A facebook/tweet question

[Guest boatme99]

I don't use any of that stuff, so I'd like to ask a question about something I keep seeing. On various forums, someone always seems to be asking for others to friend them. Usually they're trying to reach 100 friends. Why? Is the number 100 important? Do you win big prizes?

Personally, I don't understand why anyone would want 100+ strangers knowing stuff about them.

[bajabuc]

I've met some great people on Facebook...and some others

[Guest friesepferd]

i have no idea why anyone would want to do that.

I dont know of any 'prizes' or anything like that. Seems silly to me. I use facebook to keep in touch with some old friends of mine and people, but I certainly wouldnt want anyone to 'friend' me that i didnt know.

[Guest WyattEarp]

no prizes for getting to 100 friends. basically it's a social media networking site. personally, I think the entire thing is a bunch of drama and I permanently deleted mine. I honestly don't need an update every 20 seconds on what 300 people I know are doing.

Facebook is highly addictive, it costs employers billions in lost productivity, and there really is no substance to anything on there. For the past 2 years, my life went from going out and having fun and socializing with people, to sitting behind the computer 8 hours a day and chatting, listening to everyone's drama, and it started costing me in terms of my grades at college. After this past semester ended, I decided I had enough and deleted the damn thing. Best choice i've ever made and I'm not going back. Facebook is a waste of a time.

If I need/want to know how someone is doing, I'll just pick up the phone, or send them an email.

The other thing about facebook, is it's not 100% secure. people can find out about you, they can get your email address, and then hack it, and through that they can find your social security number, personal information about you, where you work, where you live, and it's just not worth all the hassle.

[Links2k]

I have a account to monitor my teens and keep up with old Army buddies. I remind them that not only do their friends see that crap, but so do classmates, church members, teachers, enemies and potential employers. At one point I had to order some things removed or closure of the account.

Edited June 16, 2011 by LINKS2K

[East_TN_Patriot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL2eK2SoL_0&feature=related

[Daniel]

I have around 200 people on my Facebook friend list. I know all of them. A lot are old classmates or people from the army. I check it a couple times a day and almost never.touch the online friends tab. I spend less than 30 minutes a day on there. Most times its max 15 all day.

[Guest Ae-35]

I use it to keep in touch with my kids and grand kids, they post a lot of pics of there lives, I don't accept people as friends that aren't my actual friends. Now my wife has over 300 so called friends, about half , friends of friends that she don't even know, seems stupid to me. My daughter said, " Dad you don't even have a 100 FB friends " my reply was " good " !

[Grunt67]

no prizes for getting to 100 friends. basically it's a social media networking site. personally, I think the entire thing is a bunch of drama and I permanently deleted mine. I honestly don't need an update every 20 seconds on what 300 people I know are doing.

Facebook is highly addictive, it costs employers billions in lost productivity, and there really is no substance to anything on there. For the past 2 years, my life went from going out and having fun and socializing with people, to sitting behind the computer 8 hours a day and chatting, listening to everyone's drama, and it started costing me in terms of my grades at college. After this past semester ended, I decided I had enough and deleted the damn thing. Best choice i've ever made and I'm not going back. Facebook is a waste of a time.

If I need/want to know how someone is doing, I'll just pick up the phone, or send them an email.

The other thing about facebook, is it's not 100% secure. people can find out about you, they can get your email address, and then hack it, and through that they can find your social security number, personal information about you, where you work, where you live, and it's just not worth all the hassle.

You nailed it!! Nothing but trouble.

[Jonnin]

I do think that any business with a facebook page wants you to friend it, this is free market research for them. Companies are pushing more and more to get their hooks into your info so they can get this data free, as getting it the old way is costly.

[Guest friesepferd]

i dont think someone is going to get my ssn through facebook.

i rarely post stuff on it, and i dont have info about myself there that i dont want everyone to see. same as posting here on the forums.

i find it to be a useful way to stay in touch with friends that i otherwise would not.

i dont play any of the stupid games (though if you want to, go for it). it can be addicting, but so can this forum.

my company looses no productivity from facebook because they block it. if a company doesnt want you to surf the internet at work, they shouldnt give you the internet. i loose infinatly more productivity reading over tgo forums at work than i do due to facebook.

*gets back to work*

[peejman]

My wife is on facebook, but I'm not. I can see that it's a good way to keep in touch (inexpensively) with people some distance away. Though I've noticed that it does tend to consume some people.

Personally, I think it's an excellent way to reconnect with a lot of people you hoped you'd never see again.

[Guest friesepferd]

I think the best example of how facebook is great for me, is that I have quite a few friends overseas.

Picking up the phone and calling them is nearly impossible. Email works but just isnt great for multiple people.

Using facebook, I can just post whatever pictures and info I want my friends to see, and I can keep up to date with how they are doing and what is going on there so much more easily. Not to mention being able to find people that you had no previous way of getting in contact with. That happens to me quite often.

