One out of seven people use social networks, study shows

Facebook never has been nor will it ever be a MySpace, in my opinion. So whether teens find it popular or not doesn't matter so much. It also wouldn't make much sense for hipsters to embrace it, considering it isn't something hated by everyone else. Snapchat is a dot com bubble that will burst sooner rather than later I believe. Vine started an inevitable wave of copycat systems, most of which will not likely be standing another year or two from now. Social media has its place I think. Twitter, minus all of the celebrities, has kept the world informed on important goings on that may not be reported otherwise.

 

That was my first thought until I realized it was worldwide.
U.S. usage is 52% which sounds realistic.
(I'm staying among the 48% for now...)

 

@Ronjor, I agree with you it is here to stay. Many talk about Facebook as being evil and in truth Facebook may be just that as it spells the potential end to privacy. When Mark Zuckerberg makes comments like privacy is no longer a social norm or his well publicized comment about Facebook bringing the outdated age of privacy to a close I want to curse a blue streak. Who the heck does he think he is? How does any one man have enough arrogance to believe that his vision for Facebook should determine privacy rights for the entire world? Yes, Ronjor, Facebook is here to stay, but at what cost to society? Anyone hear of facial recognition software? It is no joke. The military used it over 50 years ago. The casino's championed the cause of facial recognition software via the eye in the sky. If you have ever walked into a casino in Vegas they know who you are instantly via your face and if you have been there before have your complete gambling profile within seconds.

Enter Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. Facebook recently purchased the largest facial recognition company in the world. They have fully integrated that technology into Facebook in order to more readily identify you. Facebook is used by police, FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. They don't have to work to get our information because we supply it to them voluntarily and in mass quantities. Yes we are a surveillance state and to a significant extent have done it to ourselves.

 

A friend of mine had his Facebook account hacked just the other day. The hackers put images on his Wall and said things about doing terrorist activities on the Wall too. He got interviewed by the authorities. I want no part of social networks for that possibility of being hacked, and because I just think it's boring and dumb. When you consider how many million people have an account on Facebook alone, and not everybody is well hinged, it's a recipe for problems.

 

When you fully start to realize what you give up when you sign up for Facebook it is frightening. Believe it or not being hacked is the least of your problems with Facebook.

 

Hahahaha i realized that later.

 

Can you elaborate on this? What exactly do you give up only by signing up to for Facebook (except the personal data required for signing-up)?

 

No, I wouldn't mind elaborating on this at all. When you sign up for Facebook you expose yourself to perhaps one of the most draconian security holes we have known. Facebooks privacy defaults to on now. When you open a Facebook account you start a record you cannot stop. It is a tattooing, one-way event. It is something you can live to regret, but you cannot undo the action. We have not discussed tracking with regard to Facebook. As long as you are signed into Facebook and you are browsing the web and hit one of those little Facebook buttons elsewhere on the web Facebook gets a hit on where you are going. In order to sign onto Facebook you have to give a minimum amount of information to Facebook. At that juncture you do not have any control over who that information goes to and you may not want that information shared with whomever, ie stalker, ie future employer, ie significant other, etc. This information will color people's impression of you for good or bad without your control over it. Worst of all, you may not know or ever know the information has leaked. If you create a Facebook account you then must monitor and maintain it to ensure that no one has changed it. Does this start to cover it, because it is the tip of the iceberg. When you sign up for Facebook you expose your name to their automatic facial recognition tagging regardless if you have ever uploaded a single photo. Facebook is a LEA dream. Come on guys. I know there are some Anti-Facebook security types out there. Help me fill in this gap. I have talked off the top of my head Nebulus. There is a lot more.

 

The lack of privacy with Facebook is indeed a worry, but not enough for me to deactivate my account.

Sadly these days there a privacy concerns pretty much everywhere on the internet these days. For example, my phone automatically backs up any text messages I send or receive to somewhere in China, and all of my contacts are stored there too. Perhaps this is not an ideal situation, but I find it really handy to be able to easily restore selected texts and all my contacts when I switch phones.

 

And the point I was making is you can't get rid of your account. Once the record has been opened the record is open. You deactivate it, sure, but the record is still there. For good or bad you are stuck with it. Facebook get's rid of nothing.

 

This isn't where I read the Facebook not cool anymore but it's the same info.

Whether or not there is actually anything to it is another story but time will tell.

"Cool Kids Turning Away From Facebook, Too Many Parents"

http://hothardware.com/News/Cool-Kids-Turning-Away-From-Facebook-Too-Many-Parents/

 

I think you forgot to factor in his bracketed point. The only info leaked should be through your browser, which can be mitigated.

 

Being social means being on a social network these days. Unless you want to miss important meetings, dates or basic information like who does what and where.
I have a colleague, who is kind of out of picture at work, because he always keeps asking, what is going on and people are tired of telling him, well it was on FB.

 

I would loath that situation beyond what I can tell you if I was that guy. I cannot stand Facebook. I find the company a walking privacy violation. If I was in that position I would have to create a Facebook account from a NL breakout, connect every time from the NL, give dis-information, not post my picture and then explain my position on Facebook to my bosses and then pass out the account. Social networking is a disease IMO.

 

read this good article last night, about facebook/social media and loneliness
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/

 

Will teens be scared off by Snapchat hack? Probably not.
http://www.cso.com.au/article/535085/will_teens_scared_off_by_snapchat_hack_probably/
Greyhats expose 4.5 million Snapchat phone numbers using “theoretical” hack
http://arstechnica.com/security/201...napchat-phone-numbers-using-theoretical-hack/
Snapchat to offer security fix in the wake of leaked user data
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/2/52...-security-fix-in-the-wake-of-leaked-user-data

 

Teens don't care really. If they didn't want people to see them and know everything about them, they wouldn't be using these tools and websites.

 

Snapchat apologizes for leaked user data, updates app to let you opt out of 'Find Friends'
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/9/52...let-users-opt-out-of-contentious-find-friends

 

Anatomy of a Snap Attack
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/01/the-attack-on-snapchat.html?currentPage=all

 

Zuckerberg Calls Snapchat A “Privacy Phenomenon”

http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/14/snapchat-privacy-zuckerberg/

 

Teens abandoning Facebook, yet the world survives

 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/22/facebook-princeton-researchers-infectious-disease

 

Facebook to lose 80 per cent of its users by 2017, study says

 

I can't see that happening, as currently there is not real alternative to Facebook. So where are the users going to go?

I'm sure I'll still be using Facebook in 2017.