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pjt said:
I don`t think it is as private as people think. For example, my friend has a closed account yet if you type in her name on the computer her facebook picture with her daughter comes up for all to see. I think pictures and information can also be passed around so it can get outside of your loop and go places you never would have expected or wanted it to go. Of course, with email someone could forward your mail to someone else but I`ve never had something like that to happen. In email, it is more like private mail so there is an understanding of this is between the 2 friends only. With facebook it is public so the feeling of privacy seems to vanish at least that is my feeling about it.

Also I don`t know if it is so good for just anybody to have such easy access. I am a married woman with children so I don`t know if I would feel comfortable if my old male classmates started contacting me as one tried to do this morning. I am sure his intentions were purely innocent. I have no doubts about that, but I don`t know if it is healthy for a married woman to start spending time reengaging old relationships with males from her past. Actually I know a woman who had an old high school male friend to contact her and they started communicating a lot, it moved forward to her wanting to see him, and the result was her marriage ended because she got caught up in an online relationship with another man. The relationship did not work out in the end so her life was left with a messy divorce. I`m not afraid I would go in that direction, but I just question the wisdom of married men and women getting into online relationships.
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If your facebook friends are the type of people who will pass on your personal infromation then perhaps they're not the type of people you should be adding in the first place. If they don't respect your privacy and personal information, then I'm not sure that I see a real friendship there.

In the end, you are responsible for how much information you put out there, and you are responsible for adding your friends and customising your privacy settings etc.

Also, if you wanted to put photos on so your family could see them, you can actually exclude certain friends from seeing any post or photo.

If someone is not your friend all they can see is your name and profile picture and your gender (if you tinkle with the privacy settings correctly). The service itself isn't bad, but its how people use it that makes it dangerous for them and others.
 
I’ve allowed both of my daughters to open accounts but I don’t have an account. When I finally gave in to my daughters’ requests for instant messaging and installed Windows Live, it also came with the Live Spaces page. I soon found that I didn’t really have a lot of desire to post photos, blog about my life, or spend a lot of time maintaining the website. I eventually deleted my Spaces account. I also have a Photobucket account that I rarely use accept as a webhost sight for downloading photos to internet forums such as this one but lately that need has been going away too.
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After about two years my daughters’ friends started moving to Facebook and so my daughters started pestering me about opening an account. I finally caved in and last I checked they haven’t used their Live accounts for quite some time. Now it’s a bunch of application software on my PC that we don’t use. I feel if I need to get in contact with someone I can call them on the phone, email them, send them a letter by US Mail, or pay them a visit in person. Now that latter one is quite the concept these days.
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The real concern I have, and I’m guilty as well, is that we seem to be getting away from the personal interactions and moving toward the less personal in the form of internet blogging, emailing, instant messaging, and text messaging. Don’t we want to engage in personal face-to-face communication anymore?
 
I have a facebook account and I enjoy it. It lets me keep in touch with friends and family.

I don't post too much, and what I do post is usually pretty light in nature. But it is fun to be in the know about stuff that friends and family are doing. Ha, now I even know some stuff before my wife does! ;)

My wife was never on facebook either until I bought her a new smart phone. The first day she had it she figured out how to take a picture and post it to her facebook! :lol She's hooked!

Anyway, I don't play any of the games and I don't use any of the applications. It's bad enough they are data mining off you. But hey, nothing is free, even if you don't see the costs. Even this site data mines, which is why you'll often find advertising for relevant topics... No personal information is collected, but other stuff is.

Welcome to cyberspace.
 
Cleanfreak, I`ve not seen this documentary, but it sounds well worth watching if I can find it, I will watch it.

Mike, your post just confirmed to me that I`m definitely not going to let my children have facebook accounts at least not until they are older. What about second accounts? Could a child open one account for their parents and another for their friends without the parents knowing?

Nick, I`m not technologically savvy so I`m not sure I could tinkle with the settings to the degree of security I would like. And as for facebook friends passing on information, I don`t have bad associations in my life but I was thinking of perhaps an old friend just innocently passing on a picture or information to another person through facebook or the web and it just unintentionally got into the wrong hands.

I agree WIP, face to face contact is best. Nothing beats that! We lose the art of communication the more we sit behind a computer. I have a friend who refuses to even email because she said the result will be people will stop visiting so she forces people in her life to visit by not engaging in email or online communication. I live overseas so email is a great blessing in my life. It does allow me to stay in touch with my family and closest friends which otherwise would be difficult, but if I had a choice, I`d much rather see my family and friends face to face.

