Technology & Online

Facebook. Love it or hate it?

Technology & Online

Posted by: mrsdew17

21st Nov 2010 09:57pm

Facebook. Love it or hate it?

Personally I HATE Facebook (and MySpace to a lesser extent). A few reason why, but probably the most is that I have three children who all use it in different ways. Some of their 'friends' aren't their friends at all and include people they would never talk to in the 'real' world. I think they're all hiding behind the anonymity of a computer...highlighted when I discovered my youngest had added a 'friend' who looked extremely suspicious (she had to get rid of him promptly).

I can understand people loving it as far as catching up with family and friends but is it at the exclusion of genuine get-togethers?

And...many websites now want you to be their friend by following them on Facebook. Huh? Who has the time to follow them anyway?

I am just looking for someone else out there who is happy to be online, but not happy to be on Facebook!


Comments 67

PGS
  • 25th Jan 2014 01:51pm

Hmmm.
Have a life or have Facebook.

Such a difficult choice.

Real life, I think is better..

Not a FB fan, never have been.

Kessa1959
  • 22nd Jan 2014 10:19pm

I find Facebook very useful when used properly. I keep in touch with family and friends overseas as well as promoting my home business. It's like anything ... if not used correctly problems arise. I don't believe that children should have unlimited access to any computer nor have them in their rooms.

phoenix
  • 19th Sep 2013 12:16am

i don't so much love nor hate it as i simply use it for playing games, if i want to 'catch up' all i have to do is turn off the computer and talk to my folks in the lounge room, or go out to the local club once a week and see all my other family and friends, so yes i agree it is a love hate thing as it's more like an advertisement web thingy than anything else

3lions
  • 26th Aug 2013 09:49pm

Here Here mrsdew17,

I am not into facebook or any of that crap, twitter ect.....
great if you want to be bullied or abused!
I think people will look back in a few years and wish they never heard of Facebook....I don't see any good from it...Its like people are sheep sometimes, they have to be seen to be on everything, in case they miss out....on what..who knows!
Only my views on the social media as a whole! bit of a worry.

Lise :)

3lions
  • 26th Aug 2013 09:48pm

Here Here mrsdew17,

I am not into facebook or any of that crap, twitter ect.....
great if you want to be bullied or abused!
I think people will look back in a few years and wish they never heard of Facebook....I don't see any good from it...Its like people are sheep sometimes, they have to be seen to be on everything, in case they miss out....on what..who knows!
Only my views on the social media as a whole! bit of a worry.

Lise :)

riverbrat
  • 2nd Jul 2013 11:12am

I am 73 years old and have been on Facebook about 8 years. I thought I go on it to meet people that have interest simular to mine. Instead I found Lots and Lots of swearing. People calling their so called Friends all sort of names that they wouldn't say to them Face to Face. I also have seen beautiful Pictures, sad Stories, People releasing their frustration, Mothers showing of their Babies. Lots of People use it to talk to their loved ones. So Honestly I don't know wether it is good or bad. But watch your Children and how they use it. There are a lot of sick people on the Net. Nerveless I'll keep on using it, if nothing else it is entertaining

Navi
  • 24th Jun 2013 03:53pm

I love facebook because u can meet new people via facebook

Kris
  • 17th Jun 2013 12:40pm

I was hating on facebook, however, they recently changed the interface and it is so much easier to interact with. Though I still use email to keep in touch with those closest to me.

Anonymous
  • 31st May 2013 07:11am

Facebook is both good and bad as it is good as a social thing where people can connect but also a bad thing as it cause a lot of problems like bullying and breaking up friendships

Anonymous
  • 26th Apr 2013 08:21pm

i hate facebook. Deactivated my account due to the people posting stupid things like "going for a nap" or "its raining outside".

