Well, call me a luddite or worse but I really don't get it. I admit to using online forums, well, to be honest, the only one I bother with now is this one and even then I do increasingly wonder why. Not to criticise anyone else here but more that I find myself without anything new to add. I find myself expressing more or less the same views re-worded and if I'm boring myself then it's almost certain to be inducing terminal catatonia in others !
But this Facetweeting stuff, sheesh what in the name of the wee man is the fascination with that? I couldn't care less if some anonymous keyboard addict "likes" what I say or do.
The irony of this social habit was brought home to me this week with a bang. One of the girls who works for us has split up with her live in boyfriend because they fell out during the course of an argument in "public" on Facetwonk or something. Apparently they were both at home in the same house at the time but because things were "said" so publicly neither party feels able to back down for fear of losing, well, "face" I guess.
This lassie seems to live her entire life in the virtual world. She has to spend her working days in front of a computer screen exchanging information with our suppliers and customers but freely admits that in any spare time she's tweeting on a handset or when at home spends the majority of her time on Facebook, even eating her meals at the computer desk at home.
Am I alone in thinking this is just a bit weird and unhealthy?
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Sat 20 Oct 12 at 10:48
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I got into FB in the early days and even updated when I plumped my cushions so to speak. I've narrowed down my use and really focussed now - I use it to pursue my hobbies, history, town groups where I've lived - I've made some enduring friends on motorcycling groups from Japan to Holland. There are some cracking WW1 sites on FB - very specific ones.
We enjoy your views on here Humph. Often the voice of reason !
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No, you're not alone.
I signed up to Facebook but rarely go there. People I want to keep in touch with have my phone number and email address, I don't care what they had for breakfast or where they went the weekend and I certainly don't want to waste my time reading about it or looking at yet another photograph of someone drinking with their mates. As for "friends" requests from people I've never even met, well WTF?
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Had a brief entanglement with FB, strangely difficult to end. Don't see the point of twitter at all. Apparently front-line hacks have to do it these days. Can't for the life of me see why.
Tchah!
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You're right RR - but I have "re-connected" with people I've lost touch with, met quite a few of them. I use its messaging system with my sisters, who lives miles apart and can have a real time conversation with them. Found a new dog on it for my in-laws, and even secured a WAV version of a school pop group that had a brief apogee of fame for a very short time. It's a hobby I learn stuff from it and as I say made some very good friends in the biking world. A friend of mine was away for a couple of weeks on a bike trip and was updating his progress - he diverted to the Somme at my suggestion and visited a couple of places I knew and really enjoyed what he discovered, and he wants to go back there soon. If used properly and frugally it is an enhancement. Some ex-colleagues share a secure group on it and again we live across the world Canada, Spain, Saudi and er..Anglesey - we speak, which is more than we would have normally.
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I got started on facebook when a daughter got married. A site was set up for all the guests to post their wedding photo's. It worked well. we were all able to see each others and some of the best shots from there went in the album.
I've upset a few contacts by unfriending them, I got fed up with endless, meaningless drivel.
There's another who'll soon be on the way out unless I can find a way to stop his 'schoolFeed Interest'.
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>> I've upset a few contacts by unfriending them, I got fed up with endless, meaningless
>> drivel.
It's the meaningless drivel that keeps me away. However you can reduce that without upset by unticking 'show in news feed' in the menu which appears when you hover over someone's name then the 'Friends' box.
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>> unticking 'show in news feed' in the menu which appears when you hover over someone's name then the 'Friends' box.
Thanks, I'll try that.
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Oh and North Wales Pets site - Where I learnt what a dramatic "fail" that state education really is....on so many levels.
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I tried to register with Facebook earlier in the week so I could access: www.facebook.com/lunchtimewithlaurence
I used the name Dog End, gave my Gmail address, and 1905 as my year of birth.
And as for Twitter, well, I'm enough of a twit as it is thank you.
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Kids urged me onto Facebook and it's been good for finding people I'd lost contact with, mostly school and ex work. The Lad finds/posts some awful jokes on there. Jo, who I meet socially from time to time as the sister of a work colleague has a genius for social commentary I'd never have suspected.
I can't get the point of tweeting at all. Both kids do it and and I have an account (some bu&&er) got Bromptonaut before me) as feeds can be useful when following events. Zero probably find it useful when chasing trains.
Only other use was to communicate with Lad while he was at Download.
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Our students use FB a lot - I'm sure for all sorts of beer/clubbing/etc but also, they use it as a tool when we ask them to work in groups.
