# Facebook. Why is it a Big Deal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809 "2016-07-13T13:41:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/62 "2016-07-15T04:05:57Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I love the way when you follow a link that goes outside facebook they give you a dire warning. > > “Warning, danger! You are leaving fluffy bunny land and may encounter scary stuff including exposure to ideas and facts that haven’t been pre-approved as being to your liking! Are you sure you want to take this terrible risk? Really?” You sure you’re not thinking of Steam? I’ve never seen FB do this either. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/63 "2016-07-15T04:15:30Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > You sure you’re not thinking of Steam? I’ve never seen FB do this either. I am not on Steam and I am absolutely certain it is facebook. It is not consistent, I don’t know why/when it offers the warning and when it does not. I will get the actual wording and quote it here next time it does it. Obviously my version was not what it actually said, I was being hyperbolic. > [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > How it works is it will suggest people who are friends of the friends you already have, depending on how many mutual friends you have in common with them and interests and FB games/apps you use and other various things. Looking at someone’s profile does _not directly_ trip a “put them on people they may know” list for either person, however…unless they changed that in the last few months or so. > > Cite: I’ve been using FB, daily, for hours each day, for ten years now. I am absolutely certain I am correct. I recently searched for a particular person and looked at their profile. This person has no connection to me whatsoever through friends, family or work in any way. I only know of them by public reputation and they have never heard of me. Immediately after I did so, FB started suggesting this person and their family as a possible friend. I’ve realised what I said before may be incorrect, because now that I think about it I don’t know if the same is true vice versa. It may be that it suggests people as a possible friend to the searcher, but not the searchee. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/64 "2016-07-15T10:50:31Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I love the way when you follow a link that goes outside facebook they give you a dire warning. > > “Warning, danger! You are leaving fluffy bunny land and may encounter scary stuff including exposure to ideas and facts that haven’t been pre-approved as being to your liking! Are you sure you want to take this terrible risk? Really?” That may be specific to looking at FB on your iPhone using the FB app. After a spate of apps that would automatically redirect to the App Store, apple instituted a warning when you’re leaving whatever app you’re using to let the user know they’re being sent away from the app. I’ve never ever seen Facebook do that using a browser. I’ve seen lots of apps give the “you’re leaving this app” warning, otoh. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/65 "2016-07-15T11:34:31Z")
No I don’t have the facebook app on my phone. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/66 "2016-07-15T13:17:32Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > No I don’t have the facebook app on my phone. Weird. That was all I could think of, since I’ve never, ever seen any warning from Facebook when I click on a link. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/67 "2016-07-15T15:13:50Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > That’s not Facebook, that’s your friends. It’s no different than if you emailed a friend about your vacation and the friend forwarded it to all her friends. Would you blame the email program? If the email program in question automatically shared any incoming mail and attachments to everyone in the mailbox I’d think it was a spammy piece of shit. Now I don’t know anything about facebook, it may be that the default setting is that nothing of yours is shared and you have to turn on those options and create a sharing list and everytime you post something you have to confirm who gets to see it. If so, that’s healthy If not, then facebook is due a degree of blame. And of course the people ultimately take the blame. Even if facebook is the most malicious application ever created it doesn’t point a gun at the face of the users (Yet?) > [@](#): > > It’s probably more common to wait until you’re home before sharing pictures and vacation news, just so it’s not broadcast around while you’re gone. But really, it’s like anything. Never think that what you share online will stay private. I don’t share anything online, not when I’m away, not when I get home. If I meet someone in person and the subject comes up I may show them a photo but otherwise…nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/68 "2016-07-15T18:06:15Z")
No offense, but don’t you think your friends have a right to talk about their vacation on the internet as well? I can understand you not wanting your picture shown, but I don’t think you should be able to veto them sharing THEIR experiences. It was their vacation too. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/69 "2016-07-15T18:49:20Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Now I don’t know anything about facebook, it may be that the default setting is that nothing of yours is shared and you have to turn on those options and create a sharing list and everytime you post something you have to confirm who gets to see it. > > If so, that’s healthy > > If not, then facebook is due a degree of blame. This criticism makes no sense. The purpose of Facebook is to allow people to share information with their friends. It doesn’t force anyone to do so. If something is on Facebook, it’s because a user decided to put it there. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/70 "2016-07-15T19:20:44Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > 36 posts and nobody has mentioned the baby goat videos? I love cute animal videos 😛 This. Facebook is also a great way to share goatse with all of your friends. