To be genuinely confused at what some people use FB for?

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I love Facebook. I lets me keep in touch really easily with my family up north and in Canada, Australia and Hong Kong and I LOVE that. It can also be a great way or making arrangements etc etc.

But I just do NOT get some of the status updates I see. Today a friend has posted a photograph of an apple pie and there are 56 comments underneath it. 56. All saying 'yummy' or 'that looks nice' and 'lush'. I was assuming that it would be one of those conversations that merged into something completely different but no it was all about that pie. Why would a bunch of women in their 40s (or any age) do this?

Actually I know IABU as it's got bugger all to do with me I just can't be doing with these random photos of pies, shoes or glasses of wine that seem to appear all too often. I'll go now.....

ah ragwort, you don't know what you're missing

I was exaggerating for effect when I said "everyone"

and lol at ShirleyKnot

My friend has a friend...wait...and she posts stuff like "OMG My trousers are RIGHT UP MY FANNY! so uncomfortable :("

Brilliant. I totally want to be friends with someone like that.

I got a job via Facebook.

ooh thumbwitch beat me to it!

X just can't be arsed nemore :( :( :(

Cue about 10 messages going 'aww babez wats up hunni????????' then original poster comes back and says 'oh nothing, can't really say on here cos it's too private.' WELL WHY DID YOU POST IT IN THE FIRST PLACE THEN??? Grrrrr

Some of you just have dodgy mates

Ragwort, Most people have some sort of fb presence. very few dont.

I guess people are good/bad/indifferent at using Facebook as many people are at using the telephone, speaking to someone in person, writing a letter or sending an e-mail. It's just a tool.

I have 110 friends on facebook.
Of which, approx 50 are family. 40 are people I have worked with or work with now. 20 are people from mumsnet.

In relation to the picture of foods etc, I have a friend who has many Asian friends, and when you look at his pictures, there are about 90 pictures of "him" which are actually plates of food, which have been uploaded by his friends and he has been tagged in them.

the pictures of me are never actually pictures of me, I de-tag myself

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with Facebook - I've got interesting FB friends so my feed is mostly comprised of new music and videos I've not encountered before, articles I haven't read, debates on issues I haven't thought about, as well as photos of events I'd love to have been at etc. etc. The problem is with the quality of your friends, I'm afraid!

Your feed is only as good as your friends, essentially. I love FB as I work in an occasionally very solitary occupation (there are days on end where I might not speak to anyone except the person I buy a coffee from) and I have family and friends many miles away. It's like my own personal water-cooler.

The thing is people do say boring things in real life, in fact I find a lot less boring small details about work are posted on facebook than I am likely to hear from friends.

Most of us 'know' a horrid, boring, colleague of a best mate and have probably sat through stories about friends days at work. I don't see it as any different. It's just small talk!

I am really into food so always happy to salivate over a delicious looking apple pie wether it's on facebook or not.

Don't people in real life say boring things too, at least on facebook you can choose not to 'listen' with being obvious by hiding peoples posts.

Nicely put Cotesdurhone

I too work from home and in my break I have a quick 'chat' and catch up on facebook. Good for my sanity.

There are about 3 of my friends who have become facebook bores - I have hidden them from my newsfeed because of this.

I don't wish to defriend them, because they have been friends for years and they aren't that boring in RL - plus it can be hurtful to be defriended for no reason and I certainly can't tell them that their inane drivel is driving me demented! So I just hide their posts.

I also like a good cake picture, I must say.

Thumbwitch is right, sometimes hiding their posts is the kindest thing you can do. My own personal bugbear is notifications about stupid games I will never be interested in, thank heavens for the little X on the right and the "Hide all posts by StupidGame" option.

oh yes, Cotes - I do that too. :)

yes that is the big one Cotes, game things but like you I hide them.

I also have 1 friend that posts continual pictures of her daughter who I have to say is not the most photogenic child . When I say continual, it ranges between 1 every 2 days to 10 or so in a day. I noticed that no-one ever comments on any of the pictures and I now have her hidden.

Facebook wouldn't work really though if people didn't post. Sometimes the most inane original posts lead on to the most entertaining threads. It is sometimes like saying, "Hello! Anyone want to play?"

What I find disturbing is the lurkers. I fully understand lurking on mumsnet but I loathe lurking on fb. The people are supposed to be your friends and it seems voyeuristic to me when they read your posts and talk about them to you the next time they see you, yet they didn't comment on the thread. Fine if they don't find it interesting but if they found it interesting enough to read it and comment to me when they saw me why didn't they join in? I find that a bit weird. It is like using but not giving - all take.

And yes - I too love a good cake picture. I post my cakes but more for the entertainment factor than the brag factor

im a little cross with facebook at the moment, i've been ill of late and i haven't put the details on facebook but a "friend" i have seen today has taken a sly dig about it, i know its aimed at me, so think i'm having a clear out of facebook tonight x

Sounds like reassuring normality to me :) Who wants to engage in competitions for the most impressive update anyway?

I use facebook to share photos of my DC with family and friends I don't see very often. I also use it as a virtual watercooler because I'm a SAHM in a rural area and sometimes I get desperate for some adult conversation (this is why I use mumsnet as well). The statuses where partners in the same room talk on facebook make me want to vomit but that's mostly jealousy because my DH doesn't do facebook so I don't get anyone proclaiming how much they love me all over my newsfeed. The cryptic statuses make me want to scream, especially after loads of "you ok?", "(((hugs)))", "what's wrong?" etc then they reply "I'll pm you hun" to ONE person and leave the rest of us hanging. I would defriend these people but it's like a soap with people I know in it

I quite like FB for a bit of a pick me up but some people I have to hide. One 'friend' has actually got a lot of really interesting things going on in his life (just got married to a girl we went to school with, has a baby daughter, promotions, etc) but I've had to hide his status updates because he seems to think he is 'The Rock' (the WWE wrestler)!!! Some of his recent gems include:
'TICK...............TOCK....................TICK.........TOCK' (wtf??!) and (on coming back from honeymoon) 'FINALLY.......... THE ROCK HAS COME BACK............................................ HOME!!!!!!'
Apart from this, he is actually a top guy, really nice & very interesting. Nothing like this in real life either. Some people are just weird on fb.

i use it to play scrabble,keep up with distant friends and with a couple of private groups of people with whom I have shared experiences.I dont talk about pie but if someone needed to...why not?

ElfOnTheTopShelf Just saw your food post!!! I have a friend a bit like that who started a diet a few weeks ago and for the first week kept posting pictures of every meal they were eating!! Thank God that ended quickly!

I recently ended relations with a new fella, he updated his status every half an hour sometimes,I found it a massive turn off,it seemed to emasculate him!