Facebook is a real puzzlement

WayneF

Senior Member
The TV news shows, both local and the national news, really emphasizes Twitter and Facebook, as if that is all there is to internet and communication. Their own web sites and the concept of email are very largely ignored, any non-TV access is all about Twitter and Facebook. Any communication is solicited to be from Facebook or Twitter.

I'm wondering why? What is wrong with "the internet"? Probably because I don't bother with Twitter or Facebook, never actually seen them. I am an old guy, not of the current generation, so it is fair to say I may be "out of it today" (which to me, is a plus. :) ) However, computers are not an issue, I am techie enough, being a retired programmer (minis and PC) from Texas Instruments, so I have seen and done several things. But I'm not getting it.

So I sign up and log into Facebook, and I see absolutely nothing there, my own blank screen. OK, must be the same as going to www.google.com, nothing there. So I search (on Facebook) for CNN or my local TV call letters, and then I see something very much like any web page (for them). What is the advantage of that? Of it being there? What does Facebook contribute?

I imagine non-techies get automated help to build their own Facebook page, which maybe not all can do otherwise. But sources like CNN or my local station certainly have necessary skills, and they do have their own web pages, but which seem largely ignored in favor of Facebook. Why? What is the appeal of Facebook?
 
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J-see

Senior Member
Facebook is a social network; through it you connect with all your "friends" (if they are on facebook too). That's the main difference with having a website which is isolated and only connected by linkage.
 
In a word... "cheap and dirty". Oh wait, that's three. Folks with a brand to market don't need to access a site based CMS, or forward changes to a webmaster, nor do they need to implement an online forum, or something like Disqus. There is a certain immediacy to FB and T that marketing departments like. And of course, there's a gazillion users there.

At some point in time it was 'the hip place to be', eventually populated by the self-absorbed. But like eBay, it has turned into a mostly commercial marketplace; not for direct sales, but rather the buzz about the brand including announcements, contests, and other promotions. Companies try hard to drive their customers and prospective customers to FB and T because it is the easiest (and cheapest) way to stay in touch with them, for both marketing and support.

I don't get it... it is no secret I think both have horrible interfaces, but so did BBS systems we served up decades ago. Forums are boring for most FB'rs because they don't have their own space there. Yes there are sophisticated, non-self-absorbed users, but they are not the ones that made FB and T the monsters they are today. It is rather the sycophantic and voyeuristic tendencies our society seems to have adopted that make 10's of millions want to follow the Kim Kardashians of the world, and offer up their personal info to big marketing for the privilege.

Is there no worthwhile content on FB or T? Of course there is, but the majority of it is noise.

Luckily, much like eBay, users are discovering FB and T are in fact mostly noise, hype, and big marketing these days, with many young internet'rs passing on the phenomenon. They are more interested in doing what FB was originally designed to do - keep in touch with friends and family - and are attracted to smaller, niche services to do so. Unfortunately the "but everyone is on FB" excuse is something that will keep the snowball rolling down the mountain for quite a while.
 

J-see

Senior Member
I deleted my FB a long time ago. It was a debilitating affair. Not only was I constantly subjected to irrelevant crap of others, those days I first had to kill a zillion FarmVille gifts each time I logged.
 

Nero

Senior Member
Facebook has mostly become teen drama, overly-shared images and people acting tough/like they're a celebrity.

I still use Facebook but I've heavily limited who I interact with.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 4
 

rocketman122

Senior Member
I use it to get work through contact with other pro photogs. I also have contact with childhood friends who live overseas. it can cause issues with relationships with your partner as I have had. whos this friend and whos that friend. I had to filter quite a few to have harmony.
 
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carguy

Senior Member
What you see in your facebook 'feed' is entirely up to you. You 'Like' or 'follow' other people or accounts. You join 'groups' which are places that have 'discussions' about topics that interest you.

You link up to what you want to read about/see. It takes time to weed out what you end up not wanting to see, but it can be very worth while if you do it right.

It's a great place to market yourself and your services, again, if you do it right :)
 

WayneF

Senior Member
I don't seem to be able to find anything on Facebook. If I enter a name, like John Smith, I do see a couple of John Smiths. I think it does better that way (a name), because if I enter CNN, at least I see a few CNN entries.

But if I enter a topic, like Nikon D800 or Photoshop Sharpening, or Rear Curtain Sync or Flash Photography, it is worse than disappointing. Search only seems to find the names of things, not topics on the page. The drop down menu is a little better than the result, but nothing like Google can provide. How can people live like that? :)


I guess one reason I wonder, my own web site sees many hits from Facebook hot-linking my images. Which I don't allow, so these are many 403 in the log file. It does not seem to slow them. :) But such hot links from actual web sites normally leaves a referrer, still refused, but the log shows who it is, to see what they are doing. Facebook hot link hits just say referrer facebookexternalhit, with no page information. So I thought prowling around a bit might see more, but I see nothing of interest. More literally, I see nothing.

There are of course other valid facebook hits to html pages logged (allowed, which will also show the images), but that referrer is just facebook, no unique page reference.

So I find no way to locate facebook pages which might support discussions interested in such topics...
 
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carguy

Senior Member
Yeah, searching on a topic won't yield the best results, not like it will on a site like twitter.