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/71 "2016-07-15T19:33:11Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > I think it is interesting how a lot of people hate Facebook, in a way that no one hates phone calls, email or face-to-face interaction. Considering how much I hate those last three things, I’ve never had a Facebook account, because I’m sure I would hate it most of all. _Chacun a son gout._ “Re-connecting with old friends!” {shudder} ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/72 "2016-07-16T01:35:30Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > If the email program in question automatically shared any incoming mail and attachments to everyone in the mailbox I’d think it was a spammy piece of shit. > Now I don’t know anything about facebook, it may be that the default setting is that nothing of yours is shared and you have to turn on those options and create a sharing list and everytime you post something you have to confirm who gets to see it. > If so, that’s healthy > If not, then facebook is due a degree of blame. > > And of course the people ultimately take the blame. Even if facebook is the most malicious application ever created it doesn’t point a gun at the face of the users (Yet?) > > I don’t share anything online, not when I’m away, not when I get home. If I meet someone in person and the subject comes up I may show them a photo but otherwise…nothing. You can set everything to public, which shares everything with the world. I don’t know anyone who does that. You can set it so it shares with your friends, or limit all your posts to just your Grandma, if you want. Once it’s on their page, though, it’s theirs to share with whomever they want, or for any of their friends to see. You don’t know what they’ll do, and you can’t stop them from doing it. I share very little. My profile picture is a dog. But I enjoy seeing what my relatives are doing because they’re scattered around the country, and I enjoy seeing what my former students are doing. I don’t like being tagged in pictures, and on the rare occasions it happens, Iam notified by Facebook, and I ask them to take it off. You’d be amazed at the people who think we all want to know what they had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or where they went on their walk this morning, or the forty-eight pictures they took of their kids today, or their new cell phone number. I know I’m amazed at the over sharing I see. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/73 "2016-07-16T07:10:01Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > This criticism makes no sense. The purpose of Facebook is to allow people to share information with their friends. It doesn’t force anyone to do so. If something is on Facebook, it’s because a user decided to put it there. I know that it allows the sharing, my point was that it may assume you want to share everything. i.e. when you set it up do you have to turn sharing options\* off\*. or\* on\* and are they then global settings for everything that you post or get sent to you? does it seek to promote sharing by default or does it need the user to make that positive choice? the latter puts all the blame on the user, the former is a shitty design choice that relies on people’s laziness As for the “force” question I specifically said, > [@](#): > > And of course the people ultimately take the blame. Even if facebook is the most malicious application ever created it doesn’t point a gun at the face of the users (Yet?) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/74 "2016-07-16T07:24:24Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > No offense, but don’t you think your friends have a right to talk about their vacation on the internet as well? I can understand you not wanting your picture shown, but I don’t think you should be able to veto them sharing THEIR experiences. It was their vacation too. They can do what they want of course. I’d prefer they didn’t mention us by name but that’s their choice. I’d hope that common good manners would prevail. i.e. if I knew I was sharing something like that with the whole internet I’d anonamise the details of everyone outside my immediate family. I don’t like the thought of my family an I having any sort of social media presence so the less that is shared about us and our movements the better. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/75 "2016-07-16T07:26:57Z")
Yeah, what the hell is the deal with Facebook? You can’t catch Pokemon there! ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/76 "2016-07-16T09:34:23Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > You can set everything to public, which shares everything with the world. I don’t know anyone who does that. Heh, I know quite a few people who are set to public. A handful of them were, for lack of a better term, attention whores in other now-dying venues. The rest apparently aren’t aware that FB is notorious for fiddling with the security levels every so often because, to them, YOU MUST SHARE EVERYTHING. It always pays to check your settings every so often. > [@](#): > > You can set it so it shares with your friends, or limit all your posts to just your Grandma, if you want. Once it’s on their page, though, it’s theirs to share with whomever they want, or for any of their friends to see. You don’t know what they’ll do, and you can’t stop them from doing it. I have mine set at Friends Only and only people I know or know through through them are allowed to friend me: If I don’t recognize your name or username elsewhere, and if nobody can vouch for you, chances are nil I’ll friend you. Within that Friends Only I have several filters so only certain people see certain posts. My coworkers, for example, are all on one filter. People I’ve friended but who annoy me with spam or ~whathaveyou~ are on another filter. It’s handy in the sense that you don’t have to defriend them (because that’s a whole other kettle of drama) but you don’t have to have their drivel on your feed either. Facebook thinks you should be able to share whatever ANYONE posts ANYWHERE, which annoys the crap out of me. Many people feel the same way; ergo, their Facebook eventually evolves into either a family photo gallery, a feed for external web links, or such painful banal topics that nobody would dream of sharing them. For this reason some of my friends have abandoned Facebook in favor of Snapchat. > [@](#): > > share very little. My profile picture is a dog. But I enjoy seeing