HELP, I'M A FACEBOOK VIRGIN!!

[stringthrough]

Yes, it's bad and all that, but there is nothing that approaches it for finding musicians and bands to join. It's also good for promoting your gigs. My one advice, only provide the minimal personal data such as your birthdate, city/ town you live in, your profession, college/ high school, etc.

 

[Azari]

Facebook is garbage. If you haven’t made an account yet I’d just keep it that way. It’s a major time waster.

 

[TOOL460002]

You avoided it for so long. Keep that up.

 

[HubbardsFate]

You avoided it for so long. Keep that up.

Based on the bulk of the replies so far, I'm leaning in that direction.

 

[thewildest]

As wisely put by @LP Custom , I’d also recommend abstinence, and becoming a nun while you are at it. It is just a feeling, but I think we are collectively coming to the end of the manipulative social media app phenomenon and soon generic-for-profit sites like that will be things of the past.

 

[Maxi Funkl]

There is no such thing as privacy in cyberspace no matter the platform. If you want privacy stay off the internet.

Learn what not to do in cyberspace but in all honesty your being track 24/7 365. Every website is data mining to attract advertisers even Talkbass. Of course the more popular the platform/website the more you're being tracked. Just Google anything and watch those searches so up in the advertisements on next 10 websites you go to. The algorithms always win. Just be as smart and as diligent as possible in cyberspace. Your PPI has already been hacked if you have bank account, or have Healthcare or pay bills of any type. Your job is not to make easier to be tracked or hacked. But it's an up hill battle those cookies oh those cookies. LOL

 

[Jeff Scott]

After reading all, just say NO!

 

[HubbardsFate]

One more thing . . Beware of pretty girls asking you to send a friend request. . . those are all scammers and hackers

I'll be turning 50 in December, and these days I concentrate on work, health, and hobbies. . I ended a 7.5-year relationship in 2021. And I basically have zero interest in dealing with/being in a relationship with a woman these days. Pretty Girl Scammers wouldn't have any luck with me.

 

[HubbardsFate]

I realize that Facebook is basically a data-mining corporation, and that there is little to no privacy, but as others have pointed out - correctly, I think - in general, and ESPECIALLY if anyone's had an online presence, which I have since, I guess, 1997-ish, my privacy was compromised a long, long time ago.

I do realize that it can be a cesspool of negativity and time wasting. My one experience with Facebook was 2010-ish, when a cousin I was visiting said "Hey, do you want to check out my account" - she let me sit at her computer and browse around. I thought I'd be on there five, maybe ten minutes, and be done; next thing I knew, three hours had blown by (she and I grew up together and knew/know a lot of the same people, so I kept seeing familiar faces in her friend list, clicking on 'em, etc.)

I'm far from sold (especially since creating this thread) on the notion of signing up, but I don't think the "invasion of privacy" argument holds a ton of weight, given that I've been online since the late 1990s. And I'd be very vigilant RE: not getting involved in, well, almost anything, ha ha; as I have said, IF I sign on, it will mainly be for networking, marketplace, and keeping in touch with a select few family and friends.

 

[FilterFunk]

Wow, lot's of hate for Facebook here!
How I use it:
I see pictures and get updates on friends relatives that don't live near me.
I have access to FB Marketplace. (Craigslist is nearly useless). If somebody has brand new profile and no history, I won't deal with them.
I'm a member of about 5 groups. I quit groups that make me angry and have learned to not argue with random strangers on the internet.
I post my gigs, but not much else.
I block people whose posts are a waste of time for me.
I don't ever "check in" at any location.

I can find no better way to stay in touch with my family members all across the globe (yes, all the way from the USA to New Zealand)). When it comes to staying connected with things that are important, I can't find a better way.

I'm on it (way too much). There are a lot of pitfalls and downsides, I won't argue with anyone who's pointed them out.

If you do go on, DO use the privacy settings (it's not "true" privacy, FB is still recording everything you do on there, but you'll limit who else sees it to some extent). Even so, assume that anything you post is essentially public, so treat every post as though you were publishing it in the newspaper.

Do NOT join "groups" unless it's a specific group of people you know (e.g. my neighborhood has one). Groups really activate the algorithms to push you toward more and more stuff, which tends to get more and more toxic.

Be really sparse about your reactions, especially if it isn't content actually produced by someone you know. "Like"-ing a family photo is one thing, an "angry: emoji at a political meme someone shares will open the floodgates.

Remember you don't have to accept every friend request and you can block anyone that's not conducting themselves appropriately.

my biggest thrill is keeping up with kids and grandkids (and relatives and old friends).

i'm not too bothered by the FB BS.

And I don't know about anyone else, but I have no problem with declining or ignoring friend requests that I don't want.

This is pretty much how I use it. I keep in touch with cousins and reconnected with classmates. I’ve joined groups for RV advice and fans of certain instruments. I’ve bought half a dozen basses from FB posts. I don’t accept all friend invites, and if users are posting stuff I don’t agree with, I block them.

Let’s face it, computers, WWW, FB, AI have been a blessing and a curse. Just like automobiles, nuclear energy, and religion. The potential for abuse is there, and it’s abused every day. It’s part of living in the modern world. Short of living in a cave, there’s not much you can do to avoid them.

^All of this. And in the interest of full disclosure, I did edit the above quotes to help make my point. To clarify - when I say "edit," I mean I deleted parts of the posts; I didn't change anyone's words!

I have a total of 87 FB friends, and except for about 5 with whom there's only one degree of separation (they're friends of my friends, and they come across as good people), I personally know them all.

3 of my FB friends post a ton of extremely partisan political stuff, much of which is negative and unverified. I don't unfriend them because I still consider them friends in spite of the political crap, and they don't post any such comments on my page. I just don't visit their pages, and they don't start anything on mine. The funny thing is all 3 of them are old high school friends, and two of them are brothers who are diametrically opposed politically and religiously. My other old HS friends are just as cool as I remember them. I'm very glad to have reconnected with them. I've seen old, cherished photos on relatives' pages that I hadn't seen in decades, and some I didn't even know existed. And I wasn't about to try to stay in touch with 50+ relatives through phone calls, texts or e-mails, nor would they all try to stay in touch with me that way.

There's no better or more efficient way that I could have reconnected with and/or stayed in touch with so many people, and these are people I want to connect with. I have no problem deleting or ignoring unwanted friend requests. I visit my friends' pages directly...I don't bother with the "News Feed." I don't post anything of a sensitive or very personal nature. I'll post about a cool place I've been well after the fact. I don't do the "checked in" thing. The privacy issue? I think if you use the privacy settings, you're discreet about what you post, and you choose your friends wisely and don't engage in or click on just anything, you'll probably be just as safe as you'll be on most of the internet. I've found FB to be very manageable.

All in all, I like FB - a lot. I'm there for fun and fellowship, and much more often than not, that's just what I get.

 

[HubbardsFate]

If I go ahead and sign up (still very much on the fence at this point), I figure the worst-case scenario is that I find it to be too much of a time suck, and/or I find it irritating in other ways, and I simply delete my account.