I find an enormous amount of hostility on HN towards facebook, even going so far as a lot of people proudly mentioning that they will never touch it. I don't see why it gets such scorn, I think its a wonderful site.
Some notes on my usage, though:
All of my privacy options are on the lowest possible setting. I treat anything that occurs on the site as if it were public. I don't see why not, I'm not going to pretend that photos of myself or my wall postings are anywhere near interesting enough to hide. In fact I'm not sure why people who put things on facebook want privacy at all. I never worry that something I say might be picked up on by the wrong person because I'd never say anything that I wouldn't want the world to hear.
To a shy person, the usefulness of the site is astronomical.
Among others I am friends with my boss, my mother, my little cousins. Facebook lets shy people like me keep in touch with a massive amount of people where I can write them the modern equivalent of letters very quickly and easily, as well as let them broadcast their life's updates to me. I can keep in touch with all manner of people. I love writing letters, people love getting letters. Facebook is not far off.
Without facebook, I'd have no idea cousin X is having a baby, or that Y is having apartment trouble that I can help them with, or that Z got a new game we can play together, or person A is considering selling their car, and so on.
If I meet someone at an event and really hit it off (romantically or not), I can go on facebook the next day and look them up by name and add them. No exchanging phone numbers or emails or anything like that. I just search for them and find them. In college it was enormously useful for making friends and I still find it useful now that I've graduated.
I made a page for my hometown (90K population city in NH). I broadcast events going on around the city (fireworks, beer festival, city meetings). In this way I help my community learn about the goings-on of the town. It's a surprisingly popular page (more popular than the local newspaper's facebook page).
I could go on, but this is probably enough to give those who don't use it an idea of why I enjoy it so much.
I have an account that I now visit at most once a month. I used to enjoy facebook when it was really about keeping in touch. When I joined in 2007, I really just wanted something to share pictures and stories with family and friends. Then facebook decided it wanted to become the "operating system of the web". I think that was the beginning of the end for me. Maybe many people liked this and actually (over)hyped it, but to me it made fb look more like all the previous social networks that I had (successfully) managed to avoid until then.
To me, facebook had the responsibility to handle the information you provide with care, but I believe that in their quest to become profitable, they've been quite cavalier with this notion, that is until now that viable alternatives are creeping up. I'm of the opinion that people love to know the truth, but they just don't like the lengthy process it sometimes requires to get at it, so they make judgment calls on the slightest bit of information, whether it's only a version of the truth or a partial truth. Politics is a prime example of a domain where this is usually exploited. I had an early taste of the destructive potential of facebook when I witnessed the scandal that ensued, when an acquaintance was tagged in a "compromising" photo. It was an admittedly amusing and entertaining event from my standpoint, but it prompted me to remove some of my personal information and some public pictures and set my email to warn me if someone tagged me in a picture or posted on my wall.
Then came facebook-connect, a private alternative to the public and more open OpenID. I know the latter was flawed in many ways. Call me paranoid, but I don't believe facebook was more motivated in unifying the authentication process than it was to know where its users went in the web. fb-connect imo, was an excellent trojan horse on their way to track users' habits across the web, but it wasn't perfect. Most websites still offered an alternative to people who didn't have a facebook account, to sign in with a more traditional sign-on. Also, having implemented fb-connect in the past, I distinctively remember that back then, it required the site's visitor to explicitly authorize this affiliation to take effect. Something that I've always refused to do in my effort to keep what belongs in facebook in facebook.
Then one day, after reading an article on techcrunch, I was about to post a comment and I saw the Comments box with my actual fb profile picture and name next to it. A website that I seldom visited, could now know that I was there, just because it was affiliated with facebook and I was still signed on to facebook during my visit. This new widget didn't even bother asking me if I was ok with that. That was when I started actively logging off of my fb (until then, I was just closing the window). Later on, some users started reporting that facebook actually kept tracking cookies across its affiliated sites even if they were logged off facebook. At that point, I started using a different browser just for it.
I don't understand people who don't understand why facebook get such a scorn. I like my family and my friends and I like keeping in touch with them. Just because I happen to do it with facebook doesn't mean I have to become a fan by association.
