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there are many social aspects, such as event planning, that are being done entirely on the site I haven't had a Facebook account for 3 years and while that was

there are many social aspects, such as event planning, that are being done entirely on the site I haven't had a Facebook account for 3 years and while that was my main concern, I found that any event worth going to the organizer would simply call, message or email you because they wanted you to be there. People vastly underestimate the power of their real social network and what friendship or love can do to motivate people to maintain relationships. Canning your account is also a good way to cull relationships not worth maintaining. In my case it was around 70% of my contacts, leaving 30% who I gave a damn about. The ultimate tool for social networking is still at my disposal - the mobile phone. Facebook is a middle-man. A relationship broker. Some advice for anyone who plans on closing their Facebook account: scrape any photos with you in them (and anyone you have an affinity for), phone numbers and the big one: birthdays. My calendar reminds me when someone has a birthday and their phone numbers sit in my contacts list.

nitrogen 11y ago
I haven't had a Facebook account for 3 years and while that was my main concern, I found that any event worth going to the organizer would simply call, message or email you because they wanted you to be there. People vastly underestimate the power of their real social network and what friendship or love can do to motivate people to maintain relationships. Based on the comments people make about how essential Facebook is, it seems that not everyone has the luxury of such friendships. Maybe it's because they grew up in a military family that moved around frequently, or they came from a small town where nobody shared their interests, etc. They still might want the company of the fair weather friends who only invite them to do stuff via mass events on Facebook.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  > Maybe it's because they grew up in a military family that moved around frequently, or they came from a small town where nobody shared their interests, etc. They still might want the company of the fair weather friends who only invite them to do stuff via mass events on Facebook. Or maybe they're just... normal, regular adults? The kind that met their friends in school and university, and then had to split with most of them because some were from out of town, other moved; everyone now has a job and responsibilities and any tool that lets you maintain relationships without crazy amount of micromanagement is a very useful thing? Some comments try to marginalize Facebook as if it was something weird. It isn't. It's normal to use it. That's what regular folks do.
  - bigbugbag 11y ago
    Sorry to point that out but it seems you miswrote email in your reply.
    - TeMPOraL 11y ago
      No I didn't. Normal people don't use e-mail for day-to-day communication anymore, unless they need to send files (e.g. documents) as attachments. You may not like it, you may pretend it isn't happening, but it doesn't change that it's true.
    - Shish2k 11y ago
      Anecdote not data, but out of 96 emails in my inbox, only one of them is even remotely social (if you count a family member asking for PC tech support as social)...
      - bigbugbag 11y ago
        well then I suppose you have a facebook and have blocked all those annoying email from facebook warning you about what's happening on facebook which is a dead giveaway that facebook understand that email is where the action is/was/will be. Try surveying an inbox of those who do not use facebook. Chances are you'll get quite a different picture. You can also have a look at those: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/why-email-will-never-die/375973/?single_page=true http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/why-em... http://blog.frontapp.com/email-will-last-forever http://blog.frontapp.com/email-will-last-forever (seems to be down at the moment, try the wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20150331054046/http://blog.frontapp.com/email-will-last-forever http://web.archive.org/web/20150331054046/http://blog.fronta... )
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
TeMPOraL 11y ago
(Please don't take it personally; I want to comment on a generic phenomenon.) There is a pattern I see in every HN thread about Facebook. It consists of comments structured like this: "I haven't had a Facebook account for [1 year - ever]. I don't see what's useful about it. I think relationships maintained by it are bad / artificial / unnecessary." Am I the only one who notices that comments of the form "I don't use X therefore I have an opinion on X" are of... limited usefulness? -- > I found that any event worth going to the organizer would simply call, message or email you because they wanted you to be there. Facebook invitations are equivalent to the forms above. > People vastly underestimate the power of their real social network Facebook is as real as any other social network. > and what friendship or love can do to motivate people to maintain relationships. If you're my friend or love interest, why are you making it more difficult for me to contact you? > Some advice for anyone who plans on closing their Facebook account: scrape any photos with you in them (and anyone you have an affinity for), phone numbers and the big one: birthdays. My calendar reminds me when someone has a birthday and their phone numbers sit in my contacts list. One of the most pathetic things people do on-line is putting a fake birthday into Facebook (and before that, into the IMs they were using), to see who actually remembers the real date. It always makes me wonder, what they're trying to prove this way? That some people don't care about them enough to remember the date? Well guess what, nobody is that fucking important. Your parents and your spouse may remember the date, but why should anyone else? Do you remember the birth dates of people you expect to remember yours?
- bigbugbag 11y ago
  > Facebook is as real as any other social network. This has been proven otherwise. > If you're my friend or love interest, why are you making it more difficult for me to contact you? exactly! why do you force me to register an account on a known privacy invader website that don't respect its words nor its users to get in touch with you ? >One of the most pathetic things people do on-line is putting a fake birthday into Facebook to see who actually remembers the real date. The people I know who do that are doing it just because they don't want to give away their real birth date. This is sensitive info.
  - 11y ago

