I have an account, sure, back from '05 when I started college. I log in so infrequently that I often get emails from facebook along the lines of "you haven't logged in in 3 months. We think you should come back because...".
I never got into that whole thing about walls and public conversations and public comments. I'm far too self-conscious (and I judge far too harshly). The whole thing just drives me nuts. Some of my best friends and I are not even facebook friends.
I'm in your boat.
I have an account, but it's more of a blank place holder. I have zero customization to it, and maybe once a year log into it (only to promptly log out).
Back when I was in college, 2003-2007, I remember going to lecture halls and sitting in the back. Every student had a laptop out, and all they were doing was posting garbage on other peoples walls. I was so disgusted with the popularity contest that was facebook, I vowed never to take part in it.
I guess I keep it around for the fringe use cases where maybe an old friend will move to my current city, and learn that I live here.
Then again, I could close the account and never miss it.
> Back when I was in college, 2003-2007, I remember going to lecture halls and sitting in the back. Every student had a laptop out, and all they were doing was posting garbage on other peoples walls. I was so disgusted with the popularity contest that was facebook, I vowed never to take part in it.
I used to have an account. But then I realized that what was going on around me was pretty much a mixture of voyeurism and narcissism. People posting stuff about "My new pair of jeans", "my new belt", "my abs", "my biceps" or sitting there and groking people's personal details.
I deleted my account.
Later at a point, I rejoined because there was someone I wanted to keep in touch and Facebook was the only option due to a number of reasons. But I had already become a Facebook sceptic, and again deleted it for good about one year ago.
I deleted mine some years ago. I still feel the sting of not connecting with a lot of acquaintances (I emigrated to another continent from where I grew up) but don't want my data aggregated and stored forever where the feds can access it at will. (Remember, the USA PATRIOT Act lets them fetch it all without a judge or warrant - and they do, 50k+ times a year.)
I have, over the course of last year felt the difficulty of not being on Facebook. This usually happens when somebody sets up an event that I would like to attend, but the invitation and accompanying information about the event is posted only to Facebook.
Another scenario is when somebody shares something published Facebook on Twitter or even on HN and you need a Facebook account to view it.
Had an account which I disabled end 2010 and deleted end 2011. I'm addicted to mindlessly clicking away on the internet and, unfortunately, I wound up doing that with FB too. I do have another account which is required to admin a company page, but it has no friends in it, near-zero discoverability and I rarely login there.
For a while even I raged against Facebook and people on Facebook, but the fact was that the problem was with me that I could not use it without bringing out some of my worst qualities.
With the glaring exception of LinkedIn(jobs only), I am social media free. No Facebook, no twitter, nada. I wish I could say that I had it figured out better than everyone else and give a compelling reason to not use facebook. All I can really say, is that I used to have both a facebook and twitter account that were pretty active, and I am much happier without them. YMMV, though, so do what works for you.
I had an account in college when it was college-only and it was awesome. Then they let my mother-in-law and Rob Scoble and my boss join and it wasn't fun anymore so I deleted my account.
It's wonderful not having the account, though. I recently ran into someone in charge of my High School's reunion this year and they couldn't find my address. I told them to look me up on Facebook later and that was the end of that conversation. Also, I don't get random "friend" requests from ex-girlfriends anymore.
It really didn't have anything to do with feeding the Zuckerborg. It just got incredibly tame very quickly, becoming less of a reflection of my friends and classmates and more of a reflection of my friends and classmates when our mothers and bosses are around.
I don't. I joined in June 2007, used it a lot for about 2 months, then mostly stopped, then stopped properly (I haven't logged in since October or November 2007).
It was amusing enough, but the amount of time I was wasting on it was out of all proportion to the actual value I was getting from it. I also didn't like the idea that I could be found by people that I didn't particularly want to resume contact with.
Comments
I'm wondering: Who else doesn't use facebook?
I have an account, sure, back from '05 when I started college. I log in so infrequently that I often get emails from facebook along the lines of "you haven't logged in in 3 months. We think you should come back because...".
