Facebook

Facebook (and similar social networking websites) - the popular social networking website.


Is it an example of how we are being conditioned to interact with each other through computers, rather than getting out into the world andf interacting with people face to face?

Does it represent the new face of surveillance - keeping tabs on what your neighbours up to?

Or is it just a bit of fun, representing nothing more than a means of keeping in touch with old friends and a means of making new friends?

I'm not 100% sure what i think/how i feel about facebook to be honest.

What do you think of facebook (and similar social networking websites)?

Cheers.

Not had a look JT. have you got a profile on FB yourself ?

I like the idea of families being able to video call other family members around the country/world, but not quite kicking off with my generation, hopefully all teenagers from today should be normalised with that in the future though ?? better than sending a text message ? bit like star trek with the video handsets, thats coming/here so that should be funky ?

only thing is not sure if the wirless setups bugger up wildlife, like bats...?

It's the technology wot's to blame Guv!

It's an interesting phenomenon that no doubt will (and is being) be exploited for all sorts of purposes good and bad. I would suggest it's a bit like the telephone, coming of the railways and invention of the wheel - they have all revolutionised people's lives.

In modern times (post WW1) village life and local family dependency has withered to the extent that people have become somewhat anonymous and this may have a lot to do with the breakdown of community and responsibility in some strata of society. Social networking sites hopefully may reverse this to some degree albeit in a very different way. Years ago you might hardly ever meet people in neighbouring towns/villages - my neighbour in Wiltshire in the 1970s had never been out of the county, not even been to London which was only a couple of hours by train!

Now, with Facebook etc you can "meet up" with someone round the other side of the world and have a conversation - quite incredible when you think about it - look what is done on T2W (millions lost & made through virtual meetings and advice!). A major difference is that this can be done anonymously - obviously this has a sinister aspect also, especially for the unwary and trusting. On the other hand, you can make your views known to millions world-wide. Considerably different to the age when you got on your soapbox to address a few dozen or really made it big-time in a newspaper rarely read abroad.

In essence it's just another piece of wondrous technology - who'd have ever thought that the concept of 0s and 1s would ever develop to this extent? But technology is like politicians: it needs to be kept under control and harnesssed to worthwhile purposes. The potential for abuse is infinite - but hasn't it always been that way since they invented the wheel ?

Mobile tech update !!

Second thoughts, scrap that, just remembered the kids (young adults) still run for a text message when eating a meal. !! Sometimes they say if they have been out of the room , "why didnt you answer my mobile when it was ringing?" LOL **** off. their phones are going off every 3 mins... AND "oh have a look at these photo's on my phone", I scroll through and come across their boyfriends posing naked on the couch !! lol. Fair play.

wish I had one when I was their age. Don't know how they get through school to be honest with all these gadgets going off all nite.

Bonzer!

i think its well strange, for example people are adding me as a friend yet when i see them in the street they don't even talk to me or just say hi................I think alot of people on facebook are more concerned with getting the most amount of friends so they look popular, to me its bull**** but i must admit i caught up with some good friends of mine from my school and council estate i was bought up on so in that respect i like it.

wish I had one when I was their age. Don't know how they get through school to be honest with all these gadgets going off all nite.

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School is a walk in the park these days .


.....Yes i use facebook a little, though am slightly cautious about what i put on there.
I generally see it as a good way to maintain a small amount of contact with old friends etc.

jayjay121 said:

i think its well strange, for example people are adding me as a friend yet when i see them in the street they don't even talk to me or just say hi................I think alot of people on facebook are more concerned with getting the most amount of friends so they look popular, to me its bull**** but i must admit i caught up with some good friends of mine from my school and council estate i was bought up on so in that respect i like it.

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I agree.

I saw one facebook group that was called "why add me on facebook if you ignore me in real liefe!"

In the main, I have tended to let people add me as friends so far. Means more that way, as it shows they've taken the trouble to look me up. But then if everyone thought like that no-one would have any....certainly don't have 1000's of friends like some of my friends do.

I certainly don't intend to get hooked on FB. Although some games like "WordCount" and "How Big Is Your Brain" can be pretty addictive for a short while.

facebook is by far the best S.N. site IMO though.
Its interesting to see how its rivals including myspace & friendsreunited have had to look at themselves, admit/realise that they are pretty damn s***, and make some major improvements to try & keep up - only they haven't!