To search for groups to join, try here to get started: https://www.facebook.com/groups

Another idea is to do a search on google. Enter your subject/topic and include facebook in the search. you'll find items that might be of interested as well.

It takes time to build a list of 'friends' or pages to 'like / follow', that will show content in your 'feed'.
 

WayneF

Senior Member
Thanks Joe, both of those are much more productive than anything I had found. Obviously I don't have much clue about using it. :)
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Ditched facebook and twitter,facebook i found was full of dirty washing being aired in public,twitter was too full of moaning for me
 
Facebook has mostly become teen drama, overly-shared images and people acting tough/like they're a celebrity.

I still use Facebook but I've heavily limited who I interact with.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 4

What you see in your facebook 'feed' is entirely up to you. You 'Like' or 'follow' other people or accounts. You join 'groups' which are places that have 'discussions' about topics that interest you.

You link up to what you want to read about/see. It takes time to weed out what you end up not wanting to see, but it can be very worth while if you do it right.

It's a great place to market yourself and your services, again, if you do it right :)

Facebook can be a real landmine. You do need to cultivate (not Farmville) your friends and groups. I have 4 sets of friends. Local friends and relatives, My local Camera Club members, My drone friends and last but certainly not least My Nikon Friends. If I do not recognize your Facebook name because you use a different name here you get deleted. If you are a friend of a friend that I have not met or just barely know then your request gets deleted also. Not all relatives make the cut either. Now once you do become my friend then you have to behave. If all you do is share everyone else's posts and nothing original then you are out of here. If you are too political or religious and that is all you talk about then you are out of here also. I don't mind the occasional post but enough is enough.
One thing I have found that really helps with facebook is a app called F.B. Purity - Clean up and Customize Facebook I got fotojack to try it an he really liked it. It removes a lot of the nonsense we all did not like about facebook.

Facebook is just a tool that can be bad or good depending on how much effort you put into it
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Facebook can be a real landmine. You do need to cultivate (not Farmville) your friends and groups. I have 4 sets of friends. Local friends and relatives, My local Camera Club members, My drone friends and last but certainly not least My Nikon Friends. If I do not recognize your Facebook name because you use a different name here you get deleted. If you are a friend of a friend that I have not met or just barely know then your request gets deleted also. Not all relatives make the cut either. Now once you do become my friend then you have to behave. If all you do is share everyone else's posts and nothing original then you are out of here. If you are too political or religious and that is all you talk about then you are out of here also. I don't mind the occasional post but enough is enough.
One thing I have found that really helps with facebook is a app called F.B. Purity - Clean up and Customize Facebook I got fotojack to try it an he really liked it. It removes a lot of the nonsense we all did not like about facebook.

Facebook is just a tool that can be bad or good depending on how much effort you put into it

Think some of what you say could have caused the dissatisfaction i had with facebook,i opened it to help spread the word about my camping forum,this made it difficult to block people that where supportive members of the forum but of no interest to me off forum,also it became normal for people to be referred to my facebook page first then i would introduce them to the forum this meant i felt stuck with them on facebook.

To open a facebook page now and run a tight ship like you do would make it a different proposition.
 
Surprisingly I had some people who wanted to be my "Friend" just to see my photos. I finally set up my page so that it had a like button. I then made a announcement on my page that I was trimming the number of friends I had and that if they just wanted to see my photos then they could "like" my page and see all of them as I posted them. Surprised the hell out of me but I have 18 people click the like button. So I have found that to be a good compromise for the problems like you had. I have 131 friends right now and I will be very choosy with any more that I add. I might start trimming one for each one I add. I do have a few that I do like and want to not hurt their feeling but really don't want to see anything they post and for those I just "unfollow" that way they see that I am on their friend list and they see all my posts so they are none the wiser.

Think some of what you say could have caused the dissatisfaction i had with facebook,i opened it to help spread the word about my camping forum,this made it difficult to block people that where supportive members of the forum but of no interest to me off forum,also it became normal for people to be referred to my facebook page first then i would introduce them to the forum this meant i felt stuck with them on facebook.

To open a facebook page now and run a tight ship like you do would make it a different proposition.
 

Michael J.

Senior Member
Through my Facebook my School get lots of new students too. Cambodians, Chinese, Japanese as well from Sweden. Their family are working in our province so their children are coming to us.
 

wornish

Senior Member
I deleted my FB a long time ago. It was a debilitating affair. Not only was I constantly subjected to irrelevant crap of others, those days I first had to kill a zillion FarmVille gifts each time I logged.
Ditto. I closed my Facebook account over a year ago, never looked back.
 

skater

New member
From someone who is admin on two Facebook pages (one for a club, one for a show I help to run), and I run my own site (not related to the two pages): You can get a LOT more info from Facebook on the things people read, what they like, etc. Every week I get a report about how many things were "liked", who liked them, and why. It's useful feedback for a business. That's why sites use it.

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. Love - keeping in touch with people that I only see occasionally. Hate - finding out things about people I know that I didn't need to know. People will say things on Facebook and the internet in general (including forums like this one) that they would never consider saying in person.
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
I like Facebook. I keep in touch with people I know from all over the world, and I post pictures there quite a bit. I hate the ads, but I've learned to scroll right past them :)
 
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