Facebook, Twitter: Why Bother…?

[AVB-AMG]

There have been a number of threads here on Xoutpost regarding Facebook and Twitter, which I have read, so I believe that I am in the minority here…

I have never had any interest in opening a Facebook or Twitter account, let alone use Instagram or Pinterest. As vocal and opinionated as I am, I cannot rationalize or justify why anyone would be interested in reading and knowing what all of my interests are, what I am constantly doing or seeing the photos of things that interest me. Also, with all that has been discussed and revealed to date about how anything you post to these social media sites are used by these sites to generate revenue by selling your information in massive marketing exercises, why would anyone want to subject their information to this type of use? Maybe it is generational and I am just comfortable in other forms of communication, especially face-to-face.

As a middle aged professional, I do admit to having a LinkedIn profile that has been beneficial for my business purposes. Yet I view it as essentially an online resume of my education and work experience. I use LinkedIn to check out profiles of potential customers prior to meeting them, as I assume they do with me, and do not have a problem with that.

I have been an active blogger on Xoutpost and a number of other automotive blogs for the past 7-8 years and enjoy this form of communication with others with the similar specific interests. I view the Facebook and Twitter connections to be redundant, in addition to being a real waste of my time, IMHO.

I find that sharing information and photos with family and friends is easily accomplished via email which does not expose that information as readily as by doing so on Facebook, keeping my communication private between me and the recipients, (and yes, sadly in all likelihood the National Security Agency…). I acknowledge and understand that based on what we have learned from Edward Snowdon, our email is copied into some massive NSA computer server farm somewhere in the country to be trolled for various key words that they or the various US security apparatus may search for either now or in the future. Currently, I do not have a practical problem with that, even though I am sad that our US Constitutional rights have been eroded in the all-consuming name of ‘security’. But back to the topic of this post, I am curious. How many of you share similar sentiments and:

1. Never had a Facebook or Twitter account and have no interest in starting either?
2. Have either a Facebook or Twitter account but do not really use it?
3. Have either a Facebook or Twitter account and have closed one or both or are planning to do so in the near future?

AVB-AMG

[TerminatorX5]

I have twitter and in last 2-3 years i had one post, to test how it works... not into mass texting my half naked pics!!! lol...

I do have a FB account, and i do use it - i have a lot of friends who are overseas, in different time zones, and languages... with the facebook i know when they have babies, or b-days, or something of importance... And no, all of my friends on the facebook are either real life friends and family, or somebody I had talked to (including a few fellows from this forum)

Of the sites that the NS A trolls, and the nigerian scam artists favor, i would say that the LinkedIn is the most dangerous - you have your picture, your work and educational history, the couple things that are not there, are your SSN, passport and DL numbers, which can be obtained from other sources... the LinkedIn is a Klondike for a social engineer... as well as the FB but I noticed, that many folks have limited the access to their profile to friends (still, FB can use the info for mass marketing), and some have fake profiles...

As a security professional, i would check the LinkedIn site first if i am looking for somebody...

not to scare you - but where was it written, that once everyone has a number, the devil will rise?... or, i am making this sh!t up?

[JCL]

I have a Facebook account, restricted to a few family members. It is essentially hidden to everyone else, even their friends. All recently added FB features are turned off due to inherent security issues. There is no timeline on my FB account. I do not put anything on it that I would not put in the newspaper. All tags are deleted if they are added by others.

I will never use Twitter. I don't want to read them, and would never send one out.

I have a Linked In account that has the same info that my CV has. It was started for work purposes. My CV is out there already due to consulting jobs and so on. No worries there. Anyone I am connected to on Linked In started out as a real contact, not on line.

In local on-line forums (usually urban design issues, local politics, etc) I post with my real name, because I think it promotes civility on line. In larger forums like this, no. But I do meet xoutpost friends from time to time. I have been here for nine years now, since X5World began. Never planned that.

I now have a Google Plus account. But I have refused all the requests to join circles, etc.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by JCL

I have a Facebook account, restricted to a few family members. It is essentially hidden to everyone else, even their friends. All recently added FB features are turned off due to inherent security issues. There is no timeline on my FB account. I do not put anything on it that I would not put in the newspaper. All tags are deleted if they are added by others. I'm similar to Jeff, at 27 its absolutely disgusting how much time people spend displaying things to other people and mostly random acquiantances all over the world. I'm about to disable my timeline, as its filled with whining people, my friends "liking" internet meme pictures and slutty women's facebook pages, and double posts from Instagram, THE MOST ANNOYING THING. I have my profile completely private to people who are not friends with me. Friends of my friends cannot see anything, and you basically cannot even search for me unless you know my email. I have had friends say they looked for me and couldn't find me in Facebook search to add as a friend, I said "GOOD", thats what I want.