what my relatives are doing because they’re scattered around the country, and I enjoy seeing what my former students are doing. I don’t like being tagged in pictures, and on the rare occasions it happens, Iam notified by Facebook, and I ask them to take it off. I’ve had to tell my husband a few times to stop tagging me in photos. He’s trying to build a writing portfolio (something which Facebook is a great tool for, btw), and we’ve collaborated on a few projects. I have no desire to market myself like that, especially where family and coworkers will see it. > [@](#): > > You’d be amazed at the people who think we all want to know what they had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or where they went on their walk this morning, or the forty-eight pictures they took of their kids today, or their new cell phone number. I know I’m amazed at the over sharing I see. I’ve noticed this phenomenon paprticularly among SAHMs and the recently retired. In that sense it’s become a heavily edited version of LiveJournal in certain circles. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/77 "2016-07-16T10:02:09Z")
Because of Facebook I was able to start a group that led to a successful 20 year high school reunion. It seemed about 80+% of the people had Facebook accounts… ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/78 "2016-07-16T14:47:01Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I know that it allows the sharing, my point was that it may assume you want to share everything. i.e. when you set it up do you have to turn sharing options\* off\*. or\* on\* and are they then global settings for everything that you post or get sent to you? > > does it seek to promote sharing by default or does it need the user to make that positive choice? the latter puts all the blame on the user, the former is a shitty design choice that relies on people’s laziness > > As for the “force” question I specifically said, You can set the default audience for your posts and you can set the audience for every single post separately. It’s pretty easy to do. _However_, your logic is faulty here. The whole point of Facebook is to share information with your friends. It’s not like some other service in which sharing with your friends is some secondary option. For example, it’s not a streaming music service whose primary purpose is to allow you to listen to music conveniently and then it sets a sneaky default to share all your playlists and streaming choices with your friends. For the purposes of Facebook, setting the initial default to share is not shitty design, because sharing is the primary—and for many people the sole—purpose of the platform. It’s really the only logical default. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/79 "2016-07-16T15:51:25Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > You can set the default audience for your posts and you can set the audience for every single post separately. It’s pretty easy to do. not really my point, I assume that you can adjust settings to limit the scope of sharing. However, the default assumption of facebook is the one that gives the greatest indication of it’s intent. A simple question. If you set up an account and accepted all the default settings, would it share everything with everyone? > [@](#): > > _However_, your logic is faulty here. The whole point of Facebook is to share information with your friends. It’s not like some other service in which sharing with your friends is some secondary option. to _automatically_ share with your friends? > [@](#): > > For the purposes of Facebook, setting the initial default to share is not shitty design, because sharing is the primary—and for many people the sole—purpose of the platform. It’s really the only logical default. I’m sure it is an excellent choice for facebook but they could easily take a view that everything you post is not shared until you make a positive decision to do so. I stand by my opinion that to not have that as the default at the point of set-up would be a shitty design choice. I know why they do it, I don’t necessarily think it is good choice. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/80 "2016-07-16T17:00:32Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > to _automatically_ share with your friends? > [@](#): > > I’m sure it is an excellent choice for facebook but they could easily take a view that everything you post is not shared until you make a positive decision to do so. I stand by my opinion that to not have that as the default at the point of set-up would be a shitty design choice. I know why they do it, I don’t necessarily think it is good choice. You’re not making sense here. Posting something on Facebook _is in itself and by itself a positive decision_ to share it. There’s literally no other purpose for Facebook. If you don’t want to “automatically” share something with your friends, then you don’t put it on Facebook, because Facebook is for sharing, and pretty much nothing else. Posting something on Facebook is like dialing someone’s telephone number. If you don’t want to talk to someone, you don’t dial the number. Is it shitty design that the telephone system _automatically_ places a call when you dial the number? If you don’t want to share content with your Facebook friends, you don’t post it on Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809/81 "2016-07-17T08:00:17Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > You’re not making sense here. Posting something on Facebook _is in itself and by itself a positive decision_ to share it. There’s literally no other purpose for Facebook. If you don’t want to “automatically” share something with your friends, then you don’t put it on Facebook, because Facebook is for sharing, and pretty much nothing else. > > Posting something on Facebook is like dialing someone’s telephone number. If you don’t want to talk to someone, you don’t dial the number. Is it shitty design that the telephone system _automatically_ places a call when you dial the number? If you don’t want to share content with your Facebook friends, you don’t post it on Facebook. It seems like you are almost deliberately misunderstanding my point, why do think I keep mentioning the default set-up options ? (which you are ignoring) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-why-is-it-a-big-deal/759809.md?page=5)