What do you think about social network sites like Facebook?

What do you think about social network sites like Facebook: A fantastic way to improve social interaction or the work of the devil?

Anyone can post in this thread and vote in the poll, even if you're not registered. But registering is recommended.

I wouldn't really be that enthusiastic. But I enjoy using it and it keeps me in touch with relatives and friends who are far away

As it is there are not enough hours in the day, email works fine for me.
Saludos,
Bob.

I thought FB was safe & secure. I'm not so sure now. I've heard from knowledgeable sources that its security is quite vulnerable. Much personal information can be retrieved.

Only two choices ... love or hate?

How about a choice like, "I participate to stay casually in touch with family & friends"? ;)

Through Facebook, I can keep in touch with folk that I wouldn't normally email nor phone. That would include a myriad of nieces & nephews, brothers/sisters in-law, former brothers/sisters in-law, previously solid friends from earlier ages in my life, etc.

Security is never an issue if you pay moderate attention to changes in privacy policy (and set/modify preferences accordingly) ... and never post anything that you don't want others to view (text & pictures).

My general impression of Facebook is "Enough about me, let's talk about me. Some more."

I once posted the question, Is it all about you? No one responded. ;))

Well not interactive enough, or not fast enough.
Mostly is it about the number of friends count.
Which are ofcourse, not your friends. ;)

Tried Hyves, too cluttered, didnt even try facebook.

I go for Paltalk, you can chat through microfoon in a room
(it's like Mirc, but then with a microfoon.)
where you meet several people on a certain intrest.
I can handle that, but the flutter remarks etc on hyves
etc don't mean anything for me. I won`t even mention twitter.

Euh, could you call this a social forum? :)

The main thing I hate about facebook is that the user interface is incredibly bad. For example, things show up on your 'wall' (sort of like an unstructured forum), and you often have no way to see the thread that led up to them being there.

The next thing I hate is that they're a bunch of corporate whores. If you've been following the news, they just recently decided it would be ok to invade your privacy by 'auto-sharing' anything that might be commercially useful, like who among your buds said something about a new movie. Monetization coming soon, folks! You have to figure out it's happening, and then manually opt out.

The third bit of bile is directed at social networks in general: A recent Pew study shows that teens are increasingly unable to navigate face to face interactions. While this is mostly a byproduct of texting, social networks have to share the blame.

I do not understand yet what social networks are really good for besides displaying useless data to information junkies. For business networks this is a bit different but regarding the private use I am more scared than everything else.
While 30 years ago people in Germany boycotted the census, they now voluntarily offer far more and pretty sensible data to companies who only have financial interests .
What happens to all that data is not in our hands at all.
And besides that, I see lots of data that can easily be abused in the hands of governments or companies that want to select groups of people for whatever reasons ...

I wouldn't say that I 'Love' them but they are a great way to convey information to willing masses. They are a good form of digital guerilla marketing for businesses with little or no budget and better for those that do have money and know how to use them.

neither love nor hate

very useful resource for promotion

very much of a security minefield for those who are unaware of what is necessary to keep safe - that includes both social engineered trojan/malware type stuff and the privacy implications

to stay truly anonymous on the web takes a fair bit of constant [and technical] ducking and diving - these days it is more the breadth of information being gathered and what is being done with is that is of concern - of course it does not help if the person is unaware of the difference between a conversation [in the old fashioned sense] and publishing [which is what you do on the web, like it or not]...

I have a facebook account and a Twitter account, though I don't use them that often. When I first opened the accounts I used them quite a bit but I guess the thrill wore off. ;) Once in a while I still will use them and maybe post something and see what other people are posting. Forums like this are a kind of social networking.

I love social networking sites. It’s a great way to keep in touch and a brilliant use of the web.

Interesting insights into how Facebook uses user information in Ari Pariser's book The Filter Bubble. You can read a NY Times Book Review here. Also how Google decides what you want to see when you do a search and how things you look at on various websites appear in ads on other sites you visit.

It can go one way or another, depending on how wisely you make use of it. Marketing purists might scoff at anything internet related, but online marketing benefits really can't be denied.

To me they're just another tool. On Facebook I'll post a link to one of my new websites and the site statistics for that site will show a jump in traffic at that day/time. I also have a client that wanted to be able to add updates and current news to his site himself. He uses Twitter and I had him get a Facebook account. I then made a page the shows his Twitter and Facebook feeds in placeholders. He can say what he wants on those and they display automatically on his site without intervention from me. On the downside, there are people that ask questions on Facebook only to generate discussion/traffic without really caring what people have to say. Social networking isn't going away, might as well take advantage of it.

Jim

great for expressing yourself!

Yes, this is how I feel too. I feel much more in touch with my friends & family around the world thanks to them. But they can be addictive and give people an excuse to not live in the place & moment.

For me it is good way to improve social interaction with friends and others who know me and whom I knew as well, it also helps me with my business, because other than words-of-mouth strategy, facebook really helps me with other people to know about my business.

I prefer to talk to people I know and face to face. Having said that it is very good for business.