Facebook - is it for me?

[spikey]

Or to be more precise, for Mrs Spikey?  Words of wisdom, please chaps ...

 

Both of us here are private people in the sense that apart from my posting on a few forums, we don't have a web presence of any kind.  Until recently, we've been quite happy like that, but of late Mrs Spikey has formed the opinion that because we don't have access to Facebook, we could be missing out on things which could affect us.  For example, when our water last went off, we didn't get to hear about the bottled water that was distributed in the next street.  It also seems to us that if you want to complain about anything a firm does nowadays, the thing to do is to take to Facebook! 

 

Apart from the potential benefit(s) to us rather than to folk in general, one other aspect of it that's not clear to me is how little personal information disclosure could we get away with in joining and/or using it?  We don't like the idea of everybody and his dog having access to our personal details.

 

So, given that neither of us has a clue about how Facebook works, and that we have no interest whatsoever in using it as a form of online chat with family and friends, how might getting on it actually benefit us?

[MR Chuffer]

Brief answer, if you don't mind sharing all the minutiae of your life's details with Mark Zuckerberg (founder), who will then sell your information to anyone who wants to sell you stuff you didn't even know you need, go ahead, but be very circumspect about how much you give away (through personal settings...).

 

If the product/service costs nothing - as FB does, then you are the product!

 

On the other hand, although he owns Whatsapp too, it might be a better way for a community to act more privately giving less away through setting up a community group, its what our politicians all use to share their privately thoughts and secrets. And we use it for our local pub's Beer Group , as in "quick, get down there, there's a fabulous 6% IPA on...".

 

And for complaining, use Twitter, tends to get instant responses from very public companies/organisations as well as getting you access to status updates.

 

Hope that helps, my personal view from 30 years in the IT business, mostly running them.

[Trevellan]

I run both Facebook and Twitter accounts. In short, FB is for keeping in touch with family, friends and certain colleagues, while Twitter I tend to use more for professional purposes.

 

As Mr Chuffer says, be wary of what you share on Facebook. Not everyone is on there for innocent purposes.

[woodenhead]

28 minutes ago, spikey said:

Or to be more precise, for Mrs Spikey?  Words of wisdom, please chaps ...

 

Both of us here are private people in the sense that apart from my posting on a few forums, we don't have a web presence of any kind.  Until recently, we've been quite happy like that, but of late Mrs Spikey has formed the opinion that because we don't have access to Facebook, we could be missing out on things which could affect us.  For example, when our water last went off, we didn't get to hear about the bottled water that was distributed in the next street.  It also seems to us that if you want to complain about anything a firm does nowadays, the thing to do is to take to Facebook! 

 

Apart from the potential benefit(s) to us rather than to folk in general, one other aspect of it that's not clear to me is how little personal information disclosure could we get away with in joining and/or using it?  We don't like the idea of everybody and his dog having access to our personal details.

 

So, given that neither of us has a clue about how Facebook works, and that we have no interest whatsoever in using it as a form of online chat with family and friends, how might getting on it actually benefit us?

You can share as little you like on Facebook, all it needs is an email address, a a name and a password.

 

it's when you start adding in everything you do, see, like and go that it builds a picture of you - there are also other bits where it seeks out cookies (I don't understand this bit) but browsers like Mozilla offer add ons that lock Facebook out of your general browsing to stop that.

 

Most of the stuff on Facebook is ego driven drivel but there are useful community groups and help groups where you might find out about free water being handed out (if you have a group that includes your next street!!) but Twitter is probably the place to be looking for announcements from companies, it's where you will find Network Rail, mobile telephony, utilities will make service announcements as the messages are short and sweet.

 

No-one needs Facebook, but registering with companies whom you may want to get alerts from (your water company, internet provider, network rail, Northern etc) may be an alternative to Twitter.

 

Looking at Severn Trent - they use Twitter and Facebook and you can register for text alerts

https://www.stwater.co.uk/in-my-area/keep-up-to-date/

 

South east water here:https://inyourarea.digdat.co.uk/southeastwater?pc=

Under Menu/Keep Me Informed

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by woodenhead

[spikey]

Hmmm ... OK.  We're actually registered for updates and whatnot with the utilities, but that seems to be only useful up to a point e.g. when the water stopped coming out the tap, it didn't tell us the bottled stuff would be available.

 

I take the point about Twitter though.  Sorry to be so ignorant about this stuff, but how does Twitter actually work in a scenario like I'm on about?  So the water people announce on Twitter that our water's going to be off for yonks but there'll be bottles of it at the church hall.  If Mrs Spikey has a Twitter account, how does she actually get the news?  Is it a case of checking your Twitter account every so often to see what's what?  Or what?

