It's not really compulsory in the sense that someone is making you participate. It's simply the peer pressure. Here's some "anecdata" to illustrate the point: I

It's not really compulsory in the sense that someone is making you participate. It's simply the peer pressure. Here's some "anecdata" to illustrate the point: I don't have a Facebook account anymore, but my wife does. Anyone among my friends and family who wants to see my son's photos is told to go to my wife's photo gallery. Sure, we could use Picasa or Flickr or even e-mail, but she's already using Facebook and it's easier that way. So if a friend or family member wants to see the photos and doesn't have a Facebook account, they have an additional small incentive to get one. Facebook has become one of those things everyone mentions now and then. You can use it to keep in touch with high school friends (even those you didn't like in the first place), to exchange gossip, to kill time (if you think mindlessly watching TV is the worst you can do with your time, think again), etc. If everyone around you uses it for something and mentions it often enough, you'll feel left out of that. Those of us who can say "well, I'm glad to be left out of that" are a minority.