anybody here on facebook? what is your opinion?

[ellenrr]

[RILib]

1. I am

to keep in touch a bit with the younger generation of the family. Hell would freeze over before they'd write a letter, they don't even use email much.

If you're not a spring chicken, be prepared to be a bit shocked at the photos and posts. You'll see stuff they don't mention at family gatherings

I never put any private info on facebook, including, of course, not my real birthday.

It's also a nice way to see family photos (I save some of them offline.)

I wonder about future generations looking back at family history, no letters in trunks in the attic.

I also like a few pages (I commented a thank you on one company's wall and they sent me a free logo item

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. LOL - DU has over 200,000 members - is this a joke question?

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Check this

https://www.facebook.com/democraticunderground

and this one also

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Democratic-Underground/104095229626549

[onehandle]

3. I'm only on there for a specific progressive group I belong to. Not DU.

It's better than it used to be. I used to call it a plague on the Internet. The interfaces are much better than they used to be, and it's not as intrusive or unsecure as it was.

At least it isn't the ghost town that Google+ is. Nobody outside of the tech industry uses that for anything social. I guess they like their personal data being sold to Chinese hackers and Russian mobsters.

[Earth_First]

4. I use it daily, as well as Twitter...

I hope that your inquiry is not made in such as way as to cut down and berrate the individuals who do utilize social media; it's become a nasty trend on DemocraticUnderground to cut down those who do.

I was absolutely ridiculed and berrated on how lowly my life must be in General Discussion last night on a topic I made on Twitter...

Facebook is a great resource for activists and groups to spread their messages in a fast, effective manner.

One only has to look as far as Egypt, Syria, Greece, to see how it's effective use can be maximized to create a worldwide audience in the presence of media blackouts.

Additionally, Facebook and Twitter were an AMAZING resource for the Wisconsin state capital protests and the subsequent Occupy movement.

However the long and short of it is, what works for me; may not work for you...

If it doesn't particularly excite you, there's no reason to berrate someone over it.

In closing, "you" doesn't particularly mean the OP...

/disjointed opinion

[ellenrr]

7. I use it, not as much as some do.

I don't see why someone would cut someone for using social media. DU and social media have more in common than difference. They are both using computer-generated communication in addition to - or in substitution for - real life communication.

[Earth_First]

8. Indeed...

Someone attempted to explain that to the individual who had the issue with my OP, however they didn't want to hear it...

Additionally, what I failed to explain in my response were the reasons why it works for me; here's my best shot:

I am 33, I grew up with electronics all around me; so for me technology isn't a foreign topic that I feel is the source of so much frustration with 'older' users feeling the need to bridge the gap.

What that means to me is that nearly 98% of my friends, younger family members and school acquaintances are also utilizing social media outlets in their daily lives as well. Many of these friends have moved on to build family and careers, so this is a great way to keep in touch.

I've heard countless times by the individuals who berate social media that it's created an impersonal interaction, to which I reply the telephone is not much more personal than Facebook or Twitter; it's just as much an inanimate object as the telephone is/was, it's essentially the same concept which has adopted the current technological trends.

Social media isn't the downfall of a society which no longer interacts with one another, there are forces much stronger than an electronic device with an off/on switch. I'm not sure that this is the discussion thread to get into all that, however there is much, much more to the breakdown in communication than Facebook/Twitter.

It's early, btw...clarification on anything above may be necessary.

[NewJeffCT]

5. It's a good way to catch up with family and old friends

I've gotten in touch with people I hadn't heard a peep from since high school. And, I now hear things from family members first hand, rather than hearing it from my mom relaying the the info to me.

Plus, there are a lot of good jokes & memes on there.

[ellenrr]

6. I like the ability to see and post photos

[LiberalEsto]

9. I can't believe the moronic stuff that some of my acquaintances post

I mean, who cares if they're winning at "Farmville" or some other dumb game?

[bluedigger]

11. You know you can hide those game apps, right?

As soon as a new "farmville" shows up I just hide all posts by "farmville" from my feed. Doesn't affect any other updates by the friend.

[pipi_k]

10. I'm on it...

multiple times a day. Keeping in touch with (or track of) family and friends.

I don't post anything overly personal, and I try to keep things lighthearted.

What I do NOT like are the shocking photos put up by people who are trying to bring some issues to light (such as child or animal abuse). Often I'll forget about the possibility of seeing them, and be scrolling down and there's a disturbing photo that makes me ill and very sad.

Then there's the "vaguebooking" where someone will post something like "Please pray for my dad/mom/sister/guinea pig/hairdresser/etc." and then that's it. No info. No further updates. Or maybe they'll post something like, "To the person who hurt my feelings...you know who you are".

Probably causing a whole bunch of people to spend hours going over each and every word said to the "victim" in the past two months.

And then, finally...the games. I don't play them, other than Songpop, but that's on my iPhone. And I don't share on Facebook that I won this game against that person. All the other games, people share their game info, which causes lame assed game site crap to appear on my newsfeed. And it looks like the games themselves (not under the control of their players) invite their friends to play. I'm forever blocking games from appearing on my newsfeed or inviting me to play. Block four, and ten more NEW games show up.

Other than that, it's fun to see the photos and find out what people are up to in their lives.

[bluedigger]

12. I have found it a great way to keep up with far flung friends.

I reconnected with a lot of high school friends and former coworkers. One college buddy who teaches in Hong Kong now. I have around 150 friends, which seems mid-range. Only a few (including me) are regular posters, and that's just fine. We run the gammit politically, but manage to ignore most of each others crap that we disagree with, while sharing with those who are like minded. It's worked well for me personally.

[union_maid]

13. I'm on it, but don't really like everything mushed together

I guess there are ways to keep things separate, now, but I don't feel sure about it. I feel very contrained when posting on a thing that will be viewed by friends, family, co-workers - including my boss, etc. All those people could, if they really wanted to, probably find all my stuff on the internet, going back to usenet, but they don't really want to. But when it's in one's face, it's different. For instance, we all find family relations work best when we don't discuss politics with some of my in-laws. After 35 years of back and forth, we're not changing each other's minds. Doesn't mean we don't want to discuss it with lots of other people who are more interested in our views. Same probably goes for them. In fact, I really don't want to see what an idiot my nephew-in-law can be. I'd rather think the best of him. I mean, my neice likes him and my opinion is meaningless so I'd rather not know the dumb things he say to his friends. Impossible to miss with Facebook there unless I unfriend him. So, I find it less convenient that I'd thought I would.

[marzipanni]

14. I likeED it for seeing photos and posts from family, and friends who've moved

In the past tense because, in the last few days, Facebook changed the newsfeed format and it keeps jumping from the center, to the side and back, also sometimes can't view photos larger, and no scroll bar...glitchy!
I have a rather old Mac, with Safari 5.0.6, maybe that's not compatible with FB anymore. I couldn't view most videos on FB due to being told I had to upgrade flash, and can't with my computer's "non-intel" insides. I like my computer- don't want to discard it for its few anachronistic idiosyncrasies.

[talkingmime]

15. I log in about once a month. It's different every time. Too much clutter.

I've tracked down and been tracked down a lot of old friends, but that's about the extent of how I find it useful. The signal to noise ratio is just too far out of bounds.