[The Stationmaster]

I am on Farcebook but under a false name - although quite a few folk who know me soon saw through that one - with an amount of slightly misleading personal information where inputting it was unavoidable and whatever I could block or not activate duly blocked or not activated.  It is handy for keeping in touch with various folk (who are mostly on RM web anyway!) but the only reason I signed up was to keep track of what is happening in teh event of RMweb going phut because AY then updates on FB.

 

Generally I don't use my own name on the 'net but have a variety of screen names for the various sites I am on - the same name isn't used twice and they all have different passwords. 

[PhilH]

You can bend the truth just a l-i-t-t-l-e bit...

[Gwiwer]

It depends what you want the platform to do for you. 

 

Facebook can be set such that only your own friends can see what you post and like, and that no-one can find you in searches although that will mean you don't end up with any friends!

It isn't as secure as many people suggest and it is open to abuse and hacking as is any public internet platform.  It can be a useful way of reaching friends, making new ones through joining interest groups and of sharing any work or expertise that you might like the wider world to see.

 

It isn't exclusive to younger generations but is typically populated by under 40s.  There is anecdotal evidence suggesting its popularity with the very young (i.e. teens, who once formed a substantial bulk of its membership) is waning.

 

Facebook owns and operates Whatsapp which is a little more private and requires both parties to effectively consent to making contact.  It tends to be used more, I believe, by a slightly more mature customer base than Facebook and is more suited to one-to-one conversations between two people.  That can be done via Facebook's Messenger platform but Whatsapp is, I understand, managed independently rather than as an add-on to Facebook.  

 

Facebook also owns Instagram which some folk use for personal messaging though was intended to be an image-sharing platform and largely still is.  It has tended to become populated by professionals seeking business and not just those who capture images.  Again it is possible to operate your account privately but there seems little benefit in doing so if no-one else can see what you post.  

 

And there is SnapChat.  Not operated by Facebook and very popular with the younger age groups.  It doesn't keep an obvious record of conversations which the others do and as such gets (ab)used for engaging in photo-conversations which are definitely not suitable for work, university, school or parents.  It also gets used by responsible adults of much more senior years but not very widely.  The concept is that yo u"snap" an image and share it with others - whom you potentially don't know - and you likewise receive snaps from them.  Text-only messages are also possible.   SnapChaat has a tracking function which unless disabled will show any other user where and who you are which is - to many people - a gross invasion of privacy but to its fans is a means by which they can establish where other "Snappers" are and meet them face to face.  

 

Messenger, Whatsapp and SnapChat all allow VOIP voice conversations one-to-one and can be used as a cheaper alternative to commercial phone calls especially for international use.  Quality varies.  Video calling is also available but sucks huge amounts of battery power and bandwidth.

 

Ultimately we must all decide what is right for us.  Personally I use Facebook, Messenger and Instagram none of which accounts are in my legally given name.  I don't want every Tom, Richard and Harry to find and message me so not only is the name less than obvious but the accounts (other than Insta) are set to Private.  I can only interact with my friends and those Facebook groups I choose to join - in which case all members of the group in question can see anything I post or comment upon.  

 

User beware.  The internet is not private.  And neither is anything you post to it.

 

[Torper]

I'm not on Facebook (or Twitter) and don't think that I'm missing out on anything of any great importance.  People I know who do have Facebook seem to spend an awful lot of time on it and I already spend quite enough time on my PC on the few fora I frequent.  I'm always amused when people, asked if they're on Facebook, invariably feel they have to offer up an excuse, the most common being that they like to keep in touch with the family "but don't use it for anything else".  Aye, right.  Having said that, making sure that I'm informed of free water bottles in the event of the water being cut off is a new one!  But I don't have a smartphone either so may not be the best person to advise on modern gadgetry and communication devices. But just remember, 70 years after the death of George Orwell, "Big Brother is watching you".  I really don't feel like helping him to do it.

 

DT

Edited January 23, 2020 by Torper
Typo

[Classsix T]

I've now hidden the post as being irrelevant as I too basically poo-pooed social meedja in general, just 'cos... 

 

Spike's asking a specific question though and respondents should be mindful of it. I find it hard to believe a local water authority would be entirely reliant on social media for broadcast purposes though and it shows a total lack of how the world actually works if they thought it was their only option.

 

C6T. 

Edited January 23, 2020 by Classsix T

[Liam]

I’m part of the generation that seems to spend their life on social media. Unlike many who are my age I am not on Snapchat or Instagram but I am on Facebook, Messenger (though only through Facebook) and WhatsApp. I don’t use my account for much railway related stuff, but rather to keep up with current affairs, post photos that I take on my travels, communicate with friends from all the areas I’m involved in and share articles which I find to be of interest (such as one the other day from the RNLI about how in 1899 the local lifeguard dragged their lifeboat over Exmoor to launch it from a sheltered bay during a storm). 

