To Facebook? Or Not to Facebook?

I think I’m addicted to facebook. Had I know how addicting it is, I would have never signed up, haha. It’s a great tool for inviting people to events or getting their email addresses. It’s also interesting to see what people you went to grade school, high school and college are up to. But there’s two annoying things: status updates (like twitter) and instant messaging. You make people your friend and you’re stuck reading about what they’re eating, their favorite quotes, etc. I’ve deleted people just because their status updates annoyed me. And the instant messaging is just bringing aol circa 1996 back lol. As far as tagging you in pictures, if you don’t like how you look in a picture you can “untag” yourself. The picture will still be up but won’t be associated with your name. The way I figure it is that people would put pictures of me up if I’m on facebook or not. I hope that helps.

I avoided facebook for a long time also! I graduated from college before it existed so it just seemed like something the ‘kids’ did But.. I LOVE IT. I love seeing what all my sorority sisters are up to. I love stalking people’s kid and vacation photos. I love updating my status (sort like twittering to me). I am AWFUL at email and phone – so it’s a quick easy way to keep up for friends.

The good thing is that facebook has a TON of permissions settings. You can turn off your wall so people can only contact you via private messages. You can control what ‘feeds’ get published on your wall. You can set it up so only you see if someone tags you. You can also ‘untag’ yourself in any photos So really you can totally customize it and restrict it to your liking!

Some days I get sucked in – and other days I forget to even look at it I’d say on avg I spend 15 min – 1 hr on it daily. I spend more time in my google reader

OH yeah – and I IGNORE pretty much ‘request’ I get send to add random applications – and do ‘the wave’

I’ve been on Facebook since 2003, when only college students were able to make an account. I didn’t use it much until recently. I have to say I really recommend it. I have found friends who I haven’t talked to in year on it. My Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade teachers even have accounts! The only thing that bothers me if when parents join because they think it’s “cool”. As long as mine don’t, I’ll keep using it!

i will warn you that it is a time suck. a delicious on at that, much like twitter. i was hesitant at first but then caved to pressure [so unlike my still standing fued with myspace] and signed up. at first i thought it would only last a few months…so almost a year later…lol.

but your concerns: you don’t have to “friend” everyone that requests it. you can simply ignore the invitation [which i've done a few times myself]. you can also adjust the privacy controls so that your profile is only accessible to those you want it to be accessible [everyone else can see a truncated version], you can keep your page from being searchable from google and the likes and like deanna said, you can untag yourself from pictures. and you can disable the chat function too. you can appear offline even if you’re online.

and what’s facebook etiqutte? lol. i wonder if guilty of stuff. haha.

but i’m on it several times a day since i work at a computer [much like twitter] though i get bored quickly but that’s just the nature of the beast. i don’t post my own photos so all the ones i have up are from friends who’ve tagged me. i figure between my blog and my flickr accounts there’s enough photos of me floating around as is.

I’m not on, hubby is and regrets joining. If we haven’t talked to people in a year, it’s for good reason, we keep in regular touch with our closest friends. I blog too, but it’s for me, i’m totally in control of when and what i post and don’t get pestered by other people. Even the invites to be “friends”can get annoying if there’s a reason you weren’t seeking them out in the first place. I’d rather use that time crafting…Just my 2 cents.

It is a horrible waste of time. You have a beautiful hobby, and it’s nice of you (all of us) to spend our time focusing on that, and not spying on what other people are doing at all hours of the day. I will admit that Facebook was really fun at first, but now I find it draining and quite frankly, ridiculous. I’ve been meaning to quit it, but the random long lost connections you make with your old childhood friends makes it well worth it. I’d just say… be really selective with who you “friend” or it will change the experience. Once I started accepting (and asking for! I’m not saying this is all “someone elses” fault) friend requests from people like say… kids I used to babysit (who are no longer kids of course), and clients, and coworkers, it dramatically changed the experience. You have to be really careful with what you say, and I really think it’s just another way of getting yourself into trouble… plus you can’t control what pictures others put up of you on there. I really really don’t like it. We’re trying to launch the weddingbee facebook group so I have to stay on for business purposes, but I really want to quit. There is no way I will ever Twitter. I guess I am just behind the times

It’s fun to preserve some part of the world where if you want to REALLY contact someone, you have to call/email them. The whole facebooking thing makes you… too easily accessible, and I consider that a bad thing!

Hi I never left a comment here before, but I do enjoy checking out your creativity and thought this post by my favorite blogger might help you in your debate over whether or not to have a fb account. I am not into facebook and people don’t get me cuz I don’t even have a wall… I like to keep certain things private just like you said…

http://mollyschoemann.wordpress.com/2009/01/01/why-i-left-facebook/

hi hon! i think u should sign up! (and u know me, i have a love/hate relationship with it). but you can TOTALLY privatize anything you choose (i only have certain friends who can view my stuff) and there’s also other great functions so u don’t have to “see” people’s updates, etc. At the end of the day, my advice is to use it mainly for marketing purposes. Just make it a “sunsethouse” page, period. Then I can become a fan, like I am of this girl’s “Macarune” page.

I am also a very private person, and though I study facebook (from a business social media perspective), I will never be an active member. I know that I will not be happy having a facebook account… it’s just not me.

I’m on facebook. I like it. I was on myspace and bebo (a lesser known social networking site) for different groups of friends. It was a real hassle keeping up with 2 sites, plus myspace and bebo have both succombed to backgrounds and such that can actually make pages hard to read. I like Facebook for its simplicity and ease of use, plus most friends from both of the other sites have migrated over to Facebook, which makes it MUCH easier to keep up with people. I love being able to keep in contact with people I don’t see often. I also like the Facebook chat feature, which is like instant messenger within Facebook.

I don’t use most of the applications–there’s so many! But all in all, it’s a great way to keep in touch with people, a lot easier than by phone or email, which I would never get around to!

I have a lot of friends who have different blogs, etc., and I get a lot of invitations to join but it’d be too much to keep up. I don’t want to have a usernma/password for each of them. I get my share of spam mail as it is. I have my own website so if my friends wants to see what’s going on, they can go on my website, email or call me. I wish you wouldn’t have to sign up to view a friend’s facebook info, etc. Then, it’d be less painful.

Hiii Kel..!

I think technology is moving way too fast and I think that it is SO important for us to learn how to use this great networking tool. This is the reality of our generation and in some ways we gotta just learn how to keep up, otherwise technology will just pass us.

Facebook offers many features that enable people to network and connect with people the way they want to, but in the end, it is up to you on how you’d like to use it. I can honestly say I spend an average of 15 minutes to 1 hour on Facebook because I’m just nosey that way, LOL.. kidding! I kid. But seriously, I like to know what’s going on in people lives. But the fact is, this is an easy way to reach people. This definitely does not replace relationships. In my opinion, it builds on it and sometimes creates new ones.

Give it a chance Kel!

XOXO