I find it hilarious that people miss out on time with family members, moments with loved ones and significant others in order to post pictures of a night out (while out), double post it on instagram, and "tweet" about on twitter, why not just enjoy the time with the person who matters at the moment, instead of having your head buried in your phone, typing away on 3-4 different social media sites?

I will never use Twitter. I don't want to read them, and would never send one out. Same here, dumbest thing I ever heard about. "Oh I think these 'followers' really care about the random ass thoughts, political speeches, etc that I have on a day to day basis, so I'm going to tweet every 5 minutes." Or the people who are stupid enough to 'follow' celebrities on Twitter like they actually give a flying shit that you are more stuck farther up your ass than their fans were 10 years ago. Anyone who cares that much about my thoughts will happily text me, call me, or be in my presence.

See answers in bold above, but I'll add my other thoughts. It's really sad how people have grown to only get satisfaction from things they do, by having "likes" and "comments" on Facebook of their pictures, "status updates" (a glorified Twitter, which makes Twitter very redundant, which no one seems to notice as they make billions off your information), etc.

For example, when my wife and I got engaged, she was excited and didn't post about it at all. All we did was change our relationship status to "Engaged". The comments and likes came pouring in, you know what the saddest thing was? People (girls mostly) were going crazy with comments:

"OH MY GOD WHERE'S THE RING"

"POST A PICTURE OF YOUR RING"

"WHY DIDNT YOU POST A PICTURE OF YOUR RING YET"

As if our engagement wasn't official unless we posted how many carats I invested in unless it was displayed on a public forum (which Facebook has basically become a public forum), and wasn't recognized by the general public since we didn't post our story about engagement, nor a picture of her ring.

Same with our wedding, it was very private and in Bermuda, only us and my in-laws were there as witnesses, we posted a few pictures when we got back, but it was basically shrugged off because we didn't post status updates, "check-in's", and photos of EVERY STAGE OF THE WEDDING AS IT WAS HAPPENING.


Facebook has really become sad, I like random people's updates, pictures etc, and mostly like the dog rescue photos to help spread word about them. I don't randomly post bc I no longer require Facebook as a platform for public speaking, its really a waste of time.


For the record, at 27 I was with Facebook since it was started 10 years ago by Zuckerberg in a dorm room, and to be honest it is NOTHING like it was then. It used to be a college social site, where if you wanted to "talk to someone" you'd post on their specific "wall", and they would read and get back to you. Much like leaving someone an E-voice message, it worked very well say if you met a girl at a college party, didn't want to be too direct to ask for the number on the first night, so you would facebook her so she knows you aren't a stalker, exchange a few messages, maybe invite her and friends to another party, it was a very no-frills no pressure way to socialize with people you might not know well, or if you wanted to share pictures as well that was easy.

It was also a great place to share dirty jokes, talk wild like you do with your friends, etc, because it was for a younger crowd.

Now, not that I watch what I say bc I could care less about people judging me, if you post a dirty joke, something sexual towards your significant other, etc, you got your Mother-in-Law, grandma in Pennsylvania, friends of your family, and people you haven't talked to in years viewing, reviewing, and judging about it. Sometimes I'd like to be flirty with my wife (back in college perhaps a girlfriend) and in my age demographic there is nothing wrong with it, but once you have family members, co-workers, and everyone under the sun viewing everything you post or do, it becomes a problem and takes all the fun out of the original facebook, "A place for young people, college age to socialize and share interests, etc".

I could care effing less, if some chick I was seeing for 2 months in college "Likes Coca-Cola", or if my buddy from the VW scene "Likes Tattooed Natural Beauties", its all just white noise to me. Oh and by the way, I routinely unfriend. After college I had maybe 750 friends on the book, now I think its under 300, and dwindling. If I haven't ever hung out with you personally in a social setting or don't plan to for the next 10 years, or don't have your number in my phone to wish a happy birthday (which I still do, unlike most people who just post happy birthday on facebook, I actually TAKE MY PHONE OUT AND EITHER CALL OR TEXT THE FRIEND), then you are unfriended.

It's not personal, its just thinning the herd.

Sorry for the rant, but I have some very strong opinions of Facebook after starting with it in 2004, into what it has become today. Disgusts me and the total overload of communication with people which turns into a total lack of communication in every day life.