 

If you’re private people then it’s probably more suitable for you than Twitter or Instagram where everything is public. Rather than post anything on your own profile, you could join closed groups that you’re interested in. You can get all sorts of closed groups, many of which are devoted to a particular hobby in the same way as RMweb. I’m a member of seven closed groups, ranging from the unofficial group for SVR volunteers to fans of ‘Hunted’ on channel 4 and the cyclists who ride to or from a local brewery in the summer. Although I’m not a member of one, some closed groups are for residents of a particular area, e.g. ‘Yeovil Residents’. 

Edited January 23, 2020 by SVRlad

[spikey]

Thank you gentlemen.  I think that's enough information now for me to persuade the good woman that we wouldn't really be much better off if we got involved with it.  After all, to go back to the no water example, we didn't actually suffer any hardship from not knowing about the bottled water distribution because, being the sort of people who like to be resilient and as self-sufficient as possible, we always have 40 litres of fresh water tucked away for just such eventualities.

 

I'm inclined to think that on balance, for us, we can manage perfectly well without social media, at least for the time being.  And besides, we're still trying to get our heads round our first smartphone ...

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

There is anecdotal evidence suggesting its popularity with the very young (i.e. teens, who once formed a substantial bulk of its membership) is waning.

Indeed, for the younger set Facebook is almost as dead as MySpace.

 

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Facebook owns and operates Whatsapp ....  

 

Facebook also owns Instagram ... It has tended to become populated by professionals seeking business and not just those who capture images.  

The ego-centric, "like-chasing", mooching lifestyle of "Instragram Influencers" is truly a unanticipated outcome of social media.

 

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

And there is SnapChat.

The favourite platform for the younger set is now TikTok rather than SnapChat. TikTok is run by a Chinese company and has been banned for use by people serving in the US military.

[Bernard Lamb]

Facebook is of use if you are a member of a group that organizes regular events.

It is easier to publish details on Facebook rather than by email.

You can set up a poll in respect of who will attend an event and can up-date details regarding any changes.

Used that way rather than for aimless chat I find it a useful tool.

The only downside is that people tag your movements and publish photographs so you can't lie about where you have been.

For a person who is involved in sport you can have no secrets about when you have been training. The old comment of not doing much can be seen through in an instant,

Bernard

[Phil Parker]

4 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Indeed, for the younger set Facebook is almost as dead as MySpace

 

Facebook comes into it's own when you want friends who don't live close by. I joined when I left a job and wished to stay in touch with people I knew. We are now all over the country but still friends. 

 

I wonder if this means da kids won't be interested but once they go through university and want to easily stay in touch with friends they will use Facebook?

 

FWIW I use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Blogger. Each has its strengths and uses.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

Here's a celebrity meme take on differences between social media platforms.

 

It's kind of an update on the old "Social Media Venn Diagram" from the early days of social media. MySpace and FourSquare aren't so high profile anymore.

[Ozexpatriate]

9 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

Facebook comes into it's own when you want friends who don't live close by.

Googling the "average age of facebook user"

Quote

In the U.S., the average Facebook user in the U.S. was 40.5 years old, while it's 29 years old in Lebanon. Fewer than 10 percent of U.S. users are 17 years or younger, and even fewer are 65 or older, but 65 percent are 35 or older.

 

[Gwiwer]

Facebook is indeed a very useful means of keeping in touch with distant friends and family for next to no cost.  Messenger allows you to talk and (if your connection is good enough with sufficient bandwidth) it's nice to see those distant relatives' faces once in a while.  Or to catch up with growing children either in realtime or posted video.  But privacy has always been an issue and should be a genuine concern for all.  

 

Much the same can be done via Whatsapp with a little more privacy though still ultimately passing through Mr. Zuckerburg's servers.  

 

I signed up to what we now call social media when chat rooms became popular.  I even hosted one for a time - a head-against-brick-wall exercise and a learning curve of significant magnitude.  I made new friends and some of those remain good friends to this day.  Of those I maintain friendships with I have, over the years and the miles, eventually met all face to face at least once.  And felt better for it.  

 

I have had little hesitation in deleting and blocking a handful of people over the years that I have no wish to interact with again for various reasons.  I know some people, typically younger than me, find that sort of thing harder possibly because they came into social media at the time when your status was measured by the number of Facebook friends you had.  Not me.  A friend is a friend and I don't care if I have 10 or 100 but I will only add to my list those I know personally or, exceptionally, have had satisfactory ongoing contact with via other means such as RMweb over some time.  