Anonymous
  • 19th Apr 2013 02:38pm

Social website like Facebook is extremely good at manipulating people's mind. It awards them for having lots of "friends" known or unknown. Every time one of these "friends" press the like button or follow button, it awards the person with a little bit of pride, eventually, they will just do anything to seek for this "pride". This is my understanding of the growing of the trend of social websites. Personally, i use them, i don't think the issue is within the social website itself, it's the fact that people is too easily manipulated by the websites.

Mmm...coffee
  • 15th Apr 2013 03:44pm

A bit of both! I love it in the way that I find it amusing & entertaining & fun! (well - MOST of the time!) :)
But I don't like the 'dark' side of it. I see SO much bullying & nastiness...especially among the younger age groups. Many of these kids/youth are not equipped with the skills needed to deal with this negative side of FB.

Basically - when used positively it can be great! But there is a lot of negativity too...

Mmm...coffee
  • 15th Apr 2013 03:44pm

A bit of both! I love it in the way that I find it amusing & entertaining & fun! (well - MOST of the time!) :)
But I don't like the 'dark' side of it. I see SO much bullying & nastiness...especially among the younger age groups. Many of these kids/youth are not equipped with the skills needed to deal with this negative side of FB.

Basically - when used positively it can be great! But there is a lot of negativity too...

PGS
  • 22nd Mar 2013 05:59pm

Wouldn't waste the time on it.


Choose LIFE.

Anonymous
  • 24th Oct 2012 05:22pm

I love facebook. Without facebook, I could not keep in contact with my family who live in South Africa, England and Zimbabwe. I can also see what my children are up to on their statuses. i am a very caring mum, and worry about my three girls.

Chaela
  • 7th Oct 2012 04:36pm

I love facebook because I get to keep in contact with my family all over the place , and to be honest on facebook they have privacy settings and its completely up to you who you add and ask to be your friends on facebook ! and you don't have to put you're phone number or address up its all up to you , i use facebook everyday and I enjoy it .

owl-hollow
  • 18th Sep 2012 02:52pm

I love it!! As I am now deaf and a wheelchair user, life before I found Facebook was pretty dull. Facebook gives me easy access to friends and family and access to tons of different games to fill in my day with. I enjoy interacting with my friends (both known in the real world and ones only known/ met in the vitual world). Even my real world friends say that it is much easier to communicate with me on Facebook than it is in real life. Facebook should never replace face to face interactions but sometimes it is an easy way to feel connected and included in the world.

Anonymous
  • 29th Jul 2012 12:40pm

Well faceboook has many uses and that depends how you use them. Facebook can actually make a lot of money. But everyone use it as sharing program instead of making money.
I agree with you for saying people all hiding behind the anonymity of a computer. You can't just add friends on your friend list because it just seem pretty stupid. Now days internets are full of fake, rubbish, and junks so you must be really careful to those you don't actually know.
I don't use myspace but for what i konw, many international superstars use myspace to convince people, make people like them. But it's way better that facebook cause it seems have more reality that facebook does.

shantelly
  • 26th Jul 2012 05:44am

love it or hate it, you must admit it has it advantages and good points, i had no credit the other week and no money and desprately needed to get in contact with someone, i knew i had free access to facebook where i could get in contact with them :). and the games are fun and addictive. a fun social network where insecure people can feel at ease, and you can shop on it as well!

amar93
  • 19th Jul 2012 03:33am

very usefull but very addictive thats why i HATE it!

ellie78
  • 21st Jun 2012 08:01pm

I love it for entering competitions, that is all I really use it for, have won loads of stuff over the last 12months!
Also to keep in contact with relatives who live overseas, put up current pictures of the kids etc..
I would never let my kids have an account, they have been told that they can when they no longer live here and can pay for their own bills!

CassieC
  • 3rd Jun 2012 02:34pm

I'm 16 and have facebook but I hardly ever go on. It's great for sharing photos and keeping in touch with friends who live far away, but other than that, I find that people my age just get addicted to posting stupid pointless statuses about themselves that no one cares about (even when they do 'like' it).

