I’ve passed on most Internet socialization sites but recently joined Facebook. I can’t quite figure out exactly what it’s generally used for. Kind of like blogging? What do you use it for?
We’ve done this a few times.
Thanks.
Since it’s been asked and answered (if not in this thread), I feel compelled to copy some of the first message thread from the FB page of one of my friends, who joined a few weeks ago, which alleges to answer this question …
I have found old high school friends, old work friends, and had some inside jokes with co-workers. It adds another layer of the relationship when you can chat with someone about what they posted on Facebook. As a matter of fact, I found an old friend I haven’t seen since I was in elementary school and we’re meeting up next Saturday.
Damn Mafia Wars, Pet Society, and Restaurant City, though.
Lidda bidda dis, lidda bidda dat. My favorite use is to keep tabs with geographically distant friends who I don’t really know well enough or feel the need to call or email frequently but like to know what they’re up to and that they’re okay.
Facebook is really nice for this kind of thing. There are plenty of people I knew in college or even when I was a kid who I wasn’t close enough to that we stayed in touch over the years, but who I still cared enough about to be interested in basic info about their lives now. If we all lived in the same small town I’d have heard that Kathy is a real estate agent now and that she got married and had a baby, but since we’ve been living in different parts of the country since we last saw each other on graduation day then I’m glad I can find this kind of thing out through her Facebook profile.
When it comes to people I’m close friends with in real life, Facebook is a nice way to share photos or leave a quick note for someone.
It’s a new way for me to ignore people I haven’t talked to in 20 years.
It’s for me to tell people I have a new website. And I bought an ipod. And I have a quirky sense of humour. And I like to save money on SMS messges.
I use it for sharing photos without emailing out links. If people want to see my pics, they are probably already a “friend,” so I don’t have to email out links to my picasa or other photo sharing site.
Killing time when I’m too tired to want to really think about what’s on my screen 
Other than that it is kind of nice to chat with my far flung family members on there.
And be nagged to add some person who attended my college the same time I did… yeah I KNEW the whole student body there personally!:rolleyes:
Photo sharing with family members, that’s pretty much it.
eta I’m in my 50’s, married, working, not looking to ‘hook up’ or find a job or anything
For me, It acts as a sort of cover letter or reference for future job hunts.
That’s what they keep warning us about, anyway, so I try to make the most of it.
Of course, it would be wrong to lie on an actual resume or cover letter, but…
It’s a chance for people that you intentionally dropped 20 years ago to tell you what their cats have been up to. It’s also a chance for them to share conspiracy theories and the lates Glenn Beck videos.
It’s also a great way to not keep in touch with people you would normally have met once and never seen ever again.
To combat the cynicism, I will say that Facebook helped me get back in touch with people who I really liked before e-mail existed, so we failed to keep in touch. This month alone, I have met up with 3 friends (one from elementary school, one from high school, and one from college) who I haven’t seen in years, if not decades. It was truly wonderful to see them again, and it only happened because Facebook made is so easy for us to track each other down. Sure, there are many annoying aspects to Facebook, but for me, the positives far outweigh the negatives.
My wife uses it to play some kind of game, in which she raises crops. There’s something about going into the market-place to find people to help her with her gardening, and she helps others. I suppose it’s part of the whole networking thing. She also uses it to communicate with our daughters.
One thing I like about Facebook is that it’s a good medium for keeping track of people you like, but aren’t necessarily SUPER DUPER CLOSE with. I went to a training seminar thing this week and I hit it off with a girl there. We didn’t become BFF, but I liked her and if I’m ever in Mumbai again, I’d like to meet up with her for lunch or something. Without Facebook, we could exchange email addresses and we’d never get in contact again. But with it, we can still see what the other is up. It might sound kind of jerkish, but that level of casual contact is something I can appreciate.