I never got into that whole thing about walls and public conversations and public comments. I'm far too self-conscious (and I judge far too harshly). The whole thing just drives me nuts. Some of my best friends and I are not even facebook friends.
I'm in your boat. I have an account, but it's more of a blank place holder. I have zero customization to it, and maybe once a year log into it (only to promptly log out).
Back when I was in college, 2003-2007, I remember going to lecture halls and sitting in the back. Every student had a laptop out, and all they were doing was posting garbage on other peoples walls. I was so disgusted with the popularity contest that was facebook, I vowed never to take part in it.
I guess I keep it around for the fringe use cases where maybe an old friend will move to my current city, and learn that I live here. Then again, I could close the account and never miss it.
> Back when I was in college, 2003-2007, I remember going to lecture halls and sitting in the back. Every student had a laptop out, and all they were doing was posting garbage on other peoples walls. I was so disgusted with the popularity contest that was facebook, I vowed never to take part in it.
I could not possibly agree more with you.
I used to have an account. But then I realized that what was going on around me was pretty much a mixture of voyeurism and narcissism. People posting stuff about "My new pair of jeans", "my new belt", "my abs", "my biceps" or sitting there and groking people's personal details. I deleted my account. Later at a point, I rejoined because there was someone I wanted to keep in touch and Facebook was the only option due to a number of reasons. But I had already become a Facebook sceptic, and again deleted it for good about one year ago.
It's good to have as a repository of people you've met over the years and may need to contact again, but for nothing more.
I deleted mine some years ago. I still feel the sting of not connecting with a lot of acquaintances (I emigrated to another continent from where I grew up) but don't want my data aggregated and stored forever where the feds can access it at will. (Remember, the USA PATRIOT Act lets them fetch it all without a judge or warrant - and they do, 50k+ times a year.)
I have, over the course of last year felt the difficulty of not being on Facebook. This usually happens when somebody sets up an event that I would like to attend, but the invitation and accompanying information about the event is posted only to Facebook. Another scenario is when somebody shares something published Facebook on Twitter or even on HN and you need a Facebook account to view it.
I don't. Kind of.
Had an account which I disabled end 2010 and deleted end 2011. I'm addicted to mindlessly clicking away on the internet and, unfortunately, I wound up doing that with FB too. I do have another account which is required to admin a company page, but it has no friends in it, near-zero discoverability and I rarely login there.
For a while even I raged against Facebook and people on Facebook, but the fact was that the problem was with me that I could not use it without bringing out some of my worst qualities.
With the glaring exception of LinkedIn(jobs only), I am social media free. No Facebook, no twitter, nada. I wish I could say that I had it figured out better than everyone else and give a compelling reason to not use facebook. All I can really say, is that I used to have both a facebook and twitter account that were pretty active, and I am much happier without them. YMMV, though, so do what works for you.
I had an account in college when it was college-only and it was awesome. Then they let my mother-in-law and Rob Scoble and my boss join and it wasn't fun anymore so I deleted my account.
It's wonderful not having the account, though. I recently ran into someone in charge of my High School's reunion this year and they couldn't find my address. I told them to look me up on Facebook later and that was the end of that conversation. Also, I don't get random "friend" requests from ex-girlfriends anymore.
It really didn't have anything to do with feeding the Zuckerborg. It just got incredibly tame very quickly, becoming less of a reflection of my friends and classmates and more of a reflection of my friends and classmates when our mothers and bosses are around.
I don't. I joined in June 2007, used it a lot for about 2 months, then mostly stopped, then stopped properly (I haven't logged in since October or November 2007).
It was amusing enough, but the amount of time I was wasting on it was out of all proportion to the actual value I was getting from it. I also didn't like the idea that I could be found by people that I didn't particularly want to resume contact with.
I have never had an account. Never will.
Same happens with me. I never liked facebook and still don't like.
No Facebook. No Twitter. No Google+. No Tumblr. None of it.
Me neither.