CAT17
  • 16th May 2012 12:49am

Hi mrsdew17! Got to agree with you regarding your worries with young children using FB. I have grown children and they use the site, and I do so myself. Unlike many others I only have 6 friends 2 children 2 friends and 2 nieces. I am very careful what I put on FB and certainly don't add anyone else. Fancy following some advertsing company on FB? I love emailing though and share photos and news with many people. Don't know how I managed before I got my computer (and now my smart phone) that was when the landline phone bill was very high! I used to write letters but now I email and keep in touch with friends I have had for many many years. We all email and share pics of our grandies. Skype is another favourite of mine as I get to see my little grandsons who live in different states to me. Modern technology - love it or hate it, we can't live without it nowadays.

Captain Slog
  • 6th May 2012 01:18pm

Captain Slog - Supplimental.
I should have added that if anyone wanted to keep in touch with friends and family who are out of reach, or in another System, why not stick to e-Mail? Its more Private and you can freely send anything you like, as long as it is ONLY legitimate Mail.
I love sending e-Mails, but I also enjoy sending, and receiving, the REAL THING in an "antelope" with a Stamp on it. The trouble is, Postage is on the rise again, and it will soon cost me $1.80 - $2. to send an ordinary Letter to Australia. Local Mail is going up to to 70 cents, so it is going to cost me more to Post my THAT'S LIFE! Puzzles each week soon.

Captain Slog
  • 6th May 2012 01:06pm

Hello MrsDew17,
I agree with you! FARCE BOOK (My name for it) is awful! Someone wrote to me and suggested I get into it, and to be honest, as soon as I got into it, I was absolutley baffled! It had me thinking, "What the hell IS this place?" I hadn't a clue what to do. I got out of it.
A Mail came in from someone I write to and invited me to go to FARCE BOOK and see some photos they submitted of their holidays. Yes, the photos were nice, but, it was the other things on the page that disturbed me. Not my e-Pal's entry, all the other crap about "FOLLOWERS" and other things. I clicked on "My Followers" and found all these people I had never met or heard of "following" me for some reason. WHAT does it mean to "follow" someone?
Also, what's all this crap about "LIKING" someone/thing? I didn't know and I didn't like it.
There were also pictures of other people there and when you clicked on their pictures you were invited to "follow" them, too. What went on, or was meant to go on, from there, I hadn't a clue! I got out quick smart and tried to delete ALL of my information, but, it was too late! It was alrready IN there and OUT there.
Once you're in there's NO escape. I haven't heard from them since, but, my information IS still there. I HATE FARCE BOOK!!! DON'T GO THERE!
Its the same with TWITTER (Or TWATTER, as some people call it). I hadn't a clue what to do there either, and what's worse, I never heard from anyone anyway.
I was still on Dial-Up at the time and it was agonisingly S-l-o-w, and I wasn't getting anywhere. I got out of that one, too. fortunately, unlike FART BOOK, I actually DID manage to remove all of my details and close my account with them. Again, I haven't heard from them again, either.
TWITTER is really strange! No wonder the people who use it are called. . . TWITS!! Ha! I like it! The TWIT BIT, that is. TWITS! Ha! Good one!

marg
  • 21st Apr 2012 09:28am

for me face book is a great way to stay in touch with my friends and kids and grandkids as I live a long way from them and cant just go to their place for a chat .
I only let people I know be friends with me . It can be a very invasive thing if your not wary ....Even the games are a take as they expect u to put dollars with them so much for them being free .....

MissHannah
  • 11th Apr 2012 07:43am

I personally hate it, but use it because it's the only way my friends organize social events.
I basically think that if you use it stupidly, you're going to have a bad time, and it's your own fault. I have had Facebook since i was 13, and nothing bad has ever happened to me as a result of it.

Anonymous
  • 1st Apr 2012 01:10pm

I hate Facebook with a passion, it always creates arguments in my relationships, and its just a way for people to stalk my life and my doing's without actually saying anything or having to talk to me.. If it wasn't the easiest way for me to stay in contact with my friends then I would of deleted the damn thing a long time ago.. It's also addictive and and ruining lives.