For example, I have a public service vehicle design project running at the moment where the final year students are working in a large team, and the first thing they did was to set up a FB page for their group. They upload their latest ideas, latest CAD models, and latest calculations, and FB allows them to interact when they aren't all on campus. I can see that it helps them.
The odd thing is that we give them very similar functions via the electronic teaching system we use - they can set up blogs, wikis, and forums - but it's all rather clunky and slow, and so, they don't use it.
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>> ......... aren't all on campus.
We didn't have a campus when I was at university. I don't think that campuses had even been thought of in this country in those days.
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>> We didn't have a campus when I was at university. I don't think that campuses
>> had even been thought of in this country in those days.
>>
Along with ' precincts '.
Ted
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>> when following events. Zero probably find it useful when chasing trains.
Yes, I "follow" on twitter several train groups, having once travelled 100 miles to film a train that had been cancelled the previous evening, but dont facebook.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 20 Oct 12 at 15:35
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I'm enough of a twit as it is thank you.
>>
+1...:-)
Ted
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The world isn't old enough for this to have happened before, but I wonder what will happen when the virtual generation get old, infirm, and finally die? They won't have a real life to say goodbye to, just a lot of imaginary "friends".
Will they still be chattering aimlessly to each other as the nurse comes round with the pills "I've got to go now, they need to change my catherter", "catch you later, perhaps, but the doctor says I may not have long".
Perhaps they will - the girl who drank the liquid nitrogen was apparently tweeting away as they removed her stomach, or as soon as she came round afterwards.
May be there's an auto-tweet function that carries on yacking even after death.
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I resisted for a while, but my sister got my wife and I on to it when she visited us a couple of years ago. I don't use it a great deal, but because we live in Austria and all of my family live in the UK, plus of course friends that we left behind, it's a great way of keeping in touch. I can see photos of my year-old great niece, and we put up photos to share of family events, places we've been etc. We could easily live without it, but it really is useful for the limited use that we make of it. I just filter out the tripe!
A little tip, if you don't want to offend people by unfriending them, you can just filter out their carp. You can also filter out rubbish from the Facebook games like Farmville without losing other posts that you may (or may not) from your friends.
I can't see the point of Twitter personally, but each to his own.....
Last edited by: Mike H on Sat 20 Oct 12 at 16:59
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The photo sharing element is a superb feature - totally rational and organised. I've been looking at video clips of a Japanese "friend"'s new BMW 1600 bike - video clips and details photos....brilliant. I want now now though.
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Don't get me started....Facebook and Twitter must cost businesses an absolute fortune in lost man hours.
Forkie...stops betweeloadingbg each pallet to update Facebook.
Office staff,,,answer phone and stop speaking to yo because they're tweeting.
I ask for all phones to be switched off in my training sessions but on most of them someonesurreptitiouslyuupdatingeing one or the other under the table ( so I confiscate it)
If I was a boss I would sack anyone seen using a personal mobile during work hours.
Pat
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>> If I was a boss I would sack anyone seen using a personal mobile during
>> work hours.
Where I worked it was similarly strict. Internet usage was monitored by the IT department. Anyone caught using the internet for private purposes during work hours was liable to be reprimanded. Two of my colleagues were suspended for a week.
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>>Anyone caught using the internet for private purposes during work hours was liable to be reprimanded.
>>
Our instructions to all staff was " All computer accesses must be part of your job or as instructed by your boss / supervisor !"
We did have a few interesting cases of staff up to no good.
Some monitoring was carried out and one guy was called to London HQ for a meeting and then was confronted with what had been accessed while out of the country.
I think he was at least out the door and hopefully had his collar grabbed.
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If you use Firefox you can install the add-ons Greasemonkey and Greasefire. Thes enable the user to find and run scripts on web pages, including Facebook.
You can cut out 99% of Facebook's annoying ads. and other extractions stuff this way.
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We're not allowed to FB in work - they've not said anything about this site though - which I can pop into between calls !
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Same in my place RP. Can't even follow a minister on twitter 'cos the netnanny app blocks it. This site and t'other place are OK but it blocks the CTC!!
Allowed in breaks and so long as work's not impeded. Fills the five minutes when I'm sent to desk for boss to finish previous meeting/call.
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"Extractions"? WTF - blooming spellchecker.
Extraneous.
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there seems to be two ways that faceborg is used these days.
one use that 'kids' (even adult kids) use is to post just about anything happening in their lives, who's out with who and the non stop look at me mentality.
the other type of user posts loads of useful tips and funny stuff for everyone to enjoy.
