# Could someone explain FaceBook to me? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047 "2012-08-10T03:36:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/41 "2012-08-10T15:59:26Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > That was rude. Don’t be rude to grandmas. Johanna likes this. ---
**Author:** ![Coustralee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Coustralee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coustralee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/42 "2012-08-10T16:17:59Z")
I only use an alias to read a couple of pages about stocks. The kind of thing better suited to a forum - im forever opening up little boxes. My friends and aquantances are all email ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/43 "2012-08-10T17:55:37Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > :rolleyes: You know, this question gets posted on the board about once a month, and each time, the OP comes across as if not being on Facebook should garner him some sort of medal of honor. If you don’t have friends who keep pestering you to be on Facebook (for ease of communication, ease of planning things, ease of picture sharing), then you don’t really have any need to be on Facebook. That’s my situation. Nobody ever asks me to be on Facebook, so I see no reason to join. In fact, I pretty much only do social things with my wife, and I live with her. Now, my wife is on Facebook and she uses it a lot. But then, she’s got a ton of out-of-town friends. I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/44 "2012-08-10T18:04:14Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Facebook helps me keep in touch with old friends who now live far away–it’s great to be able to log in and see pictures of my best friend’s kids, even though she lives in Texas and I live in Ohio. Their events tab makes it easier to plan parties–I can put up an event and send an invite to everyone, rather than having to call or e-mail a bunch of people. Both of these. I have a bunch of friends I knew in undergrad or law school that facebook is the main way we keep tabs on each other for births, marriages, funny stories, whatever. A huge group of my old friends from undergrad used it to organize a reunion, and those of us who played in bands back then played reunion shows for it. It was a complete blast. We had such a good time we’re playing one more reunion show with another band later in the year and letting everyone know by facebook, which beats the heck out of our back in the day method of stapling flyers to telephone poles. A few of my friends have had to delete their accounts for work or personal reasons and say they don’t miss them, but I would. It’s the easiest way to keep in regular touch with old friends. Besides, if interacting with your old and new friends on the internet doesn’t sound appealing, why the heck are you interacting with a bunch of total strangers on a message board? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/45 "2012-08-10T18:05:07Z")
> [@Astral\_Rejection](#): > > Here are a few compelling reasons: [http://m.gizmodo.com/5828914/five-reasons-why-you-should-join-facebook](http://m.gizmodo.com/5828914/five-reasons-why-you-should-join-facebook) > > When I was in college, my friends planned everything through Facebook. If I didn’t have one, I probably would have had a much less active social life. I understand why Facebook works for many people. My wife loves it, for example. But I don’t need it myself. I can answer the points in that gizmondo article: 1. I don’t want an online presence. I am very pleased that I can barely be found by Googling my name. Certainly, Google Image will not find any photographs of me. 2. I don’t need a website. I have nothing to sell. 3. I already have a job. 4. I already have all the means of communication I need. 5. This is the main thing: I don’t need to communicate with 750 million people. Generally, I only comunicate socially with five people outside of work: My wife, my son, my parents, and my sister. Two of them live in the same house as me. Basically, I don’t like to socialize. I leave that to my wife. I prefer to read and do crossword puzzles. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/46 "2012-08-10T18:28:25Z")
Random responses. You are still eligible for the prize even if I don’t respond to your specificially. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, can you join just to play Battle Pirates, because I get a bonus for getting new players. Actually not a bad reason. > [@Astral\_Rejection](#): > > Here are a few compelling reasons: [http://m.gizmodo.com/5828914/five-reasons-why-you-should-join-facebook](http://m.gizmodo.com/5828914/five-reasons-why-you-should-join-facebook) See post #45 > [@grude](#): > > FB is a pit of gossip and glurge and relationship drama, also you get to analyze what it means that someone didn’t accept your friend request you made two hours ago. > > No thank you! Are you, or you have you actually been on FB? Or is this just based on anecdotal evidence? > [@manila](#): > > Wow you should definitely put that offer up on facebook! How’s the sense of humor level on FB? I don’t find it that high in real life. > [@Becky2844](#): > > I forgot to say, I want the rock out of your backyard! If you pay the shipping, and nobody else wins it, or you’d be interested in a different piece of rose granite, I’ll send it to you. Please specify a weight from around 20 lbs. or less. Note that at some small size it’s no longer actually a piece of granite since it’s a kind of aggregate