I went out with a group of my partners friends the other night and I was looking forward to a night of socializing, we ended up going to a club and I would say a good 90% of the night ALL of the people I was with were simply on their facebook on their mobiles.. We went out to socialize and in the end no one talked and just facebooked.. I was the only one out of the entire group that left their mobile at home.

Facebook is ruining the art of speech.

daanaz11
  • 21st Mar 2012 01:58pm

Honestly I would have to say I did start out not hating but really not understanding what all the fuss was about and then I was able to catch up with my family who live in a different country and that is awesome. Also recently a relation of mine started a family page for my dads family and I have connected with family I have not heard from in years so facebook has its good points as well. I must say I do prefer to speak to the person face to face but facebook enables me to speak to them no matter where in the world they are (oh yes and the games are fun too)

rumil
  • 28th Feb 2012 01:51am

I dont like it but Messengers are finished and many people chatting in facebook , it is neccesary for chattng . .

matticooper
  • 23rd Feb 2012 12:04am

My friends and I call it stalkbook for a reason.
The thing that troubles me is that everyone wants to be your friend. What if you never (and I mean NEVER) liked that person in the 1st place. The ones that bullied you all through primary and secondary school, now... now they want to be your friend. Aarrrrgggghhh.

It's full of attention seekers anyway. Very little of the content in stalkbook is actually worthwhile. Still, someone is making money off it. Wish it was me.

dee-ducky
  • 21st Nov 2011 03:27pm

I love it. It's because of facebook that I've kept in touch with all my classmates and friends from my home country and found people I thought I would never hear from again. And it helps me keep close contact with my family who are based all over the world with so much more ease and regularity. In fact I feel like I've grown even closer to most of my cousins whom I haven't seen in years because we get to interact nearly everyday and see how our lives are progressing. I only add people that I know and don't divulge information I wouldn't want to be out there in the world wide web. Don't see what the big evil conspiracy is.

dannellia
  • 14th Nov 2011 08:50am

well to be honest i think facebook really needs to upgrade its security file. alot of my friends pages and others have been hacked latley, and end up with random disgusting coments as their statuss wich they have not written there self. facebook needs a privacy programe that can filter all bad links or it will eventually get worse then it already is. dont get me wrong i love facebook my self i just think it could improve a little bit, for starters maybe it should need something to prove who you really are while signing up, as alot of identitys are being stolen online.

Stuart
  • 26th Oct 2011 04:17pm

I am online for work almost all day, everyday, and I cannot for the life of me see the point in Facebook.

If I wanted to be contacted by people I didn't want to talk to for the past twenty years, I'd get an account.

I'd rather have a real social life than a virtual social media life.

flyingace
  • 21st Oct 2011 08:10pm

Hi mrseew17, I will never come a member on facebook I don't trust them and I don't like them.

Chazza
  • 20th Oct 2011 11:48am

I'm with you. I wouldn't go near Facebook EVER.... security being the main issue.

Loopie
  • 19th Oct 2011 03:05pm

I have to Love it. My children have been able to reconnect with their cousins, who without Facebook they would never have known. And I use it to see what everyone is doing, especially my daughter, who forgets to keep in touch, and family members I haven't seen in years.
You don't have to be on it all the time to connect, just a couple of minutes a day.

relle13
  • 6th Oct 2011 06:53am

i completely agree about facebook. I was sucked into opening an account, only to feel inadequate because of a lack of "friends". Seems like all facebook-ites have at least 100 "friends".I, on the other hand have 12, actual friends, and i cannot bring myself to randomly send out requests. Whats worse, having 12 friends or, turning into a "friend collector" to seem popular? I,d rather not bother at all. At least My Space is music orientated, rather than on superficial "friendships".

Hilary
  • 22nd Feb 2012 12:54am
i completely agree about facebook. I was sucked into opening an account, only to feel inadequate because of a lack of "friends". Seems like all facebook-ites have at least 100 "friends".I, on the...