Facebook is useful for letting you know when it is your friends' birthdays. Ironically, I don't list my birthday on Fb, because that's one piece of information that is relevant for identity fraud.
My group of friends used to call each other on Thursday or Friday nights to organize what was going on. That eventually stopped happening because of facebook. It took quite a bit of peer pressure to get an account and see what the fuss was about.
I used it diligently for about a year to give it a fair trial. I actually liked it until I saw the illusion. I promptly deleted it when I'd had enough.
I found the mediated social experience wasn't adding any value to my life. A lot of friends I had spent a lot of time and energy in building friendships with became casual observers in the stream of events. Instead of being personally invited out with the gang I found that I was just filtering my feed for events and filtering for the ones I would be interested in. I would just get invited to everything because facebook makes it so easy to spam your network. I didn't have to talk to anyone. It was ironically anonymous and passive.
It just didn't work for me. I'm an introvert. I invest a lot of emotional energy in my relationships. I have few friends and I like to shower them with my attention and care. Facebook opened up a lot of opportunities to meet new people and attend parties I would have otherwise never been invited to, but I don't put a lot of value in such things. I'd rather focus on the people that mean a lot to me than to be buzzing about from one event to another and just watching life pass by on a web page.
I'm also of the mind that there are really very few things in life that matter. If some person I barely know in my family just had a kid I wouldn't really care. It never mattered before facebook and it still doesn't matter now. It's just mental noise. I like to take time to reflect and absorb things... too much information just keeps me busy with unimportant things.
I feel same way. FB gives you opportunities to make more connections, but not deeper ones. It's as if people turned friending ppl into collecting Pokemon. You're just a number - you gotta collect them all!
I deleted my Facebook some time ago, now. At first I was alarmed by how many times I started to go for it on my phone purely out of muscle memory when bored or waiting in line. Now, I hardly even think of it and feel better being without it.
Same experience here. I deleted it about a month ago, and haven't looked back.
The only annoyance I have is the variety of sites I was using FBConnect with (it IS convenient) that I have to re-register. But that goes to show you the problem of relying on tools like Facebook for site logins.
I voted "I used to, but I deleted it.", but actually I have a personal account with no details and no friends, which I only log into on the rare occasions I need to edit a company facebook page, and the login details to a friend's account, for when I want to check up on how Facebook works for the sake of a marketing campaign.
edit: I deleted my account three years ago because it annoyed me and I rarely found myself using it. If that wasn't the case, I'm not sure if by now I would have decided to delete it for other reasons (e.g. privacy) - I haven't really stopped to think about it.
Even if you don't use facebook, you should probably have an account to see the mechanics of it. It's mind boggling how a product is able to attract 800 million people, with 50% of the users logging in on any given day. There's something to learn here.
I've got an account, but a dns ban on *.facebook.com (and their other dns). Three or four times a week, I fire up a dedicated browser (configured with a (somewhat slow) proxy to circumvent my own ban) to check on what happens, and sometimes post a link or two.
I'm happy with this compromise, right now. I no longer have any addiction, but I don't feel too out of the loop. And I feel in control of the data I give to facebook.
Ditto. This should be an option on the poll. Every time I log on I see tons of useless, inane comments from people I barely know and I quickly leave again. I mainly have an account so people know I exist (ie. it's almost a social faux pas not to have one.)
Logging on is like flicking quickly past a TV channel that is aimed those who watch reality tv. No thanks.
Had Google+, deleted it when my name started showing up in search results. I just don't like the way they're trying to work it into every other thing you do with them ... without your clear permission.
Yes, I deleted my Facebook account in early 2010. However, I have since created a placeholder account to buy ads and admin a business page for my company. I've logged in exactly once in the past 2 months.
Sorry, the 32 of you (as of this moment, out of 152) who claim to never have had a facebook account. I call shenanigans. I don't believe for one second that 20% of a sample of hacker news readers never, ever had a facebook account.
I'm one of them. I asked this same question in my team a few weeks ago: I got very similar sampling. The team is composed of 7 hackers (native code, embedded speech-related software). In other words, I tend to believe the results we're getting so far.