rock. > [@kob09](#): > > lol at the article link.. you can skype without having a facebook account > > I refuse to join facebook for the simple reason that it is defined in the user rules that all content you put up on facebook is owned by facebook from that moment on and can be used by them (§2, first paragraph of the user rules) .. that makes it for me impossible to put up pictures or any data on facebook Yes, I already have Skype, and I have concerns about content ownership. It already prevents me from discussing some things here on the Dope. > [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > My “Facebook philosophy” is different than most people. My only friends on FB (with a very few exceptions) are people that I regularly hang out with in real life. I also don’t seek out friends - my only friends on FB are people who have friended ME. > > Should you join Facebook? IMHO, the only good reason to join Facebook is if _you already have good friends who are active on Facebook._ See, there’s the thing. I’m already well connected on line with my tech oriented friends, and my non-tech friends are mostly not on. > [@Leaffan](#): > > **TriPolar** , how old are you. > > I just turned 50, and for my age group (in general) Facebook doesn’t work. It just doesn’t. Every now and again I log in and see an updated status or something, but it’s boring as shit really. > > Some friends wished me a happy birthday, because if you put your birth date in there your friends will apparently see a reminder or something. These birthday wishes appeared in my Gmail account, and I could read them there without logging into Facebook though. > > Seriously, unless you’re prepared to spend countless hours reading how “Dave” isn’t feeling well today, and “Cathy” is at the cottage, it’s pointless. > > None of my friends are into political debates, religion, glurge or anything, so it’s a really, really, really boring experience for me. I’m 56 and that’s a big part of it I think. If I were younger I might align my life around social media, but it’s not what I’ve done and so I’m hesitant to adapt to this when there are so many other things I rather adapt to. > [@Hbns](#): > > So why would you want to be convinced? I don’t want to be convinced, but I’m willing to be convinced. I have 0 FB experience, so maybe I’m missing something. > [@Enderw24](#): > > Sorry, no. Points for that. > [@Munch](#): > > :rolleyes: You know, this question gets posted on the board about once a month, and each time, the OP comes across as if not being on Facebook should garner him some sort of medal of honor. If you don’t have friends who keep pestering you to be on Facebook (for ease of communication, ease of planning things, ease of picture sharing), then you don’t really have any need to be on Facebook. > > And if at this point you are still unaware of what Facebook is and does, I’m not sure bragging about that point is really all that advisable. (Not being on Facebook is the new “I don’t even own a television” fake brag.) If you’re tired of threads like this then don’t open them. Otherwise come up with better snark than an a rolleyes thingy. The television thing is not fair. It’s like owning a television and not watching _Lost_ because you aren’t interested in it. I’ve been online steadily since the late 70s, I don’t appreciate technoobs calling me snotty. > [@Johanna](#): > > I do not have my life on public display on Facebook. I have my life displayed only to friends of my choice. Over 99% of my information there is inaccessible to the public. > > When I was gaming on FB, I was scrupulous about deleting every game post once it was 24 hours old. I left the posts up that long for my gamer friends to pick up their stuff. But I don’t like the massive clutter of hundreds of game posts in which anything else becomes lost. Clean up that crap, peoples, please. Visiting your page is like visiting the home of an old hoarder with decades of accumulated junk and newspapers making it difficult to find a path to even walk through it. > > I’m a grandmother going on 53. I enjoy Facebook greatly. I like having friends and being part of society. Now this is the part people aren’t talking about. **I don’t know anything about FB**. I have no idea what’s involved in keeping stuff private or public, or what kind of maintenance is required to do that. If your description wasn’t dissuading me, I’d put you in the top spot right now. Also, sorry to hear your kids couldn’t control themselves. Or happy to hear it if you like being a grandma 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/47 "2012-08-10T18:34:20Z")
> [@](#): > > The television thing is not fair. It’s like owning a television and not watching Lost because you aren’t interested in it. I’ve been online steadily since the late 70s, I don’t appreciate technoobs calling me snotty. You’re right - the television thing isn’t fair. What you’re doing is the equivalent of responding to the “I don’t even own a television” guy with “what’s a television?”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/48 "2012-08-10T18:44:10Z")
Then my position is that you should stay away from Facebook! What do I win for helping you to maintain your position? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/49 "2012-08-10T18:49:15Z")