But with all that said, I do see one nice benefit from facebook and other networking sites. When my husband was looking for work, he joined facebook and other networking sites and through these sites he was able to pick up leads for jobs, network for jobs, and just get his name out there that he was looking. He posted a resume on I think "Linkedin" which I have no idea what that is, and he`d see people downloading his resume. So I think professionally it may be a great tool for job seekers, but for personal use I have reservations especially for young people and married people. Maybe singles in their late teens and up it may be good for staying in touch, but I just don`t know if it is so wise for married people.
 
pjt said:
What about second accounts? Could a child open one account for their parents and another for their friends without the parents knowing?
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Yes pj they can make as many as they want as long as they have access to a computer and email that you do not know about. Like in school, if they make a free email on one of the many sites, and do not tell you, then make a face book under a different name.. Anything like that is possible.
 
Danny63 said:
Yes pj they can make as many as they want as long as they have access to a computer and email that you do not know about. Like in school, if they make a free email on one of the many sites, and do not tell you, then make a face book under a different name.. Anything like that is possible.
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Thank you Danny for that information. That certainly should be a flag of caution for parents.
 
I just saw this article today that Facebook is going to share user`s private addresses and telephone numbers with external sites Facebook To Share Users' Home Addresses, Phone Numbers With External Sites. So for those with facebook you might want to be careful especially if you have minors in the home.

A quote from this article is "People never thought when they were posting this data [such as their phone numbers] that it would be accessible to anyone but friends. There's a real mismatch of expectations around that," said Mary Hodder, chairman of the Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium. "Even if Facebook comes back with new protections, they're still saying, 'Hey, get over it, your data is public.' I feel sad for users that Facebook's approach is 'You give us anything and it's all fair game.'"
 
pjt said:
I just saw this article today that Facebook is going to share user`s private addresses and telephone numbers with external sites Facebook To Share Users' Home Addresses, Phone Numbers With External Sites. So for those with facebook you might want to be careful especially if you have minors in the home.

A quote from this article is "People never thought when they were posting this data [such as their phone numbers] that it would be accessible to anyone but friends. There's a real mismatch of expectations around that," said Mary Hodder, chairman of the Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium. "Even if Facebook comes back with new protections, they're still saying, 'Hey, get over it, your data is public.' I feel sad for users that Facebook's approach is 'You give us anything and it's all fair game.'"
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That's not good. However, it should be noted that users have to give permission for facebook to share their details. Again, this can be toggled by going into privacy settings.
 
I have an account, but I don't invest much time into it.
 
I have an account, but all my stuff is private. Even if you knew my name you would not be able to search for me and find me. I do not use any applications on facebook, nor do I play any games. I have a very short list of "friends." (Many of my friends are extended family.) I used to only go on it once every few months, but recently I have been on it more-- mainly for "business"- type purposes. (I know, conducting business on facebook-- yeesh! :screwloose ) :lol

I agree with the above posters who keep saying that you can make facebook as private as you want. If not for the privacy settings I would not be on it at all.
 
I enjoy using my Facebook account to spread the knowledge and the joy of the Lord around! I love to encourage my friends and allow my unsaved friends to see how we love and greet each other in love, always giving praise to Jesus Christ, and always speaking positive.

It is a great medium for showing the love of Jesus Christ and attesting to His power and might in a life. My hope is to help to plant seeds of faith in the unbelieving around me.
 
I use it a lot - I barely use email anymore unless whatever I'm talking about is particularly sensitive or formal. I tend not to add old friends for the sake of it though - I frequently go through and purge about half of my friends list, and if they add me again, I accept them, but if not, then they mustn't have been too interested ;)

It's also a fun place to debate people too.
 
If I joined I think it would be more for Alabaster`s reasons, but after discussing it here and seeing that article I`m more and more convinced it is not for me at least not at this time. After what Mike said about people arguing, I definitely don`t think I would want to go there to debate. Are you young Kenan like in your 20`s? When I was younger I enjoyed debating more but I`m 41 so I don`t care for debating much anymore. I have kids so that gives enough fireworks and excitement for me!!! I prefer to sit down with a cup of hot tea and have a peaceful online conversation these days when I can!
 
pjt said:
If I joined I think it would be more for Alabaster`s reasons, but after discussing it here and seeing that article I`m more and more convinced it is not for me at least not at this time. After what Mike said about people arguing, I definitely don`t think I would want to go there to debate. Are you young Kenan like in your 20`s? When I was younger I enjoyed debating more but I`m 41 so I don`t care for debating much anymore. I have kids so that gives enough fireworks and excitement for me!!! I prefer to sit down with a cup of hot tea and have a peaceful online conversation these days when I can!
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You don't like debating but here you are! :lol