Don't even get me started with the people who email vendors, don't get a response in 24 hours, then go on their facebook and post to them publicly, "I DIDNT HEAR BACK FROM MY EMAIL 2 DAYS AGO DID YOU GET IT?"


HOW ABOUT PICK THE FUCKING PHONE UP AND CALL SOMEONE!


/endrant

[TerminatorX5]

what surprises me, that in this age of feminism, the ladies are still conditioned into marriage institution, where women are treated as "property" and need to be "tagged" or "branded" with a ring, and "given away" at a wedding... this is a remnant of the old, 5-10 thousand year old custom of trading women... suprising that nobody caught on it yet...

I applaud the tibetian tribe in Himalayas that does the opposite - trades men!!!

[motordavid]

I have a LinkedIn account, but haven't worked in nearly 14 years and thus it is of little consequence for me. A few friends and former colleuages are 'linked in' to me. It is a non event and non threatening, imo, and I seldom glance at it.

I have a Twitter account, which I have used a couple times to tweet at someone simply trying it out, and have glanced at maybe a half dozen times. But I really could not care less about Twitter...

I resisted FB for a long time, even though as a Retired Bum, it really isn't a 'time issue', as I am not carrying the bag/travelling/working anymore.

I relented to FB, mostly at the urging of our kids, as it does provide a medium to share pics, note articles/comments that might be interesting, etc. My 'Friends List', is meager by most FB standards: some X5 board friends, some Geezer Golf friends, some old friends discovered on FB, some of our adult kids' friends, a couple of cousins, et al.

As JCL noted, one can limit who sees any given post...as for FB's mining the users as 'the product', I don't disagree, but that is really the basis for most of the commercial sites on the Net, imo.

We give up some privacy, security and some of our 'rights' every time we log on to FB or a weather channel or a car board, or...

Do I like that? It sort of doesn't bother me, or affect my life to any great degree: I pay scant attention to the sidebar ads on any site, and I clear cookies and crap regularly using CC Cleaner. I avoid skin sites, I use Norton 2014, Malware Bytes, et al on a regular basis. Pretty clean machine, as Queen sang...

Not debating if one should or shouldn't use FB, Twitter, Instagram, et al, but it is simply 'social media' and a way to stay connected to those we care about, and a source of some pretty good/interesting info, not unlike XOutpost, et al...

GL, mD

[Quicksilver]

with 98 percent of what MD says. I guess that's why we're B'sFAM.

[AVB-AMG]

As a related sidebar to my original post, my 2014 BMW M6 Coupe has the ‘BMW Apps’ in their new ConnectedDrive.

I applaud BMW for upgrading their latest iDrive to have these features. I really enjoy and appreciate now being able to have additional music options, (i.e. Pandora, Stitcher, etc.), for streaming internet radio, augmenting my SiriusXM satellite radio for news and NFL football games, as well as better synchronization and control with my iPhone, either via Bluetooth or direct cable connection, so I may listen to audio books from Audible during long road trips. This is a big improvement for in-car entertainment that requires minimal drive control and hence, distraction.

What concerns me is that this upgraded software system also allows drivers and passenger’s access to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, with information displayed on the car’s LCD screen. I find that this will potentially exasperate the potential distraction of some drivers, causing their driving ability to be compromised and creating an unsafe situation for them and other drivers around them.

This trend in the automotive industry is disturbing to me and many others and will become a bigger issue as more and more accidents can be traced to this enhanced feature that can be very distracting. We all know that there are already too many knucklehead drivers who seem intent on texting and reading texts/emails, while also driving. This upgraded iDrive / ConnectedDrive feature will most likely make things worse and less safe on our roadways…

AVB-AMG

[JCL]

Originally Posted by AVB-AMG

This trend in the automotive industry is disturbing to me and many others and will become an issue as more and more accidents can be traced to this enhanced distraction feature. We all know that there are already too many knucklehead drivers who seem intent on texting and reading texts/emails, while driving. This upgraded iDrive / ConnectedDrive feature will most likely make things worse…

AVB-AMG

Fully agree. We have been casually looking at a 2014 X5, built one on the BMW site and dropped by the dealer. If we special order we can get it without the Bluetooth, phone sync, internet, traffic info, apps, and so on. No nav either. It isn't the cost, it is just that we would rather have a car without them.

I had the 535 for four years. Never activated the phone in it for BMW services.

[JCL]

Back to Facebook.

I found this entertaining. If I used Facebook, I would send it to others via Facebook.

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