# Any concerns about facebook/myspace? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 14, 2007, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880 "2007-03-14T13:30:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/21 "2007-03-15T14:24:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Dinsdale** > _Another test my wife suggested was not to post anything you wouldn’t want your parents, prospective employers, or your possible kids in the future to see._ Your wife is a wise woman. A little discretion never hurt anybody. I recently Googled a local lawyer’s office. The first hit that came up was from their secretary’s Myspace page listing her place of business and talking about how she and her friends love to get soooo wasted on Bahama Mamas. I was not impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/22 "2007-03-15T14:26:30Z")
[QUOTE=burundi] Your wife is a wise woman. [/QUOTE] Of course she is. She married ME, didn’t she? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/23 "2007-03-15T14:48:29Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] Maybe a part of me still thinks finding friends online is still mostly a pastime for losers and pedophiles. [/QUOTE] Well there must be tens or hundreds of millions of losers and pedophiles out there, cause have you _noticed_ the number of people out there with facebook, myspace, bebo, et al accounts? Seriously, it has to be one of those things about old people holding on to outdated prejudices. I am only 4 years younger than you but I am in college, and TRUST me, the people that spend the most time on facebook and myspace are some of the most popular and social people out there. I doubt the millions of party hardy frat boys and miss popular sorority girls that use facebook and myspace ten times a day are really losers or pedophiles just cause some old stuff shirt that hangs out on a message board says they are. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/24 "2007-03-15T14:56:37Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] As a 34 year old professional man, I generally consider myself a bit too sophisticated to really get involved in MySpace or similar sites. Although I do use LinkedIn and Plaxo to keep track of my professional and personal contacts. Maybe a part of me still thinks finding friends online is still mostly a pastime for losers and pedophiles. [/QUOTE] Who told you MySpace and Facebook were used differently? You’re simply too old for Facebook, for one thing. I’m 24 and I’m just on the tail end of its age range - but despite the option to set your check “Friends” under “Looking for” in your profile setup, the site is mostly used to keep track of the people you already know (as far as I can tell). MySpace is either used for the same, or as a vanity trick to amass meaningless “virtual friends”, including celebrities, or even a hook up site (you too cool to get laid easily?). ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/25 "2007-03-15T15:04:12Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] Thanks everyone. Talked about this a bit over dinner last night. My main point was to be careful, and not put anything on there that you don’t have a good reason to want on there. My daughter says the main (sole?) reason she uses it is because it is the best way to get in touch with some fellow students. Which, if that is the reason she is using it, she should think whether there is a reason to have her picture on it. One thing that struck me as a little odd was she said her roommate has a pic of their dorm room on theirs. I know I may be being over-paranoid, but a teenage girl’s room seems a little private/personal to be casually sharing with strangers. Probably not a high risk, but just something that I don’t know that I’d do/encourage. [/QUOTE] You do understand that it’s possible to adjust the settings so that strangers CAN’T see the picture? I understand that you’re concerned about your daughter’s safety, but Facebook is very much oriented around who you know at school - I personally know all my Facebook friends, and they are the only people who can see my profile and pictures. There is very little risk of exposing yourself to strangers as long as you use a little common sense. ---
**Author:** ![Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8797f3/32.png) [@Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ins_Outs_What-have-yous)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/26 "2007-03-15T21:58:17Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] Look at this page: [https://register.facebook.com/findfriends.php](https://register.facebook.com/findfriends.php) It clearly asks for your e-mail password. [/QUOTE] Thank you. I see now what **Dinsdale** meant. That optional feature was not available when I joined 2 years ago. I would rather find my friends by manual searches anyway rather than allow Facebook to know my email password. [QUOTE=Dinsdale] I really do not know how much clearer I can be about what I encounter every time I’ve gone to the facebook site. The fact that they ask for my e-mail password to see “Who’s on facebook?” makes my less than eager to register. [/QUOTE] It seems that FB only asks for an ‘email password’ in order to activate an optional (and IMO somewhat stupid) feature. Like you, I’d rather not allow FB to access my email, but this does not worry me personally since users can make the choice to not allow FB to have access to their email. ---
**Author:** ![Thirty-Nine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@Thirty-Nine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thirty-Nine)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/27 "2007-03-15T23:54:23Z")
I use Facebook a lot. The university system seemed to work well, because you had to have a university email address to sign up. Thus, most students only have one shot at opening a Facebook account and so they’re less likely to lie in their profile. It’s actually a very effective form of communication. To me, the messages seem less formal than e-mail (never thought I’d say that). The event things are good, especially if you belong to a friendship group that doesn’t physically meet up so often. Groups are a complete waste of time, though I feel obliged to join the ones my friends create. Message boards for people who haven’t discovered real message boards. Note that you can join a group, only to come back later and find the owner has changed it to something completely different – something you might not want to be attached to. It’s also interesting from a social experiment point of view. When do your post on somebody’s wall instead of writing a message? Why would you poke somebody? There are no rules, but a loose system has emerged anyway. Is extremely voyeuristic though… It’s fun to see who else likes the things you like. You find some people have hidden depths, and others… not so much. I barely spend any time reading about people I don’t know… who cares? I don’t see what I have to be scared of, but then again, I’m not a 16 year old girl. What, is someone going to come over to my house and threaten me with the fact that I like Dire Straits? Myspace seems like a waste of time to me. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/28 "2007-03-16T02:21:41Z")