At least on a site like this you can learn about what others think without having to have a 'friends list'

Bellxchat
  • 5th Jul 2011 06:54pm

I do have a Facebook account, but only use it when a)I have some photos to share with family and friends or b)when family or friends share photos and news. I know a lot of people use it a lot more than I do! As for "liking" corporations, brands and other impersonal entities, I don't bother.

Hilary
  • 22nd Feb 2012 12:49am
I do have a Facebook account, but only use it when a)I have some photos to share with family and friends or b)when family or friends share photos and news. I know a lot of people use it a lot more...

Liking ... brands, companies etc gives them free advertising.

Sandy
  • 4th Jul 2011 12:42pm

My kids are only allowed facebook accounts if I also know the password and they must have me as a friend. Even my 23yr old still has me as a friend so I still see what she is up to. We talked about internet safety before they were allowed to sign up and I do watch who they are accepting as 'friends'. Guess it depends how open your relationship is with your kids.
You have the choice of who to accept and do not have to join any pages you do not wish to.
I find it also helps to keep in contact with friends and family overseas as most of us can not afford to make daily or even weekly phone calls.

jerzyjane
  • 4th Jul 2011 12:10pm

ppl r gossipers and FB and other social networks give them the opportunity to gossip to a bunch of ppl instead of 1 at a time lol, i use facebook and so does my dawta but i dont live on there like alot of my friends do, its ridiculous how an acquintance wen she gets up in the morning the first thing she does is check her face book and spend an hour on there then she will decide she better feed her kids, but her oldest girl has already dun that (the girl i s 9) and then wen the girl goes to skool and the 2 younger ones are playing the mother is back on facebook stalking ppl as we call it all day until its bed time, this woman is shocking i tell ya

riaria0203
  • 2nd Apr 2011 12:41am

I am personally not much of a supporter of facebook unfortunately! I don't see whats so addictive about it that people spend every minute of the 'spare time' trying to check for updates and what their friends have said...Just give them a call directly, that might give you a more direct and faster answer!

Ozbev
  • 17th Mar 2011 12:28am

FB is a tool, just that but unfortunately there are some who have become addicted to it.

I use FB because I don't always catch up with family and friends as much as I would like because of distance. To be honest, face to face is how I would like to interact but because they are a 3 hour plane ride away, then FB has to be it. I also have a video phone which runs on voip technology that I believe has saved my life... in that I can talk to family and it's just like being there. FB pales to insignificance to that technology.
However, I also use FB for event publication and get-together notices for face to face meetings... so to throw it out is like throwing out the baby with the bath water. Love it or hate it, I believe it is here to stay. Some people will embrace it and others will choose another way of connecting.

Cheers

Bev
www.paidonbills.com
www.spotoncomputers.acnrep.com

vish
  • 16th Mar 2011 12:46pm

i love facebook but would like to stress on main point is that we should be very careful when posting msgs or updating status i.e setup privacy or else your detyails are out there to every1 .

cheers

Trish
  • 21st Feb 2011 01:43pm

I love it!! Having moved overseas from my home country, it allows me to easily keep in touch with friends & family.

Anonymous
  • 25th Apr 2013 10:32pm
I love it!! Having moved overseas from my home country, it allows me to easily keep in touch with friends & family.

I completely agree with you, facebook is also form of information exchange from one place to other place with very easy tools.

typhoon
  • 20th Feb 2011 10:17pm

The biggest problem with facebook is when people have 500 virtual friends and no real friends. Funnily enough, parents usually are not given permission by their children to be their friends under facebook. It has also been proven that people put details under facebook that they would not post up anywhere else. That is probably why children do not want their parents as friends under facebook. Facebook on it's own is neither good nor bad but the use of it makes it good or bad. Me , I like my friends face to face instead of as words on a computer screen.

