Facebook for things other than talking about your life?

musicismylife78musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
edited October 2010 in All Encompassing Trip
I know obviously FB is about staying in contact with people you know, but I dont know about the whole updating your friends on your life, anytime anything happens. Same with twitter. Do you think people actually read that type of stuff? Or am I being wierd here? Im not talking about sending people messages, private messages on facebook, Im more talking about the people who post about the minutia of daily life, like I went to the hardware store today etc....

Thats one of the reasons I have avoided any of the social networking sites. One, Im kind of private in general, and two, i dont know i'd be any good at it, updating the world on my profile page about my daily life.
Post edited by Unknown User on

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  • I'm with ya 100%. No Facebook, No Twitter, No MySpace. Nobody can convince me otherwise. This little board here is the only thing I do by way of online social networking.
    "FF, I've heard the droning about the Sawx being the baby dolls. Yeah, I get it, you guys invented baseball and suffered forever. I get it." -JearlPam0925
  • NastasjaNastasja Posts: 9,668
    I don't read all of the stuff people post on facebook. Things like 'did my laundry today' or 'I have diarrhea'.
    But sometimes someone posts a quite interesting link. Either political stuff, science, philosophical topics, fun things, etc.
    Found some good, educational websites through FB-friends.

    Or simply some really enjoyable PJ-YouTube-Videos :)
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  • I don't get it either. Most of our lives are not that thrilling. I mean I work 40 hours a week and take 5 or 6 vacations a year. I can't imagine anything I'm doing otherwise that's interesting enough to post to all of my friends. People post daily what's going on in their lives and most of it is just a bunch of meaningless day to day stuff. "I went to the grocery store and bought some potatoes", "I'm watching the Niners game and they're playing pretty well." Who cares! I think it's mostly a tool for people to show off what they've got and essentially brag about themselves. I think it's also a way for people to keep friends that they really don't like spending time with. I know my wife does this a lot. She has obnoxious friends that she chats with on facebook so we don't have to see them as much in person. I can't complain about this aspect, it's saved a lot of weekends for me. Perhaps when I have a kid I can see the usefulness in it. Posting pictures of my kid and giving updates on his life would be a little less obnoxious.
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  • lephtylephty Posts: 770
    The minute to minute updaters are crazy!

    I tend to post if i am doing something out of the ordinary like a concert or some fun destination. I do read my friends that make similar posts
  • The JugglerThe Juggler Posts: 48,613
    who starts two separate threads about the same general subject? :?

    viewtopic.php?f=14&t=141640
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  • AD85517AD85517 Posts: 11
    Agreed in that Facebook minutiais totally pointless. And in an ironic way, damaging to social contact. Don't believe me? Well, how about when you have a long lost school buddy you message on Facebook a lot, and then you arrange to meet them. When you do catch up inperson, you have NOTHING to talk about, and it gets really awkward and you say to yourself "Wish I hadn't said that stuff on Facebook, or else we would have something to talk about right now!" Something with texting sometimes too.

    And as for doing things the ol' fashioned way, I missed out on a school buddies stag night and wedding because he posted all the invites on Facebook and I didn't check my account for something normal (to me at least) for two months and missed it. Gutted.

    Besides, what's wrong with picking up the phone or writing a letter? I write letters, heaps of them. This online reality is starting to get ridiculous.

    I am just about to finish my Teaching qualificaton, and we have been *strongly advised* by the tutors to do all we can to 'wipe clean' our online social network sites (as in, take down drunken naked photos, apologise to all those who have been caustic to you and just generally keep on the down low) as more and more prosepctive employers are surfing the net looking for dirt on their new employees. And not to add ANY students or parents of students or even staff as friends. Basically the line is, if you can do it in person, you don't need to have them as friends online. (It's faster anyway)

    Add to the fact that a friend of my girlfriends just got fired, yes FIRED, for 'abusing the company internet policy'. That's what happens when you update your Facebook status to 'just went and had a chicken sandwich at (insert place name). man it was shit!' Turns out that she works (worked) as an accountant and the chicken place were her clients and her boss found out.
  • dcfaithfuldcfaithful Posts: 13,076
    The small, uninteresting, and irrelevant updates become little overwhelming because of the fact that I think a vast majority of people on Facebook are just day-to-day people, like myself, and others on here...who have really no more of an exciting life than the other person.

