You get deals and top stories on a site that you frequent. I think people who don't use Facebook don't really know how/ the benefits. I had an account I rarely used. Since becoming more active on it I've ended up talking to people I normally would have never talked to - make a status update about something and someone from 10 years ago will comment and you'll realize you have a shared interest. It's interesting.
Facebook and any social network like Facebook is just so dangerous that some people don't realize. First, from security and privacy point of view - you share data with Facebook company and many other orgs there - data that some people would otherwise never share. Facebook might share this with authorities, CIA, etc. Additionally, criminals might exploit this data. Most people I know do not even change privacy settings and once you known 1 person, you can see so much data of strangers that you can't even imagine (friends' network). Once you become addicted, you start posting all day long or you have apps that automatically post and share your current location or some other sensitive data. This data exposes you and your personality. You might be somewhere you don't want to share actually but an app will make this visible for the whole world. Note - search engines also copy data from Facebook. I am aware of social networks addicted people - for example, a friend of mine posted absolutely everything he did or intended to do on Twitter and if you did not call him for a while, just visiting his public Twitten profile you could read exactly what he has done on any particular day (eating when and what, sporting when and how long, chatting for what and with who, working how long, hex, shopping in different stores, places, thinking, etc.). Another case - person who refuses to communicate in real world but prefers to talk on Facebook. You meet him and want to discuss some matter with him - he kindly refuses and tells you to meet him tonight on Facebook and discuss it there. What? What the heck? We are face-2-face now and I have to wait for tonight to log in to some site and talk to/type with/ you there? With social networks and Facebook people's data is exposed too much! Data = Information = the Most important thing. You never know if someone is (not) spying on you. People try to avoid data stealing, on social network you give them your most valuable things for free with no troubles.
Most people I know don't share anything with Facebook they wouldn't otherwise share. Otherwise they wouldn't be sharing it. Your definition if 'sensitive data' is far from what most people consider sensitive data. As with all things, people can indulge too much. Whether it's posting on Facebook or any other activity, it's not good in any extreme. I think that's more indicative of their personal problems than Facebook's issues.
er34 is spot-on, thx for posting! Hungry man is ... well .. hungry I suppose. - People defending FB remind me of young girls whistling in dark cellar to make the fear go away. All that information gathering that is going on behind the curtain can't be good. At least I won't be part of this as long as I have a free choice. - I think it's amusing how of all things otherwise extremely paranoid wilders forum members suddenly are having no problem using FB. Whistle all you like, you won't fool me.
HM, I don't think a person has to use something to know they don't like it or that it isn't their cup of tea. Facebook, to me, represents just one more fiber in the technological umbilical cord that has slowly wrapped around humanity's neck and is choking the "real" life out of it. There is a reason for not "talking to people I normally would have never talked to"... it's called separation by distance, and there is a reason for that as well. There are other things to do in life besides look up long-lost pals. Used to be hunting/gathering. Then it became chores and errands. But with so much "technology" at one's fingertips, these other pastimes get pushed aside, and then buried deep. When was the last time you saw a kid riding a bicycle in the neighborhood? Or an adult taking a walk? Kids playing in the park? If you see folks today, youth or adults, they are following their smartphones around like zombies. So-called "shared interests" usually end up being Facebook. What a surprise. What a drag.
@Page42: I'd say regardless of the lifestyle you choose: conservative or tech-crazed, your going to experience benefits and disadvantages either way. We all have unique value systems that weigh these pros and cons differently. So how you approach it will ultimately influence what you take away from that lifestyle. For example, the inter-connectivity of a tech-crazed can open opportunities to explore different ideas or perspectives. People that don't seize the opportunity end up sharing useless memes, kitty videos, and engage in trolling. The same argument could be made for a more conservative lifestyle approach. These people have an opportunity to form a stronger connection with people locally in their community, but they are also disadvantaged in that a local community re-enforces and feeds into a narrow perspective of the world. This is analogous to the magnificence of the cosmos in a telescope in comparison to the wonders of the microscopic world through a microscope. Who's really to say one is better than another?
I totally agree with this statement. My wife is quite capable to have easily an hour conversation on her smartphone with different people resulting sometimes in several hours spent on the phone, but then by her standards I'm addicted to my computers even though I'm not a gamer (I do have a smartphone but I only use it for work messages and very short conversations). I've come to realize that FB when used judiciously can expand the information potential of the Internet exponentially, almost a sort of natural evolution of the Internet itself. Extremists in any fields are found everywhere, let me mention the weirdest one so far: this guy participated to a contest whereby in order to win a very rare python, contestants were required to eat as many cockroaches as possible. There was a winner who a few hours later died in hospital for food poisoning. One could follow the whole saga on his FB wall, and no I was not one of his friends.
I think the important thing to take from all this is that when the **** hits the fan, we really only have each other. I would rather connect with my fellow man/woman, even in disagreement, than disconnect completely. Yay for opinions ... cockroaches
I have NEVER used Facebook and will NEVER use Facebook mainly because I consider Facebook to be a HUGE Privacy Risk.
