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Post by The Mad Plumber on Nov 22, 2009 14:29:36 GMT -5
My father sought my help because his sister recently sent him an email that had shown that she was a member of Facebook. Big deal. So, my father what he should do about getting on Facebook or to what benefit it would be. I'm dumbfounded. I don't know anything about the site and it doesn't interest me in the slightest. Also, given the visible extent to which he uses the computer, I highly doubt he would enjoy or understand the site.
People from other sites would ask things like, "Are you on MySpace?" And I would answer, "No. What's the point? Why is that so necessary?" I already have Plumber accounts in about a dozen art forums, a few which have gone under. I've got Plumber accounts in a few active discussion forums, and this is the only one I remotely use extensively. In addition, I have to have a different password for every damn site, because if one site got compromised, it would otherwise threaten every other account I have. I don't mind to a degree having accounts on various sites because it's free and it's somewhat a means of broadcasting my works, but I also avoid forums with too much stigma and it does get quite complicated ... especially when I have to go back and look up my password because I keep getting logged out every time.
I told my dad I would do some research and maybe set up an account for him, but I'm thinking I should probably not even bother and just tell him that communication with his sister via email or phone is good enough. If users with experience with these kinds of sites can relay their experience or thoughts, it would be helpful. Thanks for visiting.
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Post by Captain Hygiene on Nov 22, 2009 16:34:13 GMT -5
I just like Facebook because it's a convenient place to put up my photo albums where my friends can see them, and it provides a good way to chat around with friends and post goofy status updates and such. Mainly, it's just a fun way to goof around - I'm not a Facebook power user who's online 24/7.
Myspace eventually became a user-customizable nightmare, and I stopped logging in. Now I don't have the slightest idea what my password is.
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Post by pyrozombie on Nov 22, 2009 19:54:31 GMT -5
You will never, NEVER, ever find me on Facebook or MySpace and whatever of the like. It just seems worthless.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Nov 22, 2009 21:07:53 GMT -5
Facebook actually helped me and an old, old school chum meet again. We lost touch and he found me in a round about way (he saw my sister-in-laws page). So I signed up on Facebook, I have that one friend and we sometimes gab there. It's like instant messenger, it doesn't eat up phone minutes and your get quicker responses than email.
Myspace I did years ago for my band. I had fun setting it up and personalizing it. But I haven't been on it in a long time though.
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Post by dph on Nov 22, 2009 22:05:07 GMT -5
I abandoned Myspace a long time ago because of the user customized format and the loading of everyone's profiles. I found the whole profile thing useless because I never listened to anyone's music, I maybe looked at their pictures but that's it.
That being said, I do have a Facebook. I find it much more user friendly than Myspace and it meets my needs much better. I use it to keep in contact with family I haven't seen in years. With a recent tragedy in my family, Facebooking made it especially easy to keep some of the family updated without having to pick up the phone and call everyone individually. I also agree with Captain Hygiene about it being fun just to post up a quirky or goofy status updates just to try to put a smile on people's faces in the morning.
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Post by siamesesin on Nov 23, 2009 0:00:55 GMT -5
Having friends all over the planet makes social networking sites very useful for me, when I remember to log on. I've hooked back up with old school friends and keep track of the boat people I know.
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Post by Hellcat on Nov 23, 2009 0:58:06 GMT -5
I've only been on Facebook for about a month, and I like it quite a bit. A week ago I reconnected with an old friend that I had lost touch with. Just out of the blue I started wondering if she might be on Facebook, so I did a search. I was pleasantly surprised to find her profile, so I sent a friend request, which she accepted. We've communicated since then, and it feels really good to have her back in my life. So that's one of the benefits of Facebook: it allows you to find old friends. Oh, and Mafia Wars is fun, too. ;D
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Post by Gripweed on Nov 23, 2009 7:13:27 GMT -5
The only social network site I'm on is LiveJournal.
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Post by Captain Hygiene on Nov 23, 2009 9:29:13 GMT -5
One other note, my mom and many of my relatives of the same age range have recently started using facebook. They're probably more comparable to TMP's dad in terms of computer usage, and they all enjoy it just to use it to say hi to one another, or post short updates, or (especially) to do things like upload scanned family photos from when they were young.
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Post by Bix Dugan on Nov 23, 2009 12:36:31 GMT -5
You use your actual real name on Facebook, right? Thats kind of the point? I can see how that would help old friends find you again.
I was on The MST3K Social Network for quite a while. That was fun.
Now, I only use Twitter, and thats so I can keep up with the consistently funny and informative Tweets of one Paris Hilton...
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Nov 23, 2009 12:40:47 GMT -5
Facebook and MySpace seem like very different creatures to me. MySpace ended up being a kind of self-obsessed place where you cluttered up poorly designed homepages with random crap that only meant something to you.
While you can do that to an extent on Facebook, it's much more aimed at just communicating with people easily and often on your friends list.
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Post by doctorz on Nov 23, 2009 12:51:19 GMT -5
I've heard of these, but never bothered to visit either site. I'm not that interested. That and there are a LOT of people out there from my distant past I don't wish to see or hear from ever again.
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Post by (busdrivertohell) on Nov 24, 2009 6:34:53 GMT -5
In Fubar I trust.
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Post by Queen Shadowrama on Nov 24, 2009 11:42:16 GMT -5
Forget Myspace. That's a freaking mess.
But Facebook is definitely great. It allows me to keep track of both old and new friends at the same time, and the ability to post my pictures and see theirs really gives all of us a better idea of what is going on in everyone's lives than a straight description over the phone could ever do. To me, it's always been more important to see what's going on that just hear about it. I think that can make older people, who might otherwise feel a little bit isolated from what everyone else is doing, feel more involved in their family and friends' lives.
I think it's especially important for reconnecting with old friends. My absolute best friend and I had a falling out back in high school, and while I got over it and moved on, I always felt it was a real shame losing her like that. They one day, out of the blue she friended me on Facebook and apologized for all the crap in high school and now we're back in touch. I'm really grateful for that.
For someone like your dad, I think finding old friends and keeping in touch with family would be a great thing! Just because he isn't computer savvy doesn't mean he can't learn, and Facebook is really easy to pick up on. So I'd set up the account for him and see how he likes it. If he doesn't get into it, what's there to lose?
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Post by torgortega on Nov 24, 2009 12:36:20 GMT -5
I have a rarely used facebook, it was useful to tell friends/family updates when my dad had a brush with death
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