    I know my life, if posted as status updates, would sound even more vanilla than it already does. :oops:
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  • 8181 Posts: 58,276
    AD85517 wrote:

    I am just about to finish my Teaching qualificaton, and we have been *strongly advised* by the tutors to do all we can to 'wipe clean' our online social network sites (as in, take down drunken naked photos, apologise to all those who have been caustic to you and just generally keep on the down low) as more and more prosepctive employers are surfing the net looking for dirt on their new employees. And not to add ANY students or parents of students or even staff as friends. Basically the line is, if you can do it in person, you don't need to have them as friends online. (It's faster anyway)

    that's funny. i have a freind that is a teacher and she has hundreds of student friends. not sure if her school has any official policy. she really doesn't post anything very often and what she does post is generally annoucements relating to school stuff.
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  • HorosHoros Posts: 4,518
    who starts two separate threads about the same general subject? :?

    http://forums.pearljam.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=141640
    Someone who hasn't opened an account because they have no friends. ;)
    #FHP
  • good to know im not the only facebook hater.
    im sick of people being like, oh, did you see the pics i posted??
    no, i dont have facebook, and i dont care.
    im glad i graduated high school and dont have to deal with all those assholes anymore...
    signing up for fagbook would just open the door to the past...which i am soooo over!!!
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  • eyedclaareyedclaar Posts: 6,980
    I've found that people are much more drawn to the moronic minutia than any kind of real content. I waste time sharing pics and stories of epic outdoor adventures only to realize that nobody cares. It is nowhere near as engaging as what people had for breakfast or watched on tv.
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  • eMMIeMMI Posts: 6,262
    eyedclaar wrote:
    I've found that people are much more drawn to the moronic minutia than any kind of real content. I waste time sharing pics and stories of epic outdoor adventures only to realize that nobody cares. It is nowhere near as engaging as what people had for breakfast or watched on tv.

    It might not be that people don't care. The minutia and pointless (flooding) updates can drown out any actually interesting stuff.

    I know I've noticed some pictures (some of which yours :D ) a month or two after they've been posted just because I haven't noticed them in the muddle of the "news" flow.
    "Don't be faint-hearted, I have a solution! We shall go and commandeer some small craft, then drift at leisure until we happen upon another ideal place for our waterside supper with riparian entertainments."
  • can i also bring up my hatred for facebook in that, when someone posts a link or something, telling you to look at their pictures (some of which you are in, usually unapprovingly) you cant see the pics because you dont have a facebook account. :thumbdown: :evil:
    no, i wont back down
    i will stand my ground
    fuck facebook!!
    ever heard of photobucket or flikr??
    both perfectly suitable methods of sharing pictures ;)
    Mansfield, MA - Jul 02, 2003; Mansfield, MA - Jul 03, 2003; Mansfield, MA - Jul 11, 2003; Boston, MA - Sep 29, 2004; Reading, PA - Oct 01, 2004; Hartford, CT - May 13, 2006; Boston, MA - May 24, 2006; Boston, MA - May 25, 2006; Hartford, CT - Jun 27, 2008; Mansfield, MA - Jun 28, 2008; Mansfield, MA - June 30, 2008; Hartford, CT - May 15, 2010; Boston, MA - May 17, 2010; [EV - Providence, RI - June 15, 2011; EV - Hartford, CT - June 18, 2011]; Worcester, MA - Oct. 15, 2013; Worcester, MA - Oct. 16, 2013; Hartford, CT - Oct. 25, 2013; Boston, MA -  August 5, 2016; Boston, MA - August 7, 2016...



  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    Twitter gets a bad rap.

    You can use Twitter to follow legitimate news sources or people who may be "in the know" about certain topics and basically get mini news updates faster than you can get them from other news sources.

    I don't follow any particular person on twitter who isn't connected to an entity or topic that I want to follow.
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  • JaneNYJaneNY Posts: 4,438
    know1 wrote:
    Twitter gets a bad rap.

    You can use Twitter to follow legitimate news sources or people who may be "in the know" about certain topics and basically get mini news updates faster than you can get them from other news sources.

    I agree with this. Its a way to keep up with topics you're interested in rather than the now tired 'i don't wan to know what someone had for breakfast'. Plenty of times I learn of a news event on twitter first.

    I do not have a facebook page, and am quite a private person, but certainly it can be used for things other than talking about your life. Businesses' pages are an example. I think it is what you make it - a template. One of my daughter's friend's dads has a page that has the most basic info, but doesn't have a picture, you can't post on his wall (if he has one), nor contact him in any other way. I think he created a page of this nature simply so he could access others' facebook pages.
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  • I have frequent, Stalinesque Facebook purges and I now find that it is comparatively idiot-free and a good site on which to talk about, well, anything vaguely interesting. I've deleted most of the people I've met on here except for a chosen few, mainly because people who use photos of Eddie Vedder for their profile pic, or even list one of their names as Vedder, scare the living shite out of me.
  • Sonja_SSonja_S Posts: 444
    It took a long time for friends to convince me to join facebook, but I now enjoy it. It's a good way to keep in touch with friends living abroad or even getting help with some stuff. That said, I never confirm anyone I don't know, my friends are not in the habit of posting bowel movement updates, every one of my fb-photo albums has its own security-setting (photos from a former workplace only visible to former co-workers) and if I have to confirm someone for political reasons (business partner), I'll change the settings for this contact so it looks like I'm actually not active on fb, but just registered.
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