I think you're really not missing anything. I didn't have FaceBook until last year and I opened an account just to hit on a girl (now my girlfriend). I could

I think you're really not missing anything. I didn't have FaceBook until last year and I opened an account just to hit on a girl (now my girlfriend). I could have found her phone number using another medium (oldschool "friend of friend" way ; ) Now I've got 110 "friends" (most of them wouldn't help me move out) and the pathetic things they post are truly depressing. Including my own family. So when I'm using FaceBook basically I'm using "Hide", "Hide", "Hide" and asking to only see the important updates. The only reason me and my gf both keep using it is because we're "liking" certain authors / websites / brands / etc. and it's convenient to keep informed of their new stuff. But in all honesty for that kind of use Google+ is just sooo much better (and businesses, even the more obscure ones, are slowly adding Google+) for this kind of stuff. I may close it soon: I hate the privacy fiasco (I browse using separate accounts etc. but still...) and I really thing hardly anything of value can be found there. I do also see that during one year's time people are getting more and more passive on FB. So don't worry. You're not losing much. Kinda like your federated social network idea that said. Walled gardens do s*ck and FaceBook is one heck of a closed one...