to consider deleting my Facebook account?

[SpeedyGonzalez]

I loathe this:

FRIENDSHIP REQUEST: VAGUELY PERIPHERAL EX-SCHOOL ASSOCIATE WOULD LIKE TO BECOME FRIENDS WITH YOU. ACCEPT OR IGNORE?

MESSAGE: Speedyyyy! How you doing? SO glad I've found you on fb, I have such fond memories of you from school...yadda yadda yadda...

SPEEDY: Hey there, Vaguely Peripheral Ex-School Associate! How are you, how nice to hear from you! Well, I'm mum to 20 equally speedy mice and I live under a the floorboards of a Mexican restaurant, etc etc, how about you, did you become an astronaut like you always wanted?

Surely this is just rude?

Some people like fb,some don't, no need to be so rude about people that do

Posting on MN is not posting drivel then?

"And all the data is being spied on by marketing consultants desperate to learn what makes certain demographics/sub groups tick, so they can flog you more shit."

Now this I can believe. There has to be an ulterior motive somewhere for someone even if your account is apparently 'private'!

I have friends I see regularly. If I fancy communicating with them I pick up a...wait for it...a telephone. Or send a text to arrange meeting up in person aswell.

I use MN for general chit chat about nonsense, not FB! Also you don't get hassled on a forum like you do on a social networking site.

Change your settings so you are unsearchable.

Simple(s)

Coalition, was your post aimed at me? Are you always this stroppy?

Hissy's got the point of this thread. It's not the first time I've accepted such a request from a long-lost friend or acquaintance only to have them zone out as soon as I've clicked 'accept'. And lots of other people have told me they've had the same thing. So it appears to be de rigeur on FB. I find it bizarre.

At least I'm honest - I never search for people but if I accept their requests I always say that I rarely use fb but if they want to stay in touch they can use my email address. So there's no pretence about me wanting to get back in touch.

I also hate fb updates...I honestly don't know how grown adults with jobs and families manage to stay on top of fb, twitter, emails and phone calls, etc etc.

otchayaniye you are talking complete sense here.

Sg - I'm sorry, am I meant to give a fuck? like almost all problems people seem to have with Facebook, the problem here is people not Facebook.
Not using Facebook doesn't make you a better person. Nor does using it while vaguely disapproving.

So the answer to my question is 'yes'.

your life will be better for it Speedy!:)

go - speedy ...delete it NOW

its inane drivel,
i slagged it off at work - ended up most people admitted to having one it made sense..

I dont know what you are all getting your knickers in a twist about and being so high and mighty. You all are faaaaarrrr too mysterious and interesting to have a Facebook Account (said as if have bad smell under nose). Dont have one then. Job done.

Bitchy bitchy bitchy...ughh.

I love my Facebook account. Sometimes its a political update, sometimes its boring, sometimes it is a rant and sometimes it is just blank. I speak to friends that live a long way away from me almost a daily to weekly basis and it is great. If people find me boring then fine, jog on love. I have made some great mates via Facebook groups that I might have spoken to in RL because we have similar things in common.

Yes, there are things about it that irritate me (Farmville and Bejewelled updates) but I just hide them. There are things that irritate me about Mumnet too but Im not so touchy and appreciate that everyone is different and just move on.

not high and mighty morespam
i just dont fancy it and all
you can do all that keeping in touch skyping,emailing, phoning too letters also
each to hisown etc

I love Facebook as well. I love the seemingly random updates from friends and I've seen some wonderful youtube videos that I'd never have seen otherwise. It also helps me to keep in touch because I never do any other way. It's keeping in touch for lazy people and it suits me and my friends and family just fine

But if you don't like it or don't get it then deactivate your account. There's far more to life

What morespam said - better than I would've done too!

Aren't some of you stressed?!
You make me laugh!

Mind you, I think some of you are rather horrid and I wouldn't want you on my FB

well bradford mum you say it all really for me, thats exactly how i feel

plus i dont want the bovver of random persons whom i might have met at a bus stop in 1983 or sat next to in history class ..

take it or leave it, facebook, but it's weird that when you want to you still dont really get to delete the account, they still keep it open somehow

Love facebook. I use it as an easy way to keep in touch with friends and family who live miles away along with email and phone and in person - when we can. My friends list is limited to actual friends and family, not random people I went to school with.

To suggest that if you have a fb account you're some kind of banal idiot incapable of maintaining relationships via other means is a bit rich coming from anyone who posts under a pseudonym on a chat site.

You do realise MN is like a giant facebook with random people?

I find it means I keep in touch more regularly with long-distance friends - both of us are more likely to post briefly on the other's wall (a couple of minutes to post, it doesn't matter if they respond within seconds or days later) than telephone (assume half an hour for a chat, not to mention playing phone tag until you're both actually at liberty to natter).

Also, it keeps me posted as to what's going on with the music & social events I'm into. If I'm debating whether to bother with a gig I quite fancy, but it's hundreds of miles away, FB tells me who else is going & who might be up for a liftshare, say.

But yes, if it doesn't do it for you, just delete it. Don't know why it's such a big deal...

see, that's okay somehow ..

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558484075236968.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

You don't like it - delete it

You can't delete it though. Even that 14 day deactivate/then it vanishes thing doesn't work for many people. It appears to be arbitrary. That's what FB has told me in our correspondence on the matter.

I hate that facebook suckers people in, then monetises their data - data which includes what their children do, wear, visit. Deepest wishes, likes and dislikes, where you've been on holiday, how you respond to news events ad infinitum.

You are giving marketing people (I know someone who trawls FB for clients such as Nike
and Sainsbury's)

Privacy settings mean jack shit. You think you are protected, but you're not really.

You are giving marketing people (I know someone who trawls FB for clients such as Nike
and Sainsbury's) a leg up to target you and sell you stuff.

Soon, it is likely you will have to pay for certain things on FB. They have to monetise you not just for advertisers, but for access.

I treat even big name UK businesses "data protection" boxes with a pinch of salt - ie I tick to say "no don't pass my details on to 3rd parties"........but then am not convinced they won't pass it on to companies which they themselves are a part of.

Anything else - nah - lets face it every time you click on a link to an external website they can see where you've clicked through from.

If I didn't want people to have any detailsa bout me at all - I wouldn't post online simple really.

I have my privacy settings high, and use the padlock a LOT. But the people I don't want to find me/see me are extremely unlikely to ever their hands on any of these marketing profiles about me. - and if they did - well it would be a waste of their time- they already know my address and if they don't they can easily find it out given my role at church.

besides if Nike or Saisnbury have marketing information for me they'd probably decide not to bother anyhow, I'm sure any profile on me would show that I'm very unlikely to ever purchase from them

Now local business gleaning information from the Parish Magazine..........