I tend to fall into the second category since there is so much bad news happening in the world. just look at the news, when was the last time something nice or amazing was reported ?
I guess there is a third type of user that uses faceborg for something actually use full like keeping in touch with family members.
I never take faceborg too seriously (my account is not even in my real name) and I do not even have pictures of me.
I am still not too sure what faceborg does with users data.
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Why anybody wants to make their social life and doings public is beyond me, and there are countless stories of nasty consequences, including bullying, harassment and gatecrashing like this one (Daily Mail warning)
goo.gl/LNVgf
I have a Twitter account as it is now the channel for PR that I need to see from some sources, but I can't see the point of me tweeting my doings there either.
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>> Why anybody wants to make their social life and doings public is beyond me,
>>
Everyone is on a life support system these days - they need to be permanently connected to
1) social networking media
2) music
3) bottle of water or a coffee container
Lots of people can't can't even go into a shop and buy a tin of beans without needing to be on the phone, saying "I'm in Tesco's, I'm at the beans shelf".
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I moderate a secure ex-professionals group on there as well. There has been a reminder from a former colleague as to the risks - just pinched car4play's terms of use and posted them on there. I really enjoy the town sites, in particular one where there are a bunch of warriors who love cars from the 60s/70s and 80s and we are having a chat now about Coventry Climax powers Sunbeams....I love stuff like that.
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Narcissistic personality disorder affects about one percent of the population, (Wiki). That percentage must be before Facetweet was invented.
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I think you're doing it a dis-service ON. It's like everything else, used in moderation it can be an useful interesting hobby. We had a death in the family a couple of weeks ago, lot of the finer details about the way the family responded was done by FB including flashing out messages to people about the arrangements. Just reminded I have a "friend" to remove now :-(
A classic moment when a female friend posted "I'm plumping my cushions today" - bit of slap at the boring updates that tend to annoy. I have a Twitter account but can't be bothered with that.
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There is a whole new world of real time on line social networking evolving, to get the (majority) old farts on this site to understand what its all about is a waste of time and effort.
The speed of technical evolution and its use is confusing for most, one does not need to go forward in time, time is overtaking one.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 21 Oct 12 at 12:41
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I find it isn't 'social' networking any more but more business networking.
LinkdIn, Twitter and Facebook are all contacts the charity I'm involved with, have found that we have to have....and get reminded if we don't retweet or 'like' something from a related business or sponsor.
Pat
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I'm on Likndin - not a murmer from it in months. I'd forgotten I still subscribed. Bin that I think.
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Linkedin is very much a professional "Facebook" more or less required for those seeking white collar jobs. I still get job offers from my entry. (or pretend job offers anyway, its just so agencies can load their numbers up for advertising reasons)
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You're right Zero. One thing I found when I dipped a toe in the job market locally as well was that jobs that certain agencies promote don't actually exist.
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Welcome to the world of lorry driving RP:)
There are frequently reports of xxx thousands of jobs for lorry drivers but they are 99% agency and only available for one emergency shift.
It makes the driver shortage non existent though.
Pat
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I've had 'invitations' to linktin (sp) but ignored them, I don't do 'social media'. There is quite enough stuff if you google my real name as it is.
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But if they don't know your name, how will they find you? That might not matter to you of course.
People miss the point of, and sometimes benefits of, LinkedIn.
ALL recruiters use it, either to find candidates or look them up. Why wouldn't they, the punters create the database for them and they can use keyword searches. Just as with web SEO, optimising your profile brings it neraer the top of the results. You must have 100% complete profile if you want to be visible in general searches.
If you apply for anything, or come to anyone's attention via another channel, they will look for your LI profile. That is your opportunity to make your 'brand statement', e.g. "expert in tax dodging and creative accounting with blue chip experience" or whatever you want. You can tweak this before you send off your job app, so if you know they want international experience you can big that up and make sure it's in your strapline.
Making a change to your profile triggers the notifications to your connections. It always results in people viewing your profile (assuming you have a worthwhile number of relevant connections).
It's very powerful, even the free version.
Last edited by: Manatee on Sun 21 Oct 12 at 13:30
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Don't often use Face Book.Daughter puts photoo's on, of the grandchild which I like to see.My wife uses facebook for petitions and twitter.Nice to keep in touch with some people. I still like to use the phone to talk to relatives abroad.We used a blackboard at school.Can't believe sometimes that I'm using a computer how times have changed.
