Thursday, May 06, 2010

A Word About Facebook

I resisted that time consumer called Facebook for a long time. I finally succombed to it several months back. Mostly because some of my friends had abandoned their blogs in favor of daily postings there. I wanted to see what they were/are up to.

I check into FB several times a day. Sometimes, but not always, I make a comment. Sometimes I comment on what other people have said. Most of the stuff on there is (to me) trivial and meaningless. But there are some gems of information also.

I really hate having to scroll through all of the announcements of what people have just achieved in some FB game they are playing. I don't care how many watermelons you are able to grow, that a brown cow just wandered onto your farm or that you need help to find gems in your mine. Continually only posting this sort of thing is a quick invite for me to put you on HIDE.

But I do care to know what is going on in your life, how your family is doing, how you are feeling and what you are thinking.

I don't feel any particular need to have thousands of friends on my Friend page either. I am not a teenager trying to outdo my classmates and rivals by getting the highest number. With that said, if I know you personally, have an already established relationship with you, then I will gladly accept a Friend invitation from you.

But if not, chances are very, very good that I will just hit Ignore. I get invitations almost daily from people I have never heard of. I fear that they may be some of my loyal Blog readers, but, still, the Ignore button gets hit. Sorry about that.

Do any of you FB users have rules too?

16 comments:

Jackie said...

What I don’t get is when someone pops up as someone I may know and there a no mutual friends or work connection. I just ignore those. Where do they come from? I hide all of the stupid game posts too. “A little brown cow just wondered…”

Linda Dorton said...

Hi. I open my wall on FB and see nothing but my achievements in the games. It is a bad reflection on how I waste my time. However, when one plays these games one can advance rapidly if you allow them to post your achievements.

I am trying to stop the games. Do they have a GAMERS ANONYMOUS group?

You have probably deleted me from your list of real friends cuz I get lost on that stupid farm, etc.

MD in Texas said...

So far I have resisted getting a Facebook, but I know if I get one I can keep up with some Isla internet friends and friends I have made on the island. Perhaps if I did as you and just used the ignore button, it might work out!

Ann said...

I have hidden all the games--you can hide the games & not the person....I will not " friend" someone unless I have an isla connection like form the message board, or it's someone I actually know--have reconnected with many HS friends on FB.

threecollie said...

You can easily just hide the game announcements rather than totally ignore folks you are otherwise interested in. Just click hide over on the side and you will have a choice to hide the application or the person. I do it all the time as I like to keep on folks, but don't want to be overwhelmed by pointless announcements.

Croft said...

I reluctantly joined because one of my friends refuses to use email or any other form of communications except Facebook. What I find particularly annoying is people who want to "chat" every time I open Facebook! No, I do not want to chat, but they seem to know I am online so it would be rude to ignore them. But I do anyway. Sorry about that....

One Small Voz said...

I used to be pretty rigid about not adding people I don't know. But, I have had some blog readers request me, which I find hard to ignore if they send a nice note of how much they like the blog, are considering moving there, are also married to a Mexican, etc...they are in a similar situation and want to see what that life is like, I suppose. I can't say I'm 100% comfortable with it, but if I feel they are sincere, I keep them. If not, I remove later.

I have found though, that some of these folks participate in commenting far more than my other friends. Suppose the content is more relevant to them.

One Small Voz said...

I should add, that I usually accept requests of fellow bloggers without hesitation, if I feel I have gotten to know them a bit.

Jane said...

As you saw Wayne, in an attempt to liven up boring Facebook, I posted this: "I'm thinking I might like my neck more if it was tattood with vertical stripes. What do you think? And does anyone know if the tattoo parlor in Stillwater offers senior citizen's discounts?"

Only five have responsed so far, all hilarious--especially the (serious) one who thought I was serious. And Wayne, if I do try the tattoo out first with a Sharpie, I will take a photo! ;)

Re. FB friends: I don't usually ask to be someone's friend, sometimes fear the friends I do have will unfriend me, and if someone requests to be my friend, but I'm not sure who they are, I send them a PM asking for more info. (More and more wary about Facebook tricks.)

Jane said...

Sorry Wayne, not sure my first attempt re FB went through, so tried again. My second attempt is worded better, I think.

Islagringo said...

Some good suggestions here. I have now hidden all game applications but not the actual person. Should make scrolling a lot easier!

Anonymous said...

Croft You can show you are offline so chatters won't know you are on facebook at the time. It's in the bottom right corner, click on it and click offline. I am the same and don't like to chat with others and this way I don't feel so rude.
Thank you all for your blogs, I'm not brave enough to share that much of my life with others but love reading your blogs. Kinda selfish I know. And I don't blame you for not adding friends unless you actually know them, crazy how people want to add everyone.
Liza Y.

Unknown said...

I succumbed to FB, but I don't post anything I wouldn't share with my co-workers. Photos of my child are off limits except to people I trust, but is a good way to share with "the chosen few". It amazes me that people post when they are leaving on vacation with their home address in their profile. All it takes is someone you trust leaving their computer open to FB and who knows who can see your plans. My photo album of our Isla vacation last year is open to everyone!!

Anonymous said...

I am laughing now! because I remember just a few short months ago your adamant rejection of FB...It's OK Wayne; you gotta go with the flow!
-Doug

IslaZina said...

I too permanently hide the applications, but Facebook aka Feisbuk has turned into the Roladex of my life and I do like having that 8th grade best friend, high school friends, early job friends, politicos, journalists, Islaholics and children of friends all together. Social networking is great and I think long and hard before NOT accepting a friend request. But a lot of them are very fringey and I wind up unfriending those. Basically, I love it!

Kelly said...

Sadly, it is the main way of finding out what my kids are doing...none of us are great phone callers and I guess too busy for email. I even found out my daughter in Vancouver was in the hospital having TWINS !
also that my 91yr. Dad in NY had been taken to hospital by ambulance and that another daughter who lived in Spain had met and married a fella from Andorra where she had just moved ! So....to me it is like the front page headlines !!
Kelly