I'm on the hatin' side actually. Locked down privacy to the max, only to find it all re-opened again when FB changed their privacy options. That happened 3 times.
Those shenanigans finally stopped, but then I'd be browsing the web and find comments like 'Your friend x likes this page.' It's creepy that to see that on a site I've never visited before when I have my FB locked down completely. I understand the technology, but the instinctive reaction is still 'How the hell do you know who my friends are, random website?'
I haven't noticed that lately (desensitized to it?), but I just noticed on a friend's public-facing FB page (I logged out to verify that it was totally public) that it said she was in Country Y, city Z on date D, with ME. There was my full name and my location in the world posted to the world, despite locking down EVERY SINGLE privacy setting available and allowing NO third party applications, etc. Even my friends cannot see or post to my 'wall.' This is all very disturbing, so yes, I'm still hatin', despite recognizing the cool benefits of a single centralized place to stay in touch.
I know it’s cool to make fun of Facebook, but you can’t doubt that they focus a heckuva lot on the user. Unlike Google, the advertiser is not the customer per se. Evidence of this: constant design changes to features (read: Pages) without pandering to a business’ request. Facebook’s message: adapt, or die.
Certainly not a bad company to invest in, regardless of perceived value.
I dislike FB for the same reason I dislike Apple. They created yet another platform for me to worry about (creating FB Connect login and share functionalities).
Apple gave us the iPhone, which makes consumers happy, but now I gotta create an iPhone and iPad app in addition to a web app! I want the days back when all we had to do was create a simple website!
I have a Facebook account, that I never use. It's not that I'm against it in theory, I'm just never compelled to use it. I created the account in 2006, then closed it from late 2007 to 2009. I re-opened it because I believe Facbook presents us with great oportunities and there's so much one can do now thanks to it.
Here we are, almost 3 years later, I have this mostly inactive account, with around 100 contact, most of them being people from my old high school or college.
I think I never get myself to use it because, despite the wealth of info it presents, it doesn't give me a practical way to use the data (REST anyone?).
I recently heard of the Graph API, so now I'm curious and excited again :)
There needs to be an option for accounts that exist merely because other services require Facebook for login (or because job requires it). That would separate "I have a persnal account" from "I have a shell account"
I got tired of constantly closing holes in the sharing. Seemed with every site update, stuff that used to be hidden appropriately was now public. They make it harder than it really should be.
I use a development version of webkit for logging into social network sites. My accounts exist purely for work purposes, and on the rare occasions that I actually need to log into one of them, I fire up webkit.
I'd be fine with them if they didn't broadcast my every move and everyone I know, but even then I wouldn't use them; I just don't see any point to them. If I want to know how someone's doing I'll contact them on Skype or by phone or just go visit.
[+] [-] simonsarris|14 years ago|reply
I find an enormous amount of hostility on HN towards facebook, even going so far as a lot of people proudly mentioning that they will never touch it. I don't see why it gets such scorn, I think its a wonderful site.
Some notes on my usage, though:
All of my privacy options are on the lowest possible setting. I treat anything that occurs on the site as if it were public. I don't see why not, I'm not going to pretend that photos of myself or my wall postings are anywhere near interesting enough to hide. In fact I'm not sure why people who put things on facebook want privacy at all. I never worry that something I say might be picked up on by the wrong person because I'd never say anything that I wouldn't want the world to hear.
To a shy person, the usefulness of the site is astronomical.
Among others I am friends with my boss, my mother, my little cousins. Facebook lets shy people like me keep in touch with a massive amount of people where I can write them the modern equivalent of letters very quickly and easily, as well as let them broadcast their life's updates to me. I can keep in touch with all manner of people. I love writing letters, people love getting letters. Facebook is not far off.
Without facebook, I'd have no idea cousin X is having a baby, or that Y is having apartment trouble that I can help them with, or that Z got a new game we can play together, or person A is considering selling their car, and so on.
If I meet someone at an event and really hit it off (romantically or not), I can go on facebook the next day and look them up by name and add them. No exchanging phone numbers or emails or anything like that. I just search for them and find them. In college it was enormously useful for making friends and I still find it useful now that I've graduated.
