4 ms·

I'm not a heavy FB user, but having lived in various places around the world, it's one of the few ways I can passively keep in touch with what my dear friends h

I'm not a heavy FB user, but having lived in various places around the world, it's one of the few ways I can passively keep in touch with what my dear friends have been up to half way around the globe. That is real value that Facebook does deliver, something I must admit despite my wide ranged mistrust and distaste for various other aspects of the service.

taproot 13y ago
And that thin veil is held together by its complicated breakups, baby pictures and cat memes. If it wasnt that everyone enjoyed sharing these things id hate to think what might happen. Im in the same boat as you here. And it worries me. Imagine if we had to go back to the old days of using msn status updates and actually having to gasp converse with one another in order to get our fill of socal interaction.
- spinchange 13y ago
  Imagine gasp coming to point in life where your children & those of friends and loved ones make up some of most meaningful "content" there is.
- threeseed 13y ago
  Have never seen a single baby picture or cat meme or anything like it on Facebook. And several of my friends have kids. There is a temptation when people comment on Facebook to extrapolate their experience with the vast array of different societies, social norms, perspectives, ages, interests, backgrounds, maturities etc.
  - taproot 13y ago
    You guys. Almost had me goin for a second.
- Semaphor 13y ago
  One baby picture so far on FB and that was in a private message. The only source of memes is Mr. Takei. We have evening planning chats with people from (guesstimate) 10-15 different countries (all living in our town in Germany), groups for special topics. Conversing gasp with people who moved back to their home country is another regular activity. And it's all held together by an interface that makes it really easy even for the most non-tech people. So right now the first few stories in my news feed only has 3 posts I find interesting. And? I look at my feed every now and then and if often there is nothing interesting it doesn't hinder me. Some stuff is really interesting and helps me break out of the internet bubble I'm in bust mostly facebook is groups and chat for me. And that's why I love it.
- dagw 13y ago
  I get maybe 1 baby picture pr 50-100 message and even less cat memes. Don't think I've seen a single complicated breakup.
- onedev 13y ago
  I love baby pictures, they're really cute. I love seeing my friends' and family's babies grow up through pictures on FB because I can't always be there in person.
Vivtek 13y ago
That's its value to me, too. I sit in Budapest and I'm actually in closer contact with my old high school friends in Indiana than I have ever been. And my kid's friends' parents in Puerto Rico. And yeah, some people here in Budapest. It does exactly what I want it to do, and it's way more effective than remembering to send Christmas cards.
Larrikin 13y ago
I travel a lot and have done multiple study abroads on different continents when I was in college. I find this to be a gift and a curse of Facebook. Its great when they are genuinely interesting people that you share lots of interest with. But its awful when you have a good night or even a good week with the person and then you friend them on Facebook only to find out later you don't have much in common with them. It really dampers your mood when you look back at the old pictures and you're having a good time with someone you deleted because of all their irrelevant wall spam and complaints. Some relationships are much better when they are fleeting and you only have the good memories.
- freehunter 13y ago
  Well, friending someone on Facebook is starting a relationship with that person. Just like I wouldn't call someone the next day if I didn't want to start a relationship with them, I wouldn't friend them either. Friending them just to realize you have little in common is akin to dating someone only to realize you have little in common.
bradleysmith 13y ago
This is also where I receive value from facebook; I grew up in Saudi Arabia and all my childhood friends scattered around the globe. There is no other tool like facebook that lets me both maintain meaningful contact with friends & find undiscovered friends spanning large geographies. Relatedly, I've always found facebook's geography-based search tools (friends/posts & content in a city/region)have left much to be desired. I agree with the article author's opinion that Facebook IS growing less useful for me. As Graue said in above post, though, this really only applies to me and my reactions to MY OWN social circle.

taproot 13y ago

And that thin veil is held together by its complicated breakups, baby pictures and cat memes. If it wasnt that everyone enjoyed sharing these things id hate to think what might happen. Im in the same boat as you here. And it worries me. Imagine if we had to go back to the old days of using msn status updates and actually having to gasp converse with one another in order to get our fill of socal interaction.

spinchange 13y ago
Imagine gasp coming to point in life where your children & those of friends and loved ones make up some of most meaningful "content" there is.
threeseed 13y ago
Have never seen a single baby picture or cat meme or anything like it on Facebook. And several of my friends have kids. There is a temptation when people comment on Facebook to extrapolate their experience with the vast array of different societies, social norms, perspectives, ages, interests, backgrounds, maturities etc.
- taproot 13y ago
  You guys. Almost had me goin for a second.
Semaphor 13y ago
One baby picture so far on FB and that was in a private message. The only source of memes is Mr. Takei. We have evening planning chats with people from (guesstimate) 10-15 different countries (all living in our town in Germany), groups for special topics. Conversing gasp with people who moved back to their home country is another regular activity. And it's all held together by an interface that makes it really easy even for the most non-tech people. So right now the first few stories in my news feed only has 3 posts I find interesting. And? I look at my feed every now and then and if often there is nothing interesting it doesn't hinder me. Some stuff is really interesting and helps me break out of the internet bubble I'm in bust mostly facebook is groups and chat for me. And that's why I love it.
dagw 13y ago
I get maybe 1 baby picture pr 50-100 message and even less cat memes. Don't think I've seen a single complicated breakup.
onedev 13y ago
I love baby pictures, they're really cute. I love seeing my friends' and family's babies grow up through pictures on FB because I can't always be there in person.

Vivtek 13y ago

That's its value to me, too. I sit in Budapest and I'm actually in closer contact with my old high school friends in Indiana than I have ever been. And my kid's friends' parents in Puerto Rico. And yeah, some people here in Budapest. It does exactly what I want it to do, and it's way more effective than remembering to send Christmas cards.

Larrikin 13y ago

I travel a lot and have done multiple study abroads on different continents when I was in college. I find this to be a gift and a curse of Facebook. Its great when they are genuinely interesting people that you share lots of interest with. But its awful when you have a good night or even a good week with the person and then you friend them on Facebook only to find out later you don't have much in common with them. It really dampers your mood when you look back at the old pictures and you're having a good time with someone you deleted because of all their irrelevant wall spam and complaints. Some relationships are much better when they are fleeting and you only have the good memories.

freehunter 13y ago
Well, friending someone on Facebook is starting a relationship with that person. Just like I wouldn't call someone the next day if I didn't want to start a relationship with them, I wouldn't friend them either. Friending them just to realize you have little in common is akin to dating someone only to realize you have little in common.

bradleysmith 13y ago

This is also where I receive value from facebook; I grew up in Saudi Arabia and all my childhood friends scattered around the globe. There is no other tool like facebook that lets me both maintain meaningful contact with friends & find undiscovered friends spanning large geographies. Relatedly, I've always found facebook's geography-based search tools (friends/posts & content in a city/region)have left much to be desired. I agree with the article author's opinion that Facebook IS growing less useful for me. As Graue said in above post, though, this really only applies to me and my reactions to MY OWN social circle.