Anonymous
  • 11th Jan 2011 11:22am

I think it's fun to see where people are at in their lives and get updated on information but I don't think it's appropriate for children and teens for that reason. It's not so casual at that age, it can have a huge impact on children's lives and their social status in real life.

gem
  • 10th Jan 2011 10:17pm

i love face book sometimes to see who is online out of my family so i can have chat to them so it is great for that. But most of the time when my family are not fighting extel for that reason. So it does have its bad points & its good points too.

Anonymous
  • 8th Jan 2011 06:01am

I personally have an up and down relationship with Facebook. I like it because, yes, it does help you keep in touch with family and friends who you do not see that often and is a much cheaper alternative to calling people from overseas.

But I completely agree that Facebook is not and should not be an alternative to a genuine face-to-face get-together. A lot of my friends have started relationships by talking to the other person through Facebook which really annoys me because they would have only met them once in real life or had a real face to face chat.

And they would find that their relationships would not work out because by using Facebook as their main means of communication, talking together in real life would seem really different and awkward. Especially because through the 'anonymity of a computer' people generally would do/say things that they would otherwise not do in real life.

But I must confess, I am a Facebook addict. Even though I sometimes dislike people's unhealthy reliance on the social network, I do find myself regularly checking my account daily, so Facebook already has me hooked.

hendos4
  • 18th Dec 2010 11:44pm

I am a volunteer computer repairer for elderly in my area and hate face book with a passion as it is not secure and is full of viruses, trojans etc. 17 computers in one weekend all infected from face book, but for some reason although the people know face book is bad, they keep going back. Three weekends in a row I had to fix the same computer as they keep going back.

say_wot
  • 1st Dec 2010 02:47pm

Hate is such a strong word, I don't hate Facebook as such but pity it's "users" more than anything.
The internet is BIG and it is supposed to provide quick and free access to lots of information.
The Zuckerberg Corporation (Facebook) wants your first port of call on the information super-highway to be his web-site and he wants you to stay on there for as long as humanly possible. While you're there 'meeting' your little chums he can (and does) make money from your visit. Facebook is a company web-site and it's there aim to have everyone think Facebook IS the internet but for a geek like me it means that I no longer have control over what I can read or not read, it means that my personal photos and musings are not mine any more (they belong to Facebook - read the End User License Agreement EULA)

And if I am getting a bit tired of seeing people face-to-face and being harangued about NOT coming to a party or not knowing someone had died or not knowing they had just been married 'because I posted the details on FB '

Maybe I do hate Facebook - but mildly

Anonymous
  • 30th Nov 2010 06:29pm

I think the only thing wrong with face book is that is available to anyone under the age of 18 - so glad the laws have changed now cause there was so much fb bullying going on. Just in case you were not aware if there is anything on the site that is disturbing - print a copy and take it to your local police to deal with the offenders. It is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends that live far away - coming from a rural area where we don't even go into town everyday - it is a great means of communication but certainly does not even come close to face to face get togethers and never will - even with a webcam.

lpullman
  • 29th Nov 2010 06:24pm

You need a third option: bored senseless.

tigersdance
  • 28th Nov 2010 01:51am

I really like facebook for the games some are fun and others are boring

rach
  • 26th Nov 2010 01:58pm

I have been on FB for a few years, and i found last year i got a little bit 'hooked'- ie checking it everyday, and if i was going to be away somewhere where i couldnt log onto a computer, i found myself wondering 'what was happening on facebook'.
Late last year i realised that i was wasting way too much precious time, time where i could ring a friend for a chat, or do some study, or just simply relax, so i puyt myself on a FB ban for 2 months... best thing i did! Now i only check it every week or so, yes it is great to keep in touch with my friends overseas (hence why i still have my account), but i realised that i would rather not know every single detail about what everyone is doing all the time!!!!!

lpullman
  • 26th Nov 2010 01:25pm

I'm a hold out too.

I don't understand the attraction - if I want to know what is going on in someone's life I'll ask them. I have a lot of friends who live interstate or over seas and we exchange emaisl or chat when we want to catch up. I wouldn't presume to spam them with the minutinae of my life as several of my friends do on Facebook.