I made a page for my hometown (90K population city in NH). I broadcast events going on around the city (fireworks, beer festival, city meetings). In this way I help my community learn about the goings-on of the town. It's a surprisingly popular page (more popular than the local newspaper's facebook page).
I could go on, but this is probably enough to give those who don't use it an idea of why I enjoy it so much.
[+] [-] mekoka|14 years ago|reply
To me, facebook had the responsibility to handle the information you provide with care, but I believe that in their quest to become profitable, they've been quite cavalier with this notion, that is until now that viable alternatives are creeping up. I'm of the opinion that people love to know the truth, but they just don't like the lengthy process it sometimes requires to get at it, so they make judgment calls on the slightest bit of information, whether it's only a version of the truth or a partial truth. Politics is a prime example of a domain where this is usually exploited. I had an early taste of the destructive potential of facebook when I witnessed the scandal that ensued, when an acquaintance was tagged in a "compromising" photo. It was an admittedly amusing and entertaining event from my standpoint, but it prompted me to remove some of my personal information and some public pictures and set my email to warn me if someone tagged me in a picture or posted on my wall.
Then came facebook-connect, a private alternative to the public and more open OpenID. I know the latter was flawed in many ways. Call me paranoid, but I don't believe facebook was more motivated in unifying the authentication process than it was to know where its users went in the web. fb-connect imo, was an excellent trojan horse on their way to track users' habits across the web, but it wasn't perfect. Most websites still offered an alternative to people who didn't have a facebook account, to sign in with a more traditional sign-on. Also, having implemented fb-connect in the past, I distinctively remember that back then, it required the site's visitor to explicitly authorize this affiliation to take effect. Something that I've always refused to do in my effort to keep what belongs in facebook in facebook.
Then one day, after reading an article on techcrunch, I was about to post a comment and I saw the Comments box with my actual fb profile picture and name next to it. A website that I seldom visited, could now know that I was there, just because it was affiliated with facebook and I was still signed on to facebook during my visit. This new widget didn't even bother asking me if I was ok with that. That was when I started actively logging off of my fb (until then, I was just closing the window). Later on, some users started reporting that facebook actually kept tracking cookies across its affiliated sites even if they were logged off facebook. At that point, I started using a different browser just for it.
I don't understand people who don't understand why facebook get such a scorn. I like my family and my friends and I like keeping in touch with them. Just because I happen to do it with facebook doesn't mean I have to become a fan by association.
[+] [-] chollida1|14 years ago|reply
Maybe I'm taking this a little too literally but I find this statement disturbing.
How can someone not know that one of the biggest life events happened, one that takes 9 months at that, to a family member without being on facebook?
[+] [-] rexf|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ansgri|14 years ago|reply
* In the ordinary world, public <> searchable.
* People forget things. The Internet doesn't.
[+] [-] drhowarddrfine|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] agentultra|14 years ago|reply
I used it diligently for about a year to give it a fair trial. I actually liked it until I saw the illusion. I promptly deleted it when I'd had enough.
I found the mediated social experience wasn't adding any value to my life. A lot of friends I had spent a lot of time and energy in building friendships with became casual observers in the stream of events. Instead of being personally invited out with the gang I found that I was just filtering my feed for events and filtering for the ones I would be interested in. I would just get invited to everything because facebook makes it so easy to spam your network. I didn't have to talk to anyone. It was ironically anonymous and passive.
It just didn't work for me. I'm an introvert. I invest a lot of emotional energy in my relationships. I have few friends and I like to shower them with my attention and care. Facebook opened up a lot of opportunities to meet new people and attend parties I would have otherwise never been invited to, but I don't put a lot of value in such things. I'd rather focus on the people that mean a lot to me than to be buzzing about from one event to another and just watching life pass by on a web page.
I'm also of the mind that there are really very few things in life that matter. If some person I barely know in my family just had a kid I wouldn't really care. It never mattered before facebook and it still doesn't matter now. It's just mental noise. I like to take time to reflect and absorb things... too much information just keeps me busy with unimportant things.