But seriously, facebook isn't really a debating platform. You can if you want, but most of it is just social networking.
 
pjt said:
If I joined I think it would be more for Alabaster`s reasons, but after discussing it here and seeing that article I`m more and more convinced it is not for me at least not at this time. After what Mike said about people arguing, I definitely don`t think I would want to go there to debate. Are you young Kenan like in your 20`s? When I was younger I enjoyed debating more but I`m 41 so I don`t care for debating much anymore. I have kids so that gives enough fireworks and excitement for me!!! I prefer to sit down with a cup of hot tea and have a peaceful online conversation these days when I can!
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Yep I'm a young fella, I don't usually give my age out on the internet though - it's probably pretty needless, because it's not exactly personally identifiable, but it's just a habit I've acquired over time. I can certainly enjoy a hot cup of tea and have a peaceful conversation too, but I just find debating, online and IRL, to be very stimulating and, well, fun :P


Also, ^^ it's definitely not made for debating, but I've got enough people on FB to debate with for it to be enjoyable all the same.
 
kenan said:
Yep I'm a young fella, I don't usually give my age out on the internet though - it's probably pretty needless, because it's not exactly personally identifiable, but it's just a habit I've acquired over time. I can certainly enjoy a hot cup of tea and have a peaceful conversation too, but I just find debating, online and IRL, to be very stimulating and, well, fun :P


Also, ^^ it's definitely not made for debating, but I've got enough people on FB to debate with for it to be enjoyable all the same.
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I think the young years are made for debating and yes it can definitely be mentally stimulating and fun! But at my age, I`ve had my fill of debate and prefer to slow down. Facebook sounds like it may be good for young people, but not a married woman with children or at least not THIS married woman with children.
 
pjt said:
I think the young years are made for debating and yes it can definitely be mentally stimulating and fun! But at my age, I`ve had my fill of debate and prefer to slow down. Facebook sounds like it may be good for young people, but not a married woman with children or at least not THIS married woman with children.
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That's fair. It's almost superseded my use of my mobile phone - I tend to chat with people and organise get-togethers and such on FB rather than through text, phone calls or meeting in person - but I can see how it might be a bit redundant for someone who simply doesn't need those kinds of facilities. It's often used as just a way to keep in touch with old friends (which is what most of my family uses it for - my uncles, parents and grandparents and other relatives use it for that kind of thing, while I use it to chat with people I'd otherwise just talk to on a phone, SMS or meet face to face).
 
kenan said:
That's fair. It's almost superseded my use of my mobile phone - I tend to chat with people and organise get-togethers and such on FB rather than through text, phone calls or meeting in person - but I can see how it might be a bit redundant for someone who simply doesn't need those kinds of facilities. It's often used as just a way to keep in touch with old friends (which is what most of my family uses it for - my uncles, parents and grandparents and other relatives use it for that kind of thing, while I use it to chat with people I'd otherwise just talk to on a phone, SMS or meet face to face).
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The only set back though for me is more and more of my family and friends are using facebook and asking me to join and little by little their correspondance with me by email is getting less and less, and living overseas I probably feel that more than if I were living in my own country. It`s kind of sad because I just don`t think facebook is cut out for me, yet if I don`t join, my contact with people I care about starts to dwindle. I guess that`s what happened to people my grandparent`s age who only wrote letters but their grandchildren started getting computers and using email so commuication became less. I guess it`s really a choice of do I want to move with the times or not, but right now I do not so I accept the reprecussions of that decision.
 
Along the lines of what Alabaster mentioned above, my central motivation with registering on Facebook was first and foremost to to be a witness for Christ. My Info page has my brief testimony available for everyone to see, and I post updates whenever I write a new post in my God blog, for example. Since then, I've found it a good way to keep in touch with distant family and friends, to promote my photography, etc. but my main thrust is still to try to minister.

I think Christians in particular frown upon new technology or ideas like Facebook at first, fearing the bad that might come out of it, when we instead need to ask ourselves: Can this be a tool to potentially reach others for Christ? Some think Facebook will be a time drain, that you'll be easily sucked into it. There is definitely that challenge as you set up the account and get excited about finding friends and acquaintances that you've maybe lost touch with. But the novelty dies off for most people to the point where they spend a few minutes a day on it checking on the updates of other people and maybe giving the odd update themselves. But I think some people who worry the time factor spend as much or more time on forums like this than they would on Facebook.

So yes, nobody "needs" Facebook, but you do need to settle in your heart why you want to be on it in the first place.
 
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