Facebook

[miss_squiddy]

I don't have a Facebook account. Not having a Facebook account stops me seeing lots of your pictures (you swines). I didn't want one because of the real name thing (I don't want people googling for my office details and finding that) but I've heard that they've increased the privacy options. So is getting an account a valid method of staying in touch with people, sending invitations and sharing pictures or is it just another MySpace, but with poking and irrelevant groups?

Comments

[miss-soap.livejournal.com]

Why not get one with a made-up name and just tell everyone here what that is so that they can add you? A number of friends have done that.

[nicnac.livejournal.com]

Yep, good call.

Mind you, you could use your real name and not put a photo up - nobody can see any of your details beyond your name if they're not on your list of friends. There are usually several people with the same name (several trillion if you're a Jones or Smith) so there would be no way to tell it was you.

It is a good way of staying in touch with people, I usually pay attention to the status updates because they sum up how people are doing in a sentence - slightly less long winded than LJ :o)

[miss_squiddy]

If I go to all the bother of getting one, I'd like to use my real name as a way of getting back in touch with lost people. However, my alter ego, Bob Bobson, might have to get one too!

[miss-soap.livejournal.com]

You could have two; one very limited info semi-professional one with your real name and photo to help find lost schoolchums or whatever, and an alter ego on for fun :)

[dork-mistress.livejournal.com]

I only let people I know through work see my limited profile, where they can't see all the stupid stuff I have posted.

I find Facebook most useful for keeping in touch with events, club nights and all sorts of happenings. The key is to avoid all the silly applications.

[nils.livejournal.com]

You have to play around with the privacy options a fair bit (things are very open by default), but once you've done that, it's not too bad.

[allezbleu.livejournal.com]

i made 2 accounts - one with my real name but locked down with no photos to use when i get in contact with long lost friends.. the other with my lj name which is also locked but can not be found by people who dont know my lj name - if that makes sense?

[anti-girl.livejournal.com]

you don't have to use your real name thing at all. infact you hardly have to give any details at all really.

[panzer-attack.livejournal.com]

Facebook is a load of shit but one thing's it's very good at is acting as a place to post pictures and easily share them with your friends. Other than that it's pretty much one giant spam-generating shite fest.

[nicnac.livejournal.com]

I don't find it nearly as bad as My Space, though. There's a button to mass delete the apps, so it's not that much of a hassle.

I wouldnt on principle

[alan-ie.livejournal.com]

same as i don't do friends only entries on here

simply put the nets usefullness/value/etc. for staying in touch decreases everytime a new one of these members only bits opens

{as no matter what people say about them being free etc. after a while people settle on just one or two as its impossible to keep up a profile on all 500+ that our out there}

I use and stick with lj because my friends don't need an lj to read everything i write, piffle that it is.

hell few use a web browser even most just subscribe to the built in rss feed

And if i really wanted {never have though} to share something privatly with only few of them lj does allow me to add anyone with an openid to my friends list so even then they don't need an lj account to read/comment on those posts.

it is just another myspazz
{as for finding old friends its not much use if they too use an alias like you plan too}

i just encourage people to stick their photos on a real website if they want them seen by me and the rest of their friends, if they need to filter who sees them, many public sites support openid based friends lists like lj do

[chaz-23.livejournal.com]

I have 2 accounts 1 in my real name incase anyone from work wants to add me as a friend and 1 account for my mates. I works well as no one from work has tried to add me in either account and then that way I can keep work seperate from the fun stuff.

[leopardspice.livejournal.com]

Have to say I'm a massive facebook fan. I hear about twice as many events and general gatherings of mates as before, and when I dont want to be rude to people but don't actually want to be their friend anymore (school friends and the like) you can just poke them once in a while and you don't have to see them in real life.

And there are always millions of funny photos, it's like if all your friends photobuckets were public.

[queen-est.livejournal.com]

I debated about getting an account for a long time for exactly the same reasons as you. Since I've had it I've had no issues with work but have got back in touch with quite a few peeps I'd lost contact with. All my privacy settings are set up so no-one I don't want to can see anything.

I don't have a myspace so can't compare and do take Dean's point about the spam.

As a suggestion get one, see what you think - you can always delete it,

xxx

[thepussykat.livejournal.com]

You could just go on as Miss Squiddy, they say they check up on you and you must use your real name but I've been using thepussy kat (which of course makes some of the rubbish you get inflicted with more than a little amusing) for quite some time.

That said it is indeed crap and I've heard that the usership is dropping but I have no proof of that.

The interface is horrible and you get tons of spam, often from friends who should know better but it's good for organising events.

I'm not convinced about the photo thing because Facebook retain all the rights for the photos :/ Also people tend to make them completely public and there's stuff I'd really rather wasn't made public either of me or taken of other people by me. Bright red eyes are never a good luck and shouldn't really be advertised.

Also it is not a bloging system in the slightest.