It's the permanent, public record of your life and stupidity that keeps me out. Remember: you cannot actually delete anything - it may not be displayed but everything you've ever posted, even after you close the account is still there and accessable if you know how.

There's the pressure to "friend" people you work with and family members that you wouldn't associate with anyway. I have a mate who was been asked as part of a job interview to "friend" the interviewer so she could check out his Facebook account (he told her he didn't have one and that the person she'd found wasn't him and he wasn't offered the job).

It's not just what you post that you have to worry about. I've had to ask someone to remove a picture of me from their Facebook wall (or whatever they call it) 'cause I didn't want to be associated with the comments made about someone else in the picture. Guess what? If you are her "friend" (all 500 odd apparently) you can still see the comments.

3lions
  • 25th Nov 2010 11:48pm

Here Here!!! mrsdew17

Twitter and all!!

cat
  • 25th Nov 2010 01:25pm

agree with s3cret. i am on facebook along with my teenage sons. it helps me to stay in contact with family that live far away. i monitor my sons usage much to their disgust as i worry about them using facebook and people they could come accross and i very much worry about the information they put out there but you cant stop technology nor the social pressure the kids have with these things

nelly2
  • 21st Oct 2011 06:26am
Hi nelly2, I'm granddad with 5 grand kids, two of whom I live with, one in Sydney, Australia and two in Sheffield UK. I live in Brisbane, Australia. I have a brother with a large family in Perth,...

paradox yes i agree with you on the not being able to erase ,thats why im pretty careful on what i do on face book,and i never give out personal details,its good for catching up with family as phone calls are not cheap ,especially when you want to talk for a while,i have freinds that have had their face book accounts hacked into ..,so i keep a good eye out on my face book account ,after all face book is not 100 per cent safe,all i can say is be wary........

paradox
  • 20th Oct 2011 10:02pm
i like face book because it keeps me in touch with family .as they live a fair distance from me ,and being on a pension its cheaper than the phone calls and on facebook you can use instant...

Hi nelly2, I'm granddad with 5 grand kids, two of whom I live with, one in Sydney, Australia and two in Sheffield UK. I live in Brisbane, Australia. I have a brother with a large family in Perth, Australia and we communicate regular on Facebook. We never discuss intense family or personal details on there but do this face to face video link or chat on g-mail. what is private stays private and I do this with a number of close friends as well. I just do not like the idea that you cannot permanently erase anything you put on Facebook similar sites.

nelly2
  • 16th Mar 2011 10:10am
agree with s3cret. i am on facebook along with my teenage sons. it helps me to stay in contact with family that live far away. i monitor my sons usage much to their disgust as i worry about them...

i like face book because it keeps me in touch with family .as they live a fair distance from me ,and being on a pension its cheaper than the phone calls and on facebook you can use instant messaging so its as good as ,talking on the phone ,i do watch who i talk to .

Anonymous
  • 23rd Nov 2010 11:00pm

facebook and other social media all have advantages and disadvanges can be used for good or evil , 500million plus members - they must be doing something right? TV and other media are getting boring and not reaching the audiences they used to - id say keep an open mind try fb and see how much fun it can be

lpullman
  • 26th Nov 2010 01:11pm
agree with s3cret. i am on facebook along with my teenage sons. it helps me to stay in contact with family that live far away. i monitor my sons usage much to their disgust as i worry about them...

Not to be pedantic, but the 500 million claim is accounts, not members. A large proportion of those are duplicates (I know several people with multiple accounts), abandonned and corporate or product accounts. How many are in active use? Facebook won't tell, it's still a lot, but no where near the the 500 million claim.

fergy
  • 23rd Nov 2010 09:42am

i agree totaly all my children use facebook and i tell them they do not know who they are realy talking to. i think the main problem is the kids give out to much personl details to total strangers. i insist my kids do not put address phone numbers or photos out on the net. it is a very strange and sick world out there and i personaly dont want my kids at risk by getting involved with it.

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