To Facebook or not????

[Sultan of Cannock- SRFC]

Please suspend your disbelief and try not to laugh at a poor old man but after being against this social networking malarkey since it started i'm gradually inclining to dipping my toe into the facebook waters.

I assume most if not all Tinpotters already reside there - maybe that is why few of them come on here on any more- and my son tells me that internet forums are gradually going the same way as analogue TV.

Obviously no one can tell me whether it's worth my while joining but if some of you can give me a bit of a heads-up on your experiences, such as what you gain, what you have to put in, how time consuming is it, security aspects (eg i don't want to put up a "burgle me now!" notice if i'm out of the house for a few days) then looking at your experiences might help me decide whether to stay out of the game or take the plunge.

Hopefully some of you are (or maybe have a friend you know who is ) like me entering their second half-century and has negotiated all these doubts and gone for it, or maybe walked circumspectly away. The registration page, for example scared me half to death asking for phone numbers and "what am i looking for". What the hell does that mean? I'm happy with the wife i've got and i wouldn't ever be looking to find another partner even if we did split up for some reason. And it sounds kind of sad for an old bloke to write that he's "looking for friends" when he learned to be self-sufficient and not burden others long ago.

I don't really feel that i can learn much from my son. He gets all impatient with me when i ask any advice on using some of the new-fangled stuff on the computer (i can usually teach myself better anyway, i may be stupid but i'm not thick) and he may have a vested interest in keeping me from under his feet, demanding extra usage time for myself.

So i'm putting my trust in the "Tinpot Community." Please be gentle with me.

[Meadow]

I've been on there for nearly three years. It's just a bit of fun for me, and I do use forums as well. Just leaving for Kingmeadow so I'll post up my experiences tomorrow.

[ambersalamander]

I rather like the experience of being able to find old schoolmates who I'd sort of forgotten about or otherwise lost contact with, and having the choice of whether to be "friends" with them or not. I also like being able to see what people I know but don't often see are up to in as much or as little detail as they wish to provide (None of my friends are particularly offensive in this regard!)

I've also used Facebook to get to know distant relatives I hadn't previously known existed, and to make contact with random people I've met at football etc. - if they turn out to be a bit odd or scary, you again have the choice not only of being "friends" with them or not, but how much you actually communicate with them.

I don't spend a huge amount of time on Facebook these days; I don't find it addictive or anything although some of the games on it can be... but I do look in for a few minutes most days. I have sort of stopped posting "status updates" about what I'm up to, because my housemate appeared to be making an inventory of all the non-work things I'd been doing and then using them to make a case against me for all the time I'd spent Having Fun Instead of Doing Housework, but that's the only not-so-good experience I've had of the bookface.

[amberaleman]

I'm into my second half-century and feel quite comfortable using FB. It's a good way of keeping in touch with what people are up to. And you can share as much or as little information as you choose (though it's advisable to err on the side of caution). It's certainly better than Twitter which is 95% trivia and froth.

[J Esaj PRA]

Facebook in particular is a fairly big personal security risk. The site is designed to harvest personal information to be used in the advertising industry and it is currently impossible to control how much information you expose. The only way to be 'safe' is to not provide any accurate information, but that would defeat the point of using the site.

On the flip side, you could embrace social networking and actively control your online profile(s) so that they are beneficial to you. To do this effectively, you'd need to be pretty good at censoring yourself.

Personally, I opt out more often than not. I have accounts of most social networking sites as I'm obliged to have knowledge of their APIs for my job, but I don't actively use any of them.

[ambersalamander]

I wondered how long it would take you to come and say that ;D

My boyfriend uses Facebook but doesn't put his correct personal info on there. He had a lot of "happy 25th birthday" messages from mocking friends last year. He is actually 31

[bh]

I quite enjoy going on there. It keeps me in touch with some of my colleagues who I very seldom see at the moment.

[Sultan of Cannock- SRFC]

Thanks folks. Taking on board J Esag's words of caution, i've gone on circumspectly. My son gets home from Belgium tonight and somehow i think he won't approve after telling me "facebook isn't for people your age." Ha!

[ambersalamander]

Both my parents (aged nearly 63 and nearly 61 respectively) are on Facebook. Tell him that!

Given your son's age, I suspect he simply doesn't want to be "Facebook friends" with his dad. Nobody wants their parents seeing what they're up to with their friends all the time ;D

[Sultan of Cannock- SRFC]

I'm tentatively sending out a couple of friend requests.

I wouldn't be so crass as to send one out to my own son
i think he wants his own privacy especially after meeting a nice young lady on the Singapore to Kuala Lumpur express train

[ambersalamander]

[davetscfc]

I play scrabble and nose at people's photos.

Is a handy way of keeing in touch with the goings on of people from different parts of your life.

[loudefc]

Mar 20, 2011 21:33:46 GMT davetscfc said:

I play scrabble and nose at people's photos.
quote]

Scrabble
Pub life is were its @ ;D ;D ;D ;D

I use it to be a nosey bugger as well

ps.
Don't f**k it up Dave

[davetscfc]

Mar 24, 2011 8:00:41 GMT loudefc said:

Mar 20, 2011 21:33:46 GMT davetscfc said:

I play scrabble and nose at people's photos.
quote]

Scrabble

Hey, just cos I'm from Salisbury so can't read or write!

[Jared]

I enjoy facebook. I registered over 4 years ago now, and it's a great way of keeping in touch with people. As some people may know I was away for 2 years, and facebook is a great way of keeping in touch with people I met during this time, most of whom live in the US.

Of course there are many security risks involved, and I haven't put in details about my address or my 'phone number.