Author Topic: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?  (Read 5726 times)

Offline awemawson

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To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« on: September 07, 2017, 03:59:41 AM »
I have avoided social media like the plague up until now. I overhear or see amazing quantities of drivel from my wife's viewing of FB but increasingly it seems to be the way people are communicating.

It's particularly come up recently having a son, daughter in law and three grandsons experience the potential horrors of the flooding in Houston, and the rest of the family are FB'ing away like mad.

Is it possible to join (or whatever you do  :scratch:) FB and yet control the masses of junk so it doesn't head my way - filtering it down to what I want rather than what the world wants to fling at me ?

.... what do other forum members do ?
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline PekkaNF

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2017, 04:06:51 AM »
My wife has relatives all over the places and she has FB.

Me and daughter not. I see no use for such a waste of time. I use skype and more often WhatsApp (pretty much all benefits, little drawbacks).

Pekka

Offline Jo

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2017, 04:33:44 AM »
Wouldn't touch it with a barge board I have better things to do in my life, like making swarf  :thumbup:

Forums are a much nicer way of discussing and sharing our hobbies  :coffee:.

Jo
So many engines to build and yet so little time.

Offline John Rudd

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2017, 05:54:06 AM »
Wouldn't touch it with a barge board I have better things to do in my life, like making swarf  :thumbup:

Forums are a much nicer way of discussing and sharing our hobbies  :coffee:.

Jo

What he said.......

I abhorr fb......hate it with a vengeance.....

It may have been a more useful tool if it had been more controlled, instead of having the absolute drivel posted to it


Its open to abuse too much for my liking....
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Offline edward

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2017, 06:07:57 AM »
I like FB. I keep in touch with friends around the globe that I would never do by other means and its lovely to be able to see and share pictures and experiences.

I 'filter out the crap' in the same way I do with other things in my life, by scrolling past and ignoring it. The trick is to only become FB friends with people you actually know and want to hear from.


Offline seadog

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2017, 06:41:11 AM »
There is a lot of unwanted advertising that you can reduce, but it's pretty time consuming to do it. FB have made it as difficult as they can to unsubscribe. You also have to watch out for the sneaky updates that can reset some previously ticked settings. There are generally notifications from other users that will make you aware though. As already said, only friend people you really want to have anything to do with.
Having said that, I've reconnected with two people I hadn't seen since the 1970s. One in the UK and the other in San Jose. The latter I met up with a couple of weeks ago when him and his wife were over for a wedding.

Offline John Rudd

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2017, 07:23:10 AM »
I like FB. I keep in touch with friends around the globe that I would never do by other means and its lovely to be able to see and share pictures and experiences.

The trick is to only become FB friends with people you actually know and want to hear from.

Isnt that what email is for? But without all the spam crap that kids post?

Tbh,
I just dont have the patience.......I subscribe to a small number of forums that have my interest and email for correspondance, thats enough for me without letting social media take over my life....

Sorry for the rant....
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Offline mattinker

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2017, 08:14:22 AM »
Andrew,
There a lot of pre-conceived ideas about Facebook. facebook is what you make it. I got into it to get the photos of my grand-kids. I have very few "friends" which means it's controllable! If you have "friends" who post rubbish, you will get rubbish .I use Firefox and use  Adbloc to keep the adds down. I used it to get in touch with friends of yesteryear


Regards, Matthew

Online Brass_Machine

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2017, 08:18:32 AM »
Won't touch it....

FB, as left default, is a huge privacy risk. Zuckaberg isn't one of the richest men in the world because of a "free" social platform.

Eric
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Offline edward

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2017, 11:07:13 AM »
I like FB. I keep in touch with friends around the globe that I would never do by other means and its lovely to be able to see and share pictures and experiences.

The trick is to only become FB friends with people you actually know and want to hear from.

Isnt that what email is for? But without all the spam crap that kids post?

Tbh,
I just dont have the patience.......I subscribe to a small number of forums that have my interest and email for correspondance, thats enough for me without letting social media take over my life....

Sorry for the rant....

I'd never e-mail a selection of holiday snaps to my friend in Oregon, any more than he'd email me when something we did together 20 years ago springs to his mind, but we both might do that via FB. Because of FB, I have remained in contact with lots of people worldwide that I just wouldn't have any other way. its nice to see their kids grow up, for example.

I also belong to a number of FB groups for other hobbies - our wreck diving/research group communicates this way and its really useful, and I belong to a cycling group who use it to organise rides and discuss which cake shop we are going to visit this week :)

I just scroll past the obvious spam rather like I scroll past posts on here that I don't want to read, and I am 44 years old so I'm not really friends with any kids, its mostly adults :)

It isn't for everyone, I would agree, but for me the pros outweigh the cons. I'd say try it, you might like it and if you don't, it does have an off button. Like a lot of these things it is what you make it.

