Can I Get Some Advice?

Kendrik

Kendrik

Moderator
Staff member
In the words of Johnny 5: Input. Need input.

I'm strongly considering the deletion of my Twitter and Facebook. I pretty much only use 'em to talk with half a dozen people, and I still talk with most of them on AIM (I'm oldschool).

I'm really not a fan of internet communication (lol @ irony), but it's more so the way that Facebook is used as something of a convenient substitute for intentional interpersonal interaction (that is a lot of "int-s") in my experience.

I ranted at length about convenience taking over friendships in my social circles in an old bog post. If you're bored and want to see my thoughts and experience on the matter, take a look.

If not, I'd still like to hear your thoughts on the subject of deleting my accounts. I don't think I'll be missing out on much. I do think it makes a statement of disapproval for what Facebook has represented in my experience.

So yes. Input. If you have the time.
 
Seems a rather time consuming waste to maintain blogs that you can't be sure anyone cares about. I've never used Facebook or Twitter but then I'm not interested in telling the minute details of my life for the voyeurism of others "Used water bottle and changed the shavings in my cage today" :p .

I wouldn't knock the convenience of the internet though as there are many people who would never be able to normally meet or maintain a relationship with without that convenience. Personal e-mails are great too and should be used to let people know you care but they aren't always feasible to make no matter how much you care. To compare I'm taken the time to respond to serious subject forum posts carefully researching and phrasing them because I care but when they take 12 hours per post I've got to quit XD . The same can be applied to e-mails so if it's just general info I want a bunch of people to know I can respect Facebook and Twitter usage for time saving. So my opinion is as a substitute for one on one contact bad but for general info good (like saying you will be on vacation and will be gone but not day to day I'm going to the bathroom updates :p ).
 
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Like Gerbil said.

I use Facebook to send out information, and advertise those things that I uphold. I don't update daily, and sometimes not even weekly. These are the things I post:

-----------------------------------------------
Aaron Faulkner I like it! I have to find where I can get this...
Saving God - DVD - ChristianMovies.com
Armstrong Cane (Ving Rhames) served 15 years in prison for manslaughter. Towards the end of his sentence, Armstrong reforms and finds God in his life. Now, out of prison, he serves God as the Pastor of his community church.
19 hours ago Friends Only · Comment · LikeUnlike · Share

Aaron Faulkner Just joined The Churchyard at http://thechurchyard.net/
Christian version of Facebook/MySpace, etc...
The Churchyard
thechurchyard.net
A social network to connect with churches, outreaches, events, organizations, friends, and Jesus!
19 hours ago Friends Only · Comment · LikeUnlike · Share

Aaron Faulkner Tribe of Judah's Final Fantasy XIV chapter is up and running! Check it out if you're looking to play the game.
http://knightsofaletheia.com/
Wednesday at 2:57am Friends Only · Comment · Like

Aaron Faulkner Want good American made clothing? Look no further! http://www.allamericanclothing.com/ is just the place!
All American Clothing is your source for USA made clothing, jeans, pants, shirts and workwear. Support America buy American Made Clothes
August 11 at 9:12am Friends Only · Comment · LikeUnlike · Share
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As for the rest of Facebook, well... I'm trying to get as many people as I can to join TheChurchyard.net , since I don't have to deal with the FB filth there. I don't foresee too many friend requests from porn bots... Blah. Dunno what draws them to my account. I'm guessing it's that I'm a 29 male. Sick of it.
 
Wait, Facebook has ads? I never noticed.

I don't know if this would qualify as advice, but I'll share what I did when I got frustrated with Facebook's atrocious privacy record:

Visited ReclaimPrivacy.org and followed the tutorials to lock down my Facebook account.

Trimmed my friends list to real live human beings with whom I'm interested in communicating. (I'm probably due for another cut.)

Manually removed most of my friends and pages from my news feed. Yes, it's absurd you can't nuke the whole list and use a whitelist approach, but 15-20 minutes and the occasional cut will transform a news feed from a sea of flotsam to something you might actually care about reading.

Watched this video. It definitely helped put things in perspective.

Read about Diaspora and take solace in the knowledge there may be a feasible alternative to Facebook soon (though not soon enough).

Remembered that Facebook, like any web site, is just a tool. It is what people make of it. And what people make of it, apparently, is privacy violations, non-games (like Farmville) posing as games and wasting the time of our parents' and grandparents' generations, uninformed and polarizing political opinions, the misguided belief that people you've met once or twice care what television shows you like, and general inanity.

As for Twitter: I just went on an un-follow spree and it did wonders for the quality of service. Keep in mind that Twitter can be very useful, depending on how it's used. For example: I follow the Quake Live Twitter feed so I can know when QL goes down and back up. I un-follow people who indulge in obnoxious "HAI GUYZ IM AT TEH GROCREE STOR BUYIN MUFFINZ LOLLERKITTENZ (insert 4square link) #whocares #idont #youdont #noonedoes" posts. Simple.
 
These are definitely good tips for anyone. I've kicked most people offa my news feed.

Oddly, the people I'm most likely to use Facebook to keep up with are people I've met through forums like this. lol
 
I follow a few friends on twitter, but it is mostly companies (bioware, CCP, etc.) that I want to keep up to date with. Oh, and #tweetfleet because the EVE community rocks my socks (and kills my ships).

As for facebook, it's time to do a culling of people I barely know again...
 
Tek7 said:
It is what people make of it. And what people make of it, apparently, is... skipping ...general inanity.
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That's what our forums are for!

Tek7 said:
I un-follow people who indulge in obnoxious "HAI GUYZ IM AT TEH GROCREE STOR BUYIN MUFFINZ LOLLERKITTENZ (insert 4square link) #whocares #idont #youdont #noonedoes" posts. Simple.
Click to expand...

Ugh Tek un-followed me and those muffinz were good. Now I won't share. :p

Kendrik said:
Oddly, the people I'm most likely to use Facebook to keep up with are people I've met through forums like this. lol
Click to expand...

That's becuase we're quality :p .
 
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