Facebook is GREAT for people who would otherwise have problems communicating with people/spending RL time with them. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/50 "2012-08-10T19:11:13Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Facebook is GREAT for people who would otherwise have problems communicating with people/spending RL time with them. It’s also great for people who spend a lot of time interacting with people IRL. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/51 "2012-08-10T19:42:32Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Now this is the part people aren’t talking about. **I don’t know anything about FB**. I have no idea what’s involved in keeping stuff private or public, or what kind of maintenance is required to do that. If your description wasn’t dissuading me, I’d put you in the top spot right now. I think **suryani** ’s posts are even handed. He explains, fairly succintly I think, why some people use it and others don’t. I do think that “geographically widespread friend or family network” is the #1 reason why people use and continue to use facebook. I can easily stay up to date on my friends in Australia, even though we haven’t seen each other physically since… like… 2003. We never had the kind of relationship where we regularly emailed (like regular letters, even when I wrote more emails than I do now, I only ever regularly emailed my very closest friends). Now, if you don’t have a geographically widespread friend or family network you’de like to stay in touch with, you probably would have no use for Facebook unless you liked some of the games (I find FB apps annoying, most ofthe time, but some are fun). As far as keeping things private – in the sense that what you write will only be visible to people you have explicitly approved – yes, you absolutely can, and its fairly simple. As far as the “humor level” it depends who you are friends with. I get lots of laughs from FB, but I know a lot of very clever people. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/52 "2012-08-10T19:46:12Z")
I joined it originally and have over 1400 friends now. Of course, I don’t interact with hardly any of them, but it’s still cool to scroll through and see their face once in a while. Almost like some sort of picture diary of the people you’ve met throughout your life. The one thing that I’ve really enjoyed lately is “liking” certain groups I can identify with. There’s political, artistic, sports, healthy eating and on and on. They have all kinds of cool artwork, articles and videos you can browse through. These have led me to all kinds of things and it is usually all in one convenient FB page. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/53 "2012-08-10T20:16:00Z")
I resisted using Facebook for a long time and I eventually realized that I was missing quite a bit of what was going on with friends and family so I reluctantly joined. Even now, I rarely make posts, and I don’t spend more than like 5 minutes a day looking at my feed unless I’m bored, but I do make good use of the chat feature, and even that, since it works with out well known chat programs like AIM and GChat, I pipe all of that through the same interface. But the thing is, Facebook is a convenient way to let people know what’s going on with you and keep up on those things. Without at least some sort of social networking tool, if there’s some announcement in the family or friends, they have to call everyone or email everyone, and any comments or responses get spread around and all that information is lost. It’s nice to see someone post pictures of something, maybe an event I missed, and be able to see it, or maybe it’s something I was at and I get to see all the pictures that people took. Or imagine a cousin that lives across the country is coming home to visit, you might not have gotten that call or email, but on Facebook you’ll see it and maybe you can see them when they’re in town. For me, it’s also a great way to keep up on things that otherwise consumed a whole lot of time. I’m really into the music scene in my area and a lot of underground bands, and keeping up with it before Facebook meant checking tons of different websites and relying on various friends to pass around information. Now I just become a fan of bands and certain venues and I can see those updates easily, in one place. There’s been plenty of concerts I probably would have missed if I hadn’t seen it on facebook because I didn’t even know a band was touring and I see them pop up at one of those venues or they post their dates. And sure, you might have copyright concerns, fine, don’t post that stuff there. I certainly wouldn’t post any of my original music or poetry or whatever directly on their site, but that’s more to protect it against everyone else than it is to protect it from Facebook. But why am I worried about copyright on pictures that were taken at my nephew’s birthday party or at the beach or whatever? They’re still mine and I can repost them wherever, and they weren’t taken as art or was I going to make money from them, and Facebook only indirectly makes money from them by letting other users see them as part of the service. The thing is, Facebook is a powerful tool, but it’s only as powerful as how much you and the people you know use it. Obviously, if you don’t know anyone on it, or all your friends are either way too detailed or way too quiet it’s kind of useless, but that’s no different than any other kind of tool for socializing. I’m going to say everyone has to be on it, but I’m a pretty introverted person, but I still find it useful and worthwhile because most of my family and friends are on it, and if you don’t have the critical mass, then it isn’t really worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/54 "2012-08-10T20:27:11Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > It’s also great for people who spend a lot of time interacting with people IRL. How I meant it:For someone in MA in a wheelchair on a fixed income, it’s great to communicate with people in Washington or California. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/55 "2012-08-10T21:34:28Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > If your description wasn’t dissuading me, I’d put you in the top spot right now. Apple pie, please. > [@](#): > > Also, sorry to hear your kids couldn’t control themselves. I said nothing about my kids. 😕 :dubious: > [@](#): > > Or happy to hear it if you like being a grandma 🙂 That I do, thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/56 "2012-08-10T22:49:39Z")