Offline hermetic

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2017, 02:36:33 PM »
 Hi Andrew, FB?

Pros, good for keeping in touch with far flung friends and relatives.
Has a built in messenger so you can chat in real time.
There are loads of local for sale and wanted type groups, plus free stuff that is no longer wanted ( like garden machinery that doesn't work!!!) and  "does anyone want to come and take this away" type ads.
Great way to find a Russian bride, whether you want one or not!

Cons
It IS a time thief
The front end interface is very clunky, and not at all intuitive.
You do have to be aware that people who suddenly want to be your "friend", even though they may live on the other side of the world, may have an ulterior motive.
TBH I don't find the advertising that intrusive, and the spam is easy to deal with. One of the great things is you get email notification of people in your circle who post to facebook, so you know who has posted what, without opening it, and can choose to ignore it.
I use it, but not regularly. Give it a try, and if you don't like it, dump it!
Phil
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Offline sparky961

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #11 on: September 07, 2017, 04:00:23 PM »
Nope, not at all for me. But then again, I'm something of a lone wolf. I have few friends and family I keep im touch with.

There are plenty of other things to keep me away from those I really want or need to be doing.... Like forums.  :doh:

Offline Bee

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #12 on: September 07, 2017, 04:55:15 PM »
If you join nobody forces you to read it every month, nor to post stuff, nor to have loads of 'friends'. You can just 'friend' 2 relatives and go straight to their pages to see photos thus avoiding all the crap.
You don't have to put up a photo of yourself and it is better not to as it may be used by their face recognition software. I think you have to use a sensible name now which their software thinks is a real name but I got accepted because my code name is in two parts looking like first name and surname and matched an email I use with it. My nephew's dog is registered as it has a plausible human name. Obviously you avoid using a name relating to your real or forum IDs to reduce cross links.
I occasionally scan the gumph it thinks I want to read so get a load about Australian politics, Australian roadworks and dogs.

Warning: some other sites seem to be linked and if you try to register/use them they offer to use your facebook ID and suck in your facebook contacts to spam them and of course stick the extra knowledge in their dossier on you.

Offline Kjelle

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #13 on: September 10, 2017, 04:15:23 AM »
+1 on what Bee and Hermetic wrote. It IS a time-theif, if you don't watch yourself. And you can set Fb to your liking, even if it's a bit tedious.

Just remember that YOU are the only one managing your account and your time!


Kjelle (And for those useing Fb, feel free to ask me add you. Kjelle Boman, no pic.)

Offline awemawson

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #14 on: September 10, 2017, 04:44:41 AM »
So if I set up a F/B account presumably I can access it from desk top or laptop using Windows & Chrome browser and on iPhone and iPad using IOS & Safari with the appropriate app and the security settings will be uniform across all  platforms  :scratch:

Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline mattinker

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #15 on: September 10, 2017, 05:35:34 AM »
In a word, yes!

Offline MetalMagus

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #16 on: September 11, 2017, 07:17:50 AM »
There is an app for the Ipad.

I use it to keep in touch with a small group of friends and a number of groups that I am a member of. There are now a lot of FB groups that do not have any other forum. They store files and have admins and moderators so just like a forum. Many of them are closed groups so require you to explain why you would like to join. This prevents a lot of the spambots posting advertising in the group.

One of my favourites is Woodworking UK. Over 10,000 members, well ran and a mine of useful info.

Cheers

Sean



So if I set up a F/B account presumably I can access it from desk top or laptop using Windows & Chrome browser and on iPhone and iPad using IOS & Safari with the appropriate app and the security settings will be uniform across all  platforms  :scratch:

Offline maker11

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #17 on: September 11, 2017, 07:59:12 PM »
Having a social media account is one of the best ways to communicate today, so you don't have to completely detach yourself from it, just in case you need to be aware with recent happenings, or in cases that a close friend, relative, and workmate need to reach you out. There are ways to filter what you see on FB, and here's what I have in mind:

1. You can unfollow their account if you view their activities drivel. This way, you cannot see their posts while still being friend with that person.

2. Choose your friends. You don't have to be friends with everyone on FB.

3. If you want to maximize your time on FB, you can join groups and follow pages or accounts that are relevant with what you deem as worthy indulging, somewhere where you are not forced to wallow in what you view as nonsense. There are a lot of these groups, pages, and accounts that are worth the engagement because you can learn something from them.

Hope this helps!  :beer:



 

Offline SwarfnStuff

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Re: To Facebook or Not to Facebook ?
« Reply #18 on: September 12, 2017, 02:10:11 AM »
My local model engineering club has just started using FB as a method of communication between members. We have two accounts, one is public and the other a private group. So far this is working well.  This is the link to the  public one if you are interested.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/GSMEE/

John B
Converting good metal into swarf sometimes ending up with something useful. ;-)