 

I must say I haven't come across TikTok until now but I also don't fall into that young age group by quite some margin.  I also don't have a Twitter account because to my mind only birds tweet.  I have nothing useful to say in 140 characters or less to the world at large.  I can still read stuff which Twitter is good for such as announcements of travel disruption via other channels.  

 

At another level altogether we have LinkedIn which is very much intended to be a professional's networking platform.  It gets used for head-hunting and for self-presentation to would-be employers.  And it also gets used for personal messaging.  Frankly I cannot be bothered setting up yet another account which would see little use and serve me less than well.  But to each their own.  

[Mallard60022]

Whatever you do, be prepared to find out things you never thought existed in the minds of anyone and discover behaviour that once upon a time was never seen in the public domain. FB can be great for seeing stuff you would never have otherwise known about. Keep private by using the settings thoroughly, be very selective and do not under any circumstances, fall into the trap I did and get involved in you local area groups such as (enter town name) Information Page, unless it is run by humans and not people like Hitler or Trump. Royston Vasey exists buddy!

Have fun,

Phil

[MR Chuffer]

From all the above, yes, you can get a FB account with just an email address and a distorted profile, but bear in mind, from that point onwards, you have given FB permission to track everything you look at and do ON THE WHOLE INTERNET.  That's what's iniquitous.

 

Twitter, set up an account and connect to organsiations you want to and their information will feed into your Twitter stream. You don't have to do anything and can ignore it when your water's not cut off.

[Liam]

22 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

Whatever you do, be prepared to find out things you never thought existed in the minds of anyone and discover behaviour that once upon a time was never seen in the public domain. FB can be great for seeing stuff you would never have otherwise known about. Keep private by using the settings thoroughly, be very selective and do not under any circumstances, fall into the trap I did and get involved in you local area groups such as (enter town name) Information Page, unless it is run by humans and not people like Hitler or Trump. Royston Vasey exists buddy!

Have fun,

Phil

 

I agree. It’s also astonishing what people can say on public pages, often resorting to language which you would never expect to be used in face to face conversation. 

[friscopete]

I dont mind that Mr Zuckerburg  knows my details .As I havnt put on Facebook that   I am a serial sheep worrier no one can ever find out can they ?

[YesTor]

7 hours ago, spikey said:

Apart from the potential benefit(s) to us rather than to folk in general, one other aspect of it that's not clear to me is how little personal information disclosure could we get away with in joining and/or using it?  We don't like the idea of everybody and his dog having access to our personal details.

 

So, given that neither of us has a clue about how Facebook works, and that we have no interest whatsoever in using it as a form of online chat with family and friends, how might getting on it actually benefit us?

 

Reasonable questions/concerns, although ultimately, as the saying goes, there's only one way to find out...  So why not give it a go?!  If you decide it's really not for you then you are perfectly free to delete your account, along with any personal information, at any time.  And whilst it is always wise to execute some degree of caution when signing up to anything (whether online, or indeed any point of face-to-face contact, or otherwise), it is also true that there isn't necessarily a 'boogie-man' around every corner... 

 

Good luck! 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by YesTor

[Phil Parker]

11 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Googling the "average age of facebook user"

 

 

 

We can all use Google:

 

 

Source: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/#FB-demos

[jchinuk]

21 hours ago, spikey said:

Thank you gentlemen.  I think that's enough information now for me to persuade the good woman that we wouldn't really be much better off if we got involved with it.  After all, to go back to the no water example, we didn't actually suffer any hardship from not knowing about the bottled water distribution because, being the sort of people who like to be resilient and as self-sufficient as possible, we always have 40 litres of fresh water tucked away for just such eventualities.

 

I'm inclined to think that on balance, for us, we can manage perfectly well without social media, at least for the time being.  And besides, we're still trying to get our heads round our first smartphone ...

 

If you are uncomfortable with any service or hardware (be that smartphones or DCC control) it is best to be cautious.

 

It's also worth mentioning that using false names on Facebook is a breach of their rules, though I guess virtually undetectable.

 

Using Google gives up as much data as using Facebook, that is why there alternatives that do not store search data, notably DuckDuckGo, but there are others.

 

All websites, Google, Amazon, Argos, gather information on your purchases, as do 'loyalty card' schemes at the supermarket.  It's really a bit naive to be concerned about Facebook, Twitter or any other social media, when Tesco (or whoever) know more about you anyway.

 

Getting back to your original question, assuming the water (or electricity / gas / broadband) goes off, I think the networks have a Freephone number you can call to get a recorded message with further information.

 

jh

Edited January 24, 2020 by jchinuk