Facebook is 850 000 000 people posting kitten pics, gorgeous and/or interesting artwork, holiday snaps, weird religious rants, political artwork, and jokes. On the other hand, I reconnected with family members and friends, found out about a high-school reunion, saw my sister’s kids, said Hi to ex-co-workers, and play the occasional game. It’s not that it couldn’t be improved–they need to make certain user-interface options more available, like being able to turn off any notifications, including the default ones provided by FB itself–but even in its flawed state, it’s quite useful. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/57 "2012-08-10T23:48:40Z")
I’ve moved a lot, lived in many different states and several countries, and have friends I adore and miss dearly from all those places, so it’s a nice way to keep in touch, and also to network a bit more with new friends in my new home and get to know them and the area better. And what Sunspace said: Some of them are doing interesting things and posting interesting photos and links to interesting articles, or just posting hilarious things so we get to joke around and shoot the shit for a bit every now and then and remember why we’re still friends. We casually chat about music and current events and art etc etc, and once we start up a conversation, I never know which of my other friends might chime with “OMG I LOVE NURSE-WITH-WOUND, TOO!”, and I get to know old friends even better and cheer them on or commiserate with them as warranted or admire pictures of their cats and children and smoked meats and high scores and batik, or tell my sister “Check out the glurge Aunt Doreen posted! Total wingnut woo!”, or, locally, see who’s going to what concert in town or who has extra spinach or needs to borrow a wheelbarrow. But I’m a social animal. My profile is limited to people I’m friends with-- you can’t find it on Google-- and I don’t have to have contact with strangers or non-strangers who I dislike. ---
**Author:** ![D-bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@D-bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D-bear)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/58 "2012-08-11T00:55:30Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > **TriPolar** , how old are you. > > I just turned 50, and for my age group (in general) Facebook doesn’t work. It just doesn’t. Every now and again I log in and see an updated status or something, but it’s boring as shit really. > > Some friends wished me a happy birthday, because if you put your birth date in there your friends will apparently see a reminder or something. These birthday wishes appeared in my Gmail account, and I could read them there without logging into Facebook though. > > Seriously, unless you’re prepared to spend countless hours reading how “Dave” isn’t feeling well today, and “Cathy” is at the cottage, it’s pointless. > > None of my friends are into political debates, religion, glurge or anything, so it’s a really, really, really boring experience for me. It’s like the lady said… [QUOTE=Betty White] You know, I have so many people to thank for being here, but I really have to thank Facebook. [the audience cheers wildly] When I first heard about the campaign to get me to host “Saturday Night Live”, I didn’t know what Facebook was. And, now that I do know what it is, I have to say… it sounds like a HUGE waste of time. [the audience cheers and applauds wildly] I would never say that people on it are losers… but that’s only because I’m polite. People say, “But Betty, Facebook is a great way to connect with old friends.” Well, at my age, if I want to connect with old friends… I need a Ouji board. Needless to say, we didn’t have Facebook when I was growing up. We had Phonebook, but… you wouldn’t waste an afternoon on it. Facebook just sounds like a drag. In my day, seeing pictures of people’s vacations was considered a punishment. And, when we were kids, we didn’t say we were single. We were just kids! It was weird if you weren’t single! Yes, we had poking… but… it wasn’t something you did on a computer. It was – it was something you did on a hayride. Under a blanket. [she strikes a nostalgic, faraway glance, then returns to Earth] Oh! Sorry. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/59 "2012-08-11T01:04:30Z")
> [@D-bear](#): > > It’s like the lady said… Thanks for the Betty White quote. Loved it. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047/60 "2012-08-11T01:20:59Z")
Amidst all the clutter and mind-numbing crap, you will occasionally stumble upon something worthwhile; whether it be an old friend, a hilarious joke, like-minded people or a good tip on things to do/restaurants to visit when in certain areas. It’s like, “Why not?” to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-facebook-to-me/631047.md?page=4)