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>> Can't believe sometimes that I'm using a computer how times have changed.
Agreed Dutchie. Computers were just starting to become useable and (almost) affordable when I was approaching school-leaving age. The mind boggles to think of the power of the machine I'm sitting at right now in my own home, compared to the "cutting-edge" ones they had in secondary school 25 years ago.
What blows my mind is how today's young children will grow up having known nothing else but supremely powerful computers in every area of their lives. I asked my 5 year old to switch my computer on for me last night and click on my user name when Windows brought it up - I walked in the room a minute later to find him prodding at the username on the monitor instead of moving the mouse, "because that's how you log on at school"!
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>> What blows my mind is how today's young children will grow up having known nothing
>> else but supremely powerful computers in every area of their lives.
Its all relative at any point in time. They will be saying the same as you at the same point in their lives.
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I'd agree re LinkedIn as a very valuable job hunting accessory. Undoubtedly if you get as far as interview your potential employer will look for you on there, and also I've looked up the people who will be interviewing me to see if we have anything/anybody in common, or topics worth bringing up. Not had many approaches for work directly though it though (when i was looking).
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There was a time until maybe 18 months ago that social media sites were frowned upon by my employer - might have been blocked... couldn't know as I don't use Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Then they announced we could access it (obviously in reason in terms of time spent). Some welcomed this but the cynic in me saw it as accepting the inevitable. And preferring to monitor usage via the corporate Internet access - otherwise individuals would use mobiles and the company would have no idea how long was being spent online.
These days there's twitter like feeds on our internal intranet from the executives including CEO. I like many on here don't really get the need to update everyone on thoughts and what I'm doing.... might be old fashioned and don't get it.
Of course the likes of Twitter and Facebook are consulted when you apply for a job. So care is needed in what you say in case it impact you in future.
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Twitter is for twits, surely?
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I tweet occasionally and 'follow' many - some are even interesting.
I have yet to succumb to Facebook, though various friend are trying to make me join. For instance, our choir leader keeps posting videos of us on facebook, and I would like to know what we look/sound like.
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I use it all the time. Our family is spread all over the world, never mind friends, so its a pretty neat way of keeping up to date with stuff without being interrupted by it.
In common with most technology, it is not supposed to be the answer to everything, nor used to the exclusion of all else, or used at all if you can see no reason to do so.
Its a tool, to use or not depending on its potential value to you.
And like anything, if it is used to the exclusion of all else, its bad.
However, I do wish people would understand that once something exists on the internet, it exists forever. If you think that when you're a 50 yr old MD that people won't find a picture of you as a drunken 19 year old, then you are sadly mistaken.
And whatever you like to think, you cannot keep anything effectively confidential nor can you ever effectively delete it.
If you contribute to the electronic world then consider; if you are not prepared to print it out, sign your name on it and nail it to the nearest notice board, then don't write it or send it at all.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 21 Oct 12 at 22:53
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Ive never had a 2facebook account and am unlikely to do so. Had a Twotter one though for all of a fortnight primarily to keep up with the Syrian thing. Got rid of that too.
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>> I use it all the time. Our family is spread all over the world, never
>> mind friends, so its a pretty neat way of keeping up to date with stuff
>> without being interrupted by it.
>> >>
My great grandfather could have said exactly the same thing, but with reference to the empire-wide penny post. The younger members of the family were constantly in touch by postcards, often recounting the rather trivial events of their daily lives.
The generation before had to rely on communication by sailing ship, it sometimes taking months for news to circulate.
Time, as Zero said, caught up with them.
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>> Am I alone in thinking this is just a bit weird and unhealthy?
>>
No. Interestingly, most people I know in IT aren't really into Facebook, although Twitter is quite handy for getting info on new stuff I might be interested in, or new goings on, without me having to go and look for it.
I hear a lot of people in older generations (from a non-computing background) saying much the same as above - I only got into FB to see pictures of the grand kids etc. And then there's the late IT bloomer like my Mum who spends hours a day on it doing the silly games and posting nonsense updates.
From what I hear of the younger kids (<30) they seem to just use it and accept it as if it was always there, but are maybe not as obsessed as some older folks are. Possibly they still enjoy actual face-to-face socialising. Fingers crossed.
As a 30 something programmer who was once a trailblazer in IT, I'm ashamed to say I don't get it and can't see the point.
Last edited by: oilburner on Mon 22 Oct 12 at 10:58
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Facetweeting nonsense - R.P.