A long lost friend that I went to school with in german shows up as a suggested friend on facebook! That's really the advantage of it over phone/email.

[Guest boatme99]

Thanks for the replies folks. Sorry, but I just don't get it. I use the phone to talk to my kids and grand kids. Hell, I don't even like the phone. I grew up in a military family and then I did my service. You got to hate phones, either bad news coming, alerts, deployment, something.

[Erik88]

no prizes for getting to 100 friends. basically it's a social media networking site. personally, I think the entire thing is a bunch of drama and I permanently deleted mine. I honestly don't need an update every 20 seconds on what 300 people I know are doing.

Facebook is highly addictive, it costs employers billions in lost productivity, and there really is no substance to anything on there. For the past 2 years, my life went from going out and having fun and socializing with people, to sitting behind the computer 8 hours a day and chatting, listening to everyone's drama, and it started costing me in terms of my grades at college. After this past semester ended, I decided I had enough and deleted the damn thing. Best choice i've ever made and I'm not going back. Facebook is a waste of a time.

If I need/want to know how someone is doing, I'll just pick up the phone, or send them an email.

The other thing about facebook, is it's not 100% secure. people can find out about you, they can get your email address, and then hack it, and through that they can find your social security number, personal information about you, where you work, where you live, and it's just not worth all the hassle.

these are the exact reasons why I deleted my account. I have not missed Facebook at all. The only social networking site I will join is Linked In.

[Guest WyattEarp]

i dont think someone is going to get my ssn through facebook.

i rarely post stuff on it, and i dont have info about myself there that i dont want everyone to see. same as posting here on the forums.

i find it to be a useful way to stay in touch with friends that i otherwise would not.

i dont play any of the stupid games (though if you want to, go for it). it can be addicting, but so can this forum.

my company looses no productivity from facebook because they block it. if a company doesnt want you to surf the internet at work, they shouldnt give you the internet. i loose infinatly more productivity reading over tgo forums at work than i do due to facebook.

*gets back to work*

they can use facebook to get to your email, and from there, they can go through your sent box, trash folder, saved messages folders and figure out what sites you're on, hack into those, and if any of them have your personal info, such as a ss#, credit card #, work address, etc...they can get it.

don't underestimate a hacker. if you've ever scanned a document in such as a job application, or emailed a copy of your drivers license to your employer for tax purposes, or anything along those lines, and someone has access to your email, they can see the attachments.

NO INFORMATION STORED ONLINE, TRANSMITTED ONLINE, OR DOWNLOADED IS EVER 100% SECURE. the minute you think it is, is when you get hacked and your info is compromised.

[Guest db99wj]

I like FB, I have a lot of friends, some are more of an acquaintances than friends but since I moved away from where I grew up, its nice to keep up with some. Also friend that have moved to other part of the country. I have hidden several that their life's drama is overwhelming and I don't care about their drivel.

Me and my wife us the chat feature almost everyday at lunch. We catch up, discuss what's going on after work etc.

Hackers, if they really want your info, they will get it. They are like any other crime of opportunity, they look for the easy pickens and get those. Too many out there that will just hand over their info. This is the majority of the hackers out there. The rest are the "real" hackers and are hacking into Citibank and Sony and governmental agencies.

I'm careful but not paranoid.

[Guest clownsdd]

Why not e-mail?

I've never been on facebuts or twits

[RobertNashville]

I don't mean to rub anyone the wrong way here but there is nothing "wrong" with facebook. It's a communication/information/entertainment tool (just like the telegraph, the telephone [including cell phones], television, DVD's, video games and any number of other things including forums like TGO!).

Anything can be abused...anything can take control of your life and your time if you LET THEM do so.

I have friends scattered all over the world - the phone was fine (but expensive) when that was all we had...email was fine that that's all we had...now we have better, easier to use tools...it's as simple as that.

[CLC]

Wow, we are a diverse bunch! I have over 1500 friends on Facebook, my Church friends, school friends, friends from different places I have lived and my bird friends , oh and family too! I keep in touch with so many bird people because I have 2 parrots, we constantly send pics of our animals and locations! It is fun to compare notes with people around the world! Our Church shares events and prayer request with each other, my family is a little spread out- we send pics and keep in touch! ANYTHING can be abused but just because it is not your cup of tea does not mean it is bad or wrong, kinda like being a gun owner! BTW if you want to be friends on Facebook, I am Carlesia Collier!

[Guest clownsdd]

Don't think anyone has been rubbed wrong...Nice thing about here vs discussing something with my wife.....we get over it easier:)

that's what sets this site above the others...at days end....we are still here talking.

[Guest db99wj]

Twitter on the other hand.....the only thing I have ever enjoyed, was following some of the sports writers when covering the draft for example. Other than that, just not my cup of tea.

[Guest coldblackwind]

I have a facebook account, but its pretty much so that someone who has no other way of contacting me, can easily find me and email me if they find a need to get ahold of me.