I beleive S.N. sites are not here to 'over run' real life social events but to facilitate them.

davidkp said:

I beleive S.N. sites are not here to 'over run' real life social events but to facilitate them.

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I agree. But there's a danger that they could become a substitute for real life events in some ways also. Bloody things, I'm deleting it from my favourites column!

Crap Buddist said:

come across their boyfriends posing naked on the couch

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Is this kind of language acceptable on this forum?

GammaJammer said:

I love it personally - I have a lot of mates that don't live in London and it's great for keeping in touch with them.

The fact is, we have wider family and social circles than we did 50 years ago, and at the same time we're busier (most of us). So for me it's great.

But what I don't like is all the silly little applications. I have a couple of mates who bombard me with sheep, bite me, invite me to be a knight at camelot etc etc. Can't be doing with all that cr@p.

GJ

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Yes the applications can be a bit of a nuisance.

Good point about wider social circles these days......But at the same time, we're living more privatised lifestyles.....
Can you (all of us generally) name your neighbours, do you speak to or acknowledge your neighbours, within the local community, do you have any involvement,or is your village merely a base to live, with all your activity done elsewhere involving travel outside the village etc.etc.

Well we live in an apartment building and know pretty much all neighbours by sight and say Hi, or even have short conversations with some of em, but that's pretty much it, ie no socialising in terms of drinks / dinners etc with neighbours.

Home is where I like to potter around in pretty splendid isolation without somebody coming round ringing the bell ten times a day wanting a chat or a shag (haha just kidding), if I or us both want some kicks or social activities we'll go out.

Re Facebook etc, I see the point where it's useful for staying in contact with people you know, but beyond that all these things can pretty quickly turn out to be a pretty massive drain on your time.

I used to be on a lot of these things, but have pretty much cut it down to T2W at this time, a place where you can have a chat and a laugh with people doing the same stuff you do.

Not that you can't do that with people doing something totally different, obviously, but I guess the main point for me was limiting my online chatting time to one site, and that turned out being this.

One reason may well be that here there seems to be quite a bit less anonymous on-line wanna-be posturing that so much else of the interactive web seems to attract.

GammaJammer said:

All together now....

"sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name....."

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Yay GJ, and Markus replies:

YouTube - The Beatles - All Together Now



PS, I'm also using T2W to drum up support for what I thought was a brilliant business idea, my well-thought out Plan B, unfortunately I haven't had any takers yet:

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/general-trading-chat/33258-what-do-you-want-acheive.html#post443292

GammaJammer said:

I love it personally - I have a lot of mates that don't live in London and it's great for keeping in touch with them.

The fact is, we have wider family and social circles than we did 50 years ago, and at the same time we're busier (most of us). So for me it's great.

But what I don't like is all the silly little applications. I have a couple of mates who bombard me with sheep, bite me, invite me to be a knight at camelot etc etc. Can't be doing with all that cr@p.

GJ

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Agree with that entirely. Facebook was much better for that kind of use before all the applications came along. I'd love somebody to come along and create a not-for-profit social networking site in a similar vein to facebook before applications. Keeping it dead simple with the goal to provide an easy to use, no-thrills vehicle for people to keep in touch with friends/family who may not be very easy to keep in contact with otherwise.

I hate people and try to avoid them as much as possible. Why would I want to "socialise" with them online, especially strangers!? The whole thing is ludicrous....Go away and leave me alone!

Im the only person I know who doesnt use it. My life is private and it doesnt appeal to me putting info or pictures of myself up, thing is when I have been on a friends account looking through peoples photos there has been pictures of me up there that I never knew about! Very annoying. Btw, Im the type of person who ordered a new passport last year so I would get an extra ten years of avoiding a compulsory biometric passport even though I had something like 3 yrs left on the old one. Big Brother and all that...no point making it easy for the barstewards.

sinimini said:

Im the only person I know who doesnt use it. My life is private and it doesnt appeal to me putting info or pictures of myself up, thing is when I have been on a friends account looking through peoples photos there has been pictures of me up there that I never knew about! Very annoying. Btw, Im the type of person who ordered a new passport last year so I would get an extra ten years of avoiding a compulsory biometric passport even though I had something like 3 yrs left on the old one. Big Brother and all that...no point making it easy for the barstewards.

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I don't understand people that are so paranoid although no offence to you is meant by that. I couldn't even get my mate to open a betonmarkets account the other day where they give you a free money bet because he was scared of giving his birthday and address?!