So I joined Facebook. Bah..

[livi]

At the ripe age of 51 my daughters and friends finally talked me into Facebook. I don´t get it. In the few hours since I joined with just a small number of friend requests, its already a mess. A load of pics, meaningless texts, updates and what not. All of which is utterly uninteresting to me.

Annoyingly, it seems my wife is able to see everything from my pages on her facebook. Not that I have any secrets mind you..

I can just see where this is going to end, after adding more friends. A frantic hunt to keep up with all the updates. What a drag.

On the other hand I am keen to show my daughters that the old man gets around. Hence, albeit highly embarrassed to ask, please feel free to add me, those of you that have FB and feel inclined to add a durn forner. Please do not expect me to answer readily, I am not sure how it works just yet.. (do one answer at all by the way?..)

My name is Markus Perlhagen..

Thanks!

[Chocaholic]

I have it, rarely look at it and when I do, it's to see what my kids are posting/liking, etc. Just ignore what you don't care about. And you can unfollow anyone you like and they won't know. I generall unfollow anyone who posts political crap. That's what PARF is for!

[JavaBrewer]

Each post on your wall has a small gray drop down arrow. Use that to "Unfollow " that particular person or page. You remain friends with them but just don't see their daily updates. Also use the security and privacy settings to your benefit.

I joined FB many years ago, got sucked into political discussions that went too far, so deactivated my profile. I recently activated my old profile and so far like being anonymous and quiet.

[recycled sixtie]

I give your message a LIKE Livi. I do like facebook for many reasons. Info about safety etc. An example your wife is out shopping and gets in her car. She sees a sticker stuck on the back window. What does she do?
a. Gets out and removes the sticker.
b. Ignore the sticker and remove it at home.




Safe answer is b. as if you do a. then wifey can have car and purse stolen while getting out to remove sticker.



Another example.
A plain unmarked "police car" waves your wife or daughter over.

What do you do?
a. Pull over immediately
b. Proceed to nearest police station and go into the police station.

Obvious answer is b. Some of you might challenge this depending on police jurisdictions.

Facebook is not just about friends and relatives. There is a pile of info like car clubs, Mustang aircraft, Lancaster videos....

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

I give your message a LIKE Livi. I do like facebook for many reasons. Info about safety etc. An example your wife is out shopping and gets in her car. She sees a sticker stuck on the back window. What does she do?
a. Gets out and removes the sticker.
b. Ignore the sticker and remove it at home.




Safe answer is b. as if you do a. then wifey can have car and purse stolen while getting out to remove sticker.



Another example.
A plain unmarked "police car" waves your wife or daughter over.

What do you do?
a. Pull over immediately
b. Proceed to nearest police station and go into the police station.

Obvious answer is b. Some of you might challenge this depending on police jurisdictions.

Facebook is not just about friends and relatives. There is a pile of info like car clubs, Mustang aircraft, Lancaster videos....

Nope, smart answer is call 911 if you have the slightest concern. They can tell you if a real cop is behind you.

I joined facebook to keep up with some actual friends, and real relatives. I have several "face book" friends I have never met but I did not go all out and I have just a small number of facebook friends. It does have some actual content if you keep the friends down to people you care about.

[sammyg2]

[Racerbvd]

OK, I did as you asked..

[legion]

I joined a few years ago. I think I've only sent out like 3 friend requests. I've rejected a bunch myself. I realize that I just don't care about 90% of the stuff on there--especially the self-righteous political rants. I find myself checking maybe once every month or two and posting an update 2-3 time a year.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

If you haven't already, might be worth it to spending several minutes to learn privacy settings.

For example- FB likes to "join everyone together" and defaults things to show your posts to as many people as possible, so you might want to change your settings to "friends only" instead of world view. There are a whole bunch of other things as well you might want to run through.

Also, try not to like any corporate things. For example, if I "like" dawn soap, FB will share "Ron likes dawn soap"- and then puts a big Dawn Soap add on your friend's newsfeed. Ron likes it, and so should you. You might be more inclined to buy it since your friend endorsed it.

Also be aware that if you write on a "world view" page, it will be posted to your friends, so let's say you comment on a local news FB website, your comment will show up in your friends feed. It's not like a private conversation where I tell you in privacy I like such and such political party. It is like me shouting to you through a megaphone with everyone listening.

Spend time blocking dumb click bait ads. "Hide all" works well.

Ughhhh...


That being said, I have noticed there are some interesting car groups on FB. Mostly private groups you join, but you can get some good car pics coming through your feed if you join up. Not the level of dialogue you see here on PP, but you see some nice cars if you get creative in your searches. If you put some effort into blocking stuff, you can tailor a fairly palatable experience.

[sammyg2]

[stomachmonkey]

Obviously you have not gotten to the good part yet, the primary reason it exists.

Cats.

[stomachmonkey]

Dude, you don't even have a Profile Pic yet.

Here, you can have this one.

His name is Thor so it's appropriate, kinda.

[Tervuren]

For me, it turned into a spam fest, and was no longer what it once was.

I did my best to manage it, dropping friends that were causing incoming, but in the end, even with a tiny friends list, the spam just comes in as "sponsored".

So I gave up and left.

You should put some music recordings in the stijn thread again btw.

[URY914]

I'm 58 years old and have 45 FB friends.
My daughter is 21 years old and has over 400.

Maybe people like her better than me?

[varmint]

people don't seem to have time to lean over the fence and gossip with the neighbors anymore. it's posted to a Facebook group now.


the neighborhood watch has moved to Facebook. moose and bear sightings, suspicious cars driving around etc.

garage sales

neighbor girl selling girl scout cookies. neighbor kid plowing driveways. complaints about the guy who blasts parliament of funk on weekend afternoons.





i am prepared to hate Facebook. but it is a tool. it is what you and your contacts make of it.

[HardDrive]

Love facebook. Our entire family uses it. It's the go to place for family updates, announcements, vacation photos, etc...

Yes, you need to prune who you see updates from so you don't see a bunch junk.

[varmint]

Originally Posted by URY914

I'm 58 years old and have 45 FB friends.
My daughter is 21 years old and has over 400.

Maybe people like her better than me?

[varmint]

Originally Posted by livi

My name is Markus Perlhagen..

Thanks!

i'll send a friend request tonight. look for the american with the name even more swedish than yours.

[porsche4life]

Doc fluffer! Sending a friend request now!

[kach22i]

I don't get Facebook, my wife lives by it.

It is good for hobbies, clubs and organizations, and replacing a few forums by the looks of it.

The time it involves is not in proportion to what I feel I get out of it, but for many others it is a vital part of their lives.

Not for me.

It seems better at destroying old friendships than reforming them from what I've seen.