[+] [-] AznHisoka|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] libraryatnight|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tatsuke95|14 years ago|reply
The only annoyance I have is the variety of sites I was using FBConnect with (it IS convenient) that I have to re-register. But that goes to show you the problem of relying on tools like Facebook for site logins.
[+] [-] corin_|14 years ago|reply
edit: I deleted my account three years ago because it annoyed me and I rarely found myself using it. If that wasn't the case, I'm not sure if by now I would have decided to delete it for other reasons (e.g. privacy) - I haven't really stopped to think about it.
[+] [-] grifaton|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vpdn|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hackinthebochs|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Wilya|14 years ago|reply
I'm happy with this compromise, right now. I no longer have any addiction, but I don't feel too out of the loop. And I feel in control of the data I give to facebook.
[+] [-] flyosity|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patrickk|14 years ago|reply
Logging on is like flicking quickly past a TV channel that is aimed those who watch reality tv. No thanks.
[+] [-] trustfundbaby|14 years ago|reply
Had Google+, deleted it when my name started showing up in search results. I just don't like the way they're trying to work it into every other thing you do with them ... without your clear permission.
[+] [-] pathdependent|14 years ago|reply
Like you, I had but then deleted my facebook account; however, a professor of my grad school class requires one, so I created a temporary account.
[+] [-] perfunctory|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ldayley|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Adaptive|14 years ago|reply
My facebook account exists solely as a placeholder.
[+] [-] acslater00|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] manuscreationis|14 years ago|reply
The people I want to stay in touch with, I stay in touch with. Those I don't, I don't.
It really is that simple. You don't need facebook, or anything else, to stay in touch with the people who are important to you.
I call shenanigans on anyone who thinks facebook is a required part of life. Or Twitter. Or any other "social network" for that matter.
If you use it and enjoy it, that's great for you. Keep using it, keep enjoying it.
I'll stick to emails, phonecalls, IMs, and text messages. Hasn't failed me yet.
[+] [-] RomP|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marshray|14 years ago|reply
I find Twitter both entertaining and useful and a little LinkedIn is helpful to keep up with old coworkers and such.
[+] [-] introspectif|14 years ago|reply
Those shenanigans finally stopped, but then I'd be browsing the web and find comments like 'Your friend x likes this page.' It's creepy that to see that on a site I've never visited before when I have my FB locked down completely. I understand the technology, but the instinctive reaction is still 'How the hell do you know who my friends are, random website?'
I haven't noticed that lately (desensitized to it?), but I just noticed on a friend's public-facing FB page (I logged out to verify that it was totally public) that it said she was in Country Y, city Z on date D, with ME. There was my full name and my location in the world posted to the world, despite locking down EVERY SINGLE privacy setting available and allowing NO third party applications, etc. Even my friends cannot see or post to my 'wall.' This is all very disturbing, so yes, I'm still hatin', despite recognizing the cool benefits of a single centralized place to stay in touch.
[+] [-] jaredsohn|14 years ago|reply
This has nothing to do with whether or not you have a Facebook account, but rather is based on the behavior of your friends.
[+] [-] mvkel|14 years ago|reply
Certainly not a bad company to invest in, regardless of perceived value.
[+] [-] AznHisoka|14 years ago|reply
Apple gave us the iPhone, which makes consumers happy, but now I gotta create an iPhone and iPad app in addition to a web app! I want the days back when all we had to do was create a simple website!
[+] [-] CrazedGeek|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] babarock|14 years ago|reply
Here we are, almost 3 years later, I have this mostly inactive account, with around 100 contact, most of them being people from my old high school or college.
I think I never get myself to use it because, despite the wealth of info it presents, it doesn't give me a practical way to use the data (REST anyone?).
I recently heard of the Graph API, so now I'm curious and excited again :)
[+] [-] veyron|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tbatterii|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kstenerud|14 years ago|reply
I'd be fine with them if they didn't broadcast my every move and everyone I know, but even then I wouldn't use them; I just don't see any point to them. If I want to know how someone's doing I'll contact them on Skype or by phone or just go visit.
[+] [-] djtriptych|14 years ago|reply