[QUOTE=Epimetheus] Well there must be tens or hundreds of millions of losers and pedophiles out there, cause have you _noticed_ the number of people out there with facebook, myspace, bebo, et al accounts? [/QUOTE] Well there’s enough of them out there to keep Chris Hanson busy. 😉 [QUOTE=Epimetheus] Seriously, it has to be one of those things about old people holding on to outdated prejudices. I am only 4 years younger than you but I am in college, and TRUST me, the people that spend the most time on facebook and myspace are some of the most popular and social people out there. I doubt the millions of party hardy frat boys and miss popular sorority girls that use facebook and myspace ten times a day are really losers or pedophiles just cause some old stuff shirt that hangs out on a message board says they are. [/QUOTE] Well that’s kind of the point isn’t it? Aren’t these sites mostly for college students and kids right out of college? If I want to talk about Fall Out Boy, beer pong or My Super Sweet 16 or whatever I have plenty of 20-something coworkers. My point is I don’t want to be the wierd old guy on a service mostly geared to the 25 and under crowd. Also, it’s one thing to causually post messages on a board like SDMB. It’s another to actively maintain a site with pictures and crap. Kind of smacks of “effort” if you know what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/29 "2007-03-16T03:31:30Z")
Ok my 2 cents: I have had a MySpace page for a while now mainly because 95% of my close friends and family members (who are around my age) had a page, and because a lot of people from my high school class were on there. I now have about 20 old high school friends on there and it’s been a great way to reconnect. I should mention my age: I’m 31. Like I said, many of my similarly-aged friends have MySpace pages. However, I only recently made a Facebook page and that is only because they recently stopped requiring a college or company e-mail address. However, there is not a single person my my high school class or one year up or down on Facebook. So, that tells me that it’s more of a teen/college-age thing. A lot of Facebook people in this thread said they don’t like MySpace; I on the other hand, don’t see what is so great about Facebook… Anyway the key thing to remember is never to put anything on your page that you wouldn’t want a prospective employer to see (or your SO, or parents or your worst enemy, whoever). So it’s mostly pretty innocuous - I just have your normal everyday photos of me and my boyfriend, my friends, my cat, etc. And I have never written anything too personal on there either. So for me, it’s safe, and a fun way to stay connected with friends. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/30 "2007-03-16T04:51:59Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] Well that’s kind of the point isn’t it? Aren’t these sites mostly for college students and kids right out of college? If I want to talk about Fall Out Boy, beer pong or My Super Sweet 16 or whatever I have plenty of 20-something coworkers. My point is I don’t want to be the wierd old guy on a service mostly geared to the 25 and under crowd. Also, it’s one thing to causually post messages on a board like SDMB. It’s another to actively maintain a site with pictures and crap. Kind of smacks of “effort” if you know what I mean. [/QUOTE] Well, that may be, but more and more older people are on, even my parents have a myspace page now. It is pretty much mainstream now and for all ages. Some older people have that “nothing ever changes” mindset, which is cool, but things do. Casually post? _cough_ 😉 Anyway, I have both a myspace and facebook account, and in fact I met my GF on myspace a year ago. Neither of us are social malcontents, nor child molesters. Now she still gets on quite a bit, but I got bored with it pretty quick. With school and work I rarely have time to mess with it or my real web pages. So effort is a bad thing? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/31 "2007-03-16T12:55:03Z")
[QUOTE=Epimetheus] Casually post? _cough_ 😉 [/QUOTE] Yeah…well I’m in front of a computer a lot and most of my job is waiting for other people to get stuff done for me ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/32 "2007-03-16T14:41:59Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] Also, it’s one thing to causually post messages on a board like SDMB. It’s another to actively maintain a site with pictures and crap. Kind of smacks of “effort” if you know what I mean. [/QUOTE] Makes me think of a shrine to the self, thousands of kids all blowing their own trumpets, without the benefit of fresh air.. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/33 "2007-03-16T22:02:27Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] I really do not know how much clearer I can be about what I encounter every time I’ve gone to the facebook site. The fact that they ask for my e-mail password to see “Who’s on facebook?” makes my less than eager to register. [/QUOTE] That’s a completely optional route for the site to compare your hotmail/yahoo/etc. address books with email addresses of Facebook users, and to show you any matches. If you don’t want to do that, then don’t. That won’t stop you using Facebook. [QUOTE=pizzabrat] Who told you MySpace and Facebook were used differently? You’re simply too old for Facebook, for one thing. I’m 24 and I’m just on the tail end of its age range [/QUOTE] Huh? I’m 26, and have numerous older friends on Facebook. And I don’t have a university email address, either, but this hasn’t caused a problem (it used to be necessary, but no longer). ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880/34 "2007-03-19T21:33:15Z")
[QUOTE=Epimetheus] Well, that may be, but more and more older people are on, even my parents have a myspace page now. It is pretty much mainstream now and for all ages. Some older people have that “nothing ever changes” mindset, which is cool, but things do. [/QUOTE] I don’t know if it’s as mainstream as you think, at least with people over 30. Searching within a few years of my colleges and high school class turned up only a handful of MySpace pages. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-concerns-about-facebook-myspace/395880.md?page=1)