The evils of Facebook....

[Thinktank]

Facebook is one of those things I never liked when it started (2004) and for years I never really understood how it worked. Was it supposed to be used to promote your business at the beginning?

I heard Facebook is as big as google. It has 1.5 billion people, yet you can not speak to a human if you have a problem. I think that's evil.

But if you do it right, isn't Facebook a genius idea? You can keep in contact with people and never lose their emails. You can keep pictures in one place. You can contact your friends easily if you need to

Some people on Facebook let everyone on earth see their stuff - others say "you are not allowed to see who their friends are."

I finally got a Facebook page a few years ago, but then stopped completely after five friends because I realized I do not want many people, including aunts cousins etc to know what I'm doing, because along with the mostly good people who would know what I'm doing, some jerks would also know and I don't want that.

I noticed a lot of people are extremely economical with their photos on Facebook. They put one photo a year from their vacations. There's something bad about telling too many people 'too much' about yourself.

I refuse to put anything up on Facebook myself, but I do check other people's pages occasionally.

[Queen K]

So you have a ghost facebook page but spy on others. UMMMM, you don't see that as a contradiction?

One of the things about facebook I don't like is when you see that so and so has so many of your friends added, does that imply some kind of pressure to now add them to your "friend request list"?

I hope not, because I rarely if ever do it that way.

[Glacier]

So you have a ghost facebook page but spy on others. UMMMM, you don't see that as a contradiction?

I unfriend everyone who has more friends than me. Pretty soon it will just be that guy who bitterly complains about Facebook because he has no friends to begin with.

[JayByrd]

One of the things about facebook I don't like is when you see that so and so has so many of your friends added, does that imply some kind of pressure to now add them to your "friend request list"?

I hope not, because I rarely if ever do it that way.

Well, it's only pressure if you feel pressured. Facebook tells you about people you have mutual friends with, because there's an increased chance that you will know that person. The whole idea of Facebook is connecting and sharing, and Facebook will always encourage you to do that. It's not such a longshot that you'd send a request to a colleague who's already friended up with half a dozen people you work with.

When I look at the people I have several mutual friends with, it's mostly relatives of close friends of mine, or co-workers. In most cases I at least know who they are, and I'm pretty clear on whether I'd want to add them or not. I'm also FB friends with a couple of prominent locals (one a musician, the other a City Councillor) which creates tons of connections, because they have something like 8000 FB friends between them.

You can look at FB as a platform that simply wants to mine your data, or as an altruistic entity that really does want you to connect and share. Either way, they're going to encourage you to be active.

[Queen K]

Ask anyone who knows me on facebook, encouraging me to be active there is not a problem! For me anyways.

[Barney Google]

Jokingly I asked a few pages back..."What's Facebook"?

Some kindly souls explained it for me and I appreciated their thoughtfulness towards and Ol' Fart.

I do though in fact know what Facebook is and have a bit of experience with it.

I use it mostly for business purposes.

I have seen and know of some pretty awful things going down on Facebook.

Mostly because people, in my opinion, post too much personal information on it AND for some reason

do not 'get' the scope of which their information can be shared and viewed. I've seen a number of people get

'attacked' and that resulted in them being badly hurt.

I know of a few young people who posted their 'good times' on Facebook and as a result lost employment opportunities.

I've watched recreational organisation's 'dirty laundry' being aired for the entire World to comment on.

Yes, Facebook has it's good sides but for those who are not careful or who do not understand how it works it can be

very hurtful.

For goodness sake, there have been many folks who media has reported that committed suicide because of Facebook

attacks.

As with everything, moderation is key but for some reason there seems to be a few folks out there that don't

get what 'moderation' is.

[Ub2]

100% Barney.

[Queen K]

I know some keyboard warriors may get a meeting coming up. There's already talk.

[JayByrd]

While I don't have many friends among the under-20 set, my understanding is that young people are flocking away from Facebook, for some of the reasons mentioned above...it's too public, and there's too much drama there. They've migrated to apps like Instagram and snapchat, which are less searchable (but not completely hidden) and give them more control over their audience. While they're not deleting their accounts, Facebook has become the site where you post stuff for your grandma to "like" and comment on, while Insta is the place to interact with your friends. And really, all young guys and gals want to do is look at pictures of each other anyway.

[Queen K]

What's your beef about facebook?

That it is possible for people to find out who I really am.

Exactly, now have people creeping your page and shaming and admonishing you for your "LIKED" section. Or keeping you out of an organization, trade or professional career (teaching) based on it.

And Old Techie, this is what I'm talking about.

[Queen K]

AND if you want to see how nasty people can be, go on a National Media site and give your opinion on anything. LOL

Oh yes! And look out for anyone with an NDP bent. Especially GASP teachers.

[Queen K]

http://www.castanet.net/news/World/88645/Facebook-an-open-book-on-private-lives

Oh No! More reasons to delete all your likes on FB. Profiling! I never considered books, movies, acts and a few other things needing to be "liked" so it looks like I'm a cultural wasteland who has never heard of an author. What would fb analysts say about that?

I call BS on this one. There is no way that this software is capable of getting an accurate profile of people with "likes."

OOOH PLEASE, let Rwede know! He's creeping teacher's facebook profiles and drawing conclusions

[Barney Google]

I have serious issues with FB...it has been a driving element in the upsurge of bullying and attacking in my opinion.

I also find it disturbing that some people seem to LIVE on it...posting everything from what they do every single

moment of every day to very personal issues and topics.

Just this past weekend I noticed a post from some poor lady that was obviously having some kind of very personal

meltdown...how sad that FB is a place she feels comfortable posting her personal crisis on.

She was lashing out at her friends and family...oh my goodness...it was heartbreaking to read the angst.

You can delete that stuff AFTER the fact but you can't delete the memories of it.

I have no idea how people resolve these PUBLIC outbursts of devastating personal struggles.

I wouldn't use FB if it wasn't for business and professional use...I NEVER post personal stuff on it.

And yes, the young people I know have moved away from FB...they didn't like their parents and other

relatives 'creeping'/'monitoring' them...

[Thinktank]

[Silverstarqueen]

Sometimes the reactions (comments) by some people on Facebook are hilarious. The other day I had commented about how my horse loved me, and my dogs loved me etc.and the dogs would protect me or my horse if necessary,, pretty innocuous for a horse lovers type FB page (and someone had said how much her dogs loved her). I got a nasty message from someone else that I should not be commenting on "her" post, with my" Nasty (insert swear words) comments" etc. (it was actually my thread that I had started with a humorous photo about horses). I don't know what bad things were going on in her life, but I suppose a different recipient might have take her more seriously. Really I don't take a lot of the negative stuff on FB too seriously, otherwise a person would go nuts.