Price graphics with them.

Until you block those games, and then they never bother you again. I haven't seen anything for a game in over a year.

Me neither.

Um, I have found out how. It's really not hard. You go under the tab that says "Privacy Controls."

Exactly. Very simple.

The only thing I can think of that you can't control is if someone posts about you (perhaps a photo) on their account. But that can happen even if you don't belong to FB!

 

[RoJoHen]

The only thing I can think of that you can't control is if someone posts about you (perhaps a photo) on their account. But that can happen even if you don't belong to FB!

Well, that's true of the entire internet. I could post a photo of my entire family on the TrekBBS, and there's nothing they could do about it.

At least with Facebook you can un-tag a photo of you if somebody else posts it. That way your name won't be attached to it.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Well, that's true of the entire internet. I could post a photo of my entire family on the TrekBBS, and there's nothing they could do about it.

Thank you, RoJoHen, that's actually what I meant. The mind wandered...