nitrogen 11y ago

I haven't had a Facebook account for 3 years and while that was my main concern, I found that any event worth going to the organizer would simply call, message or email you because they wanted you to be there. People vastly underestimate the power of their real social network and what friendship or love can do to motivate people to maintain relationships. Based on the comments people make about how essential Facebook is, it seems that not everyone has the luxury of such friendships. Maybe it's because they grew up in a military family that moved around frequently, or they came from a small town where nobody shared their interests, etc. They still might want the company of the fair weather friends who only invite them to do stuff via mass events on Facebook.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
> Maybe it's because they grew up in a military family that moved around frequently, or they came from a small town where nobody shared their interests, etc. They still might want the company of the fair weather friends who only invite them to do stuff via mass events on Facebook. Or maybe they're just... normal, regular adults? The kind that met their friends in school and university, and then had to split with most of them because some were from out of town, other moved; everyone now has a job and responsibilities and any tool that lets you maintain relationships without crazy amount of micromanagement is a very useful thing? Some comments try to marginalize Facebook as if it was something weird. It isn't. It's normal to use it. That's what regular folks do.
- bigbugbag 11y ago
  Sorry to point that out but it seems you miswrote email in your reply.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    No I didn't. Normal people don't use e-mail for day-to-day communication anymore, unless they need to send files (e.g. documents) as attachments. You may not like it, you may pretend it isn't happening, but it doesn't change that it's true.
  - Shish2k 11y ago
    Anecdote not data, but out of 96 emails in my inbox, only one of them is even remotely social (if you count a family member asking for PC tech support as social)...
    - bigbugbag 11y ago
      well then I suppose you have a facebook and have blocked all those annoying email from facebook warning you about what's happening on facebook which is a dead giveaway that facebook understand that email is where the action is/was/will be. Try surveying an inbox of those who do not use facebook. Chances are you'll get quite a different picture. You can also have a look at those: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/why-email-will-never-die/375973/?single_page=true http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/why-em... http://blog.frontapp.com/email-will-last-forever http://blog.frontapp.com/email-will-last-forever (seems to be down at the moment, try the wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20150331054046/http://blog.frontapp.com/email-will-last-forever http://web.archive.org/web/20150331054046/http://blog.fronta... )

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

TeMPOraL 11y ago

(Please don't take it personally; I want to comment on a generic phenomenon.) There is a pattern I see in every HN thread about Facebook. It consists of comments structured like this: "I haven't had a Facebook account for [1 year - ever]. I don't see what's useful about it. I think relationships maintained by it are bad / artificial / unnecessary." Am I the only one who notices that comments of the form "I don't use X therefore I have an opinion on X" are of... limited usefulness? -- > I found that any event worth going to the organizer would simply call, message or email you because they wanted you to be there. Facebook invitations are equivalent to the forms above. > People vastly underestimate the power of their real social network Facebook is as real as any other social network. > and what friendship or love can do to motivate people to maintain relationships. If you're my friend or love interest, why are you making it more difficult for me to contact you? > Some advice for anyone who plans on closing their Facebook account: scrape any photos with you in them (and anyone you have an affinity for), phone numbers and the big one: birthdays. My calendar reminds me when someone has a birthday and their phone numbers sit in my contacts list. One of the most pathetic things people do on-line is putting a fake birthday into Facebook (and before that, into the IMs they were using), to see who actually remembers the real date. It always makes me wonder, what they're trying to prove this way? That some people don't care about them enough to remember the date? Well guess what, nobody is that fucking important. Your parents and your spouse may remember the date, but why should anyone else? Do you remember the birth dates of people you expect to remember yours?

bigbugbag 11y ago
> Facebook is as real as any other social network. This has been proven otherwise. > If you're my friend or love interest, why are you making it more difficult for me to contact you? exactly! why do you force me to register an account on a known privacy invader website that don't respect its words nor its users to get in touch with you ? >One of the most pathetic things people do on-line is putting a fake birthday into Facebook to see who actually remembers the real date. The people I know who do that are doing it just because they don't want to give away their real birth date. This is sensitive info.
- 11y ago