I'm starting to really dislike Facebook.

[vakkotaur]

And I don't even use the blasted thing!

That is perhaps why.

1. FaceBook tries too hard to get new users. When folks add an e-mail address to it, it sends out an invite. Maybe that can be shut off, but I've gotten a few invites now. It's annoying. I am sorely tempted to use the opt-out option they have though I don't know if that will be reflected to those attempting to contact me through FaceBook. Opt-OUT is preferred by spammers. Good folks use opt-IN. This speaks volumes about FaceBook.

2. Not just that, but the blurb goes on to say how wonderful FaceBook is, but you can only view things if you join. No public view, no checking things out first. Join up, damnit!

3. Then folks use FaceBook unthinkingly as a communications means, rather than a proper real e-mail account that works universally, and if you haven't joined the "gated community" (or prison - it's just a matter which side of the wall you consider the undesirables to be on) you only get a snippet of the actual message. You're expected to, guess what? Yep. Join up, damnit! Then you can read the full message... on FaceBook. Gad, even AOL at its miserable worst didn't sink to that level.

This screams to me that Facebook is unable to sell itself on actual merit. It's not, "Hey, have a look, we think you'll find it cool." It's, "Hey, you! You gotta come and do this." Well, no, I don't gotta. Even if FaceBook might actually be of some use, that puts them firmly on the fecal roster. They've made their first impression (and second impression, and third impression too), and it stinks.

Comments

[yakko.livejournal.com]

Wow... so it sucks from BOTH sides...

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

You've used it, or tried to?

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

I was tempted to sign up just to investigate how it works, but it seems a bit too low-IQ for me. Pictures instead of words mostly. Bleh.

[film2edit.livejournal.com]

I'm fine with the members only thing, but I don't want to be stalked.

[yakko.livejournal.com]

I tried to, but failed to understand what it was for. It's not quite like LJ. I suppose this "status" thing is there to effect some drama. There's a "wall" where people can write... if I had contacts to begin with...

Seeing how I didn't have any contacts to effectively use Facebook, I deleted my account, declaring the experiment to be over with. For one, the prospect of employers searching Facebook for me was sufficient motivation to leave.

This is the point at which the line from "Hotel California" started haunting me: You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

It took some special effort to get rid of the account. I think there's something like a 30-day period where if you login again, your account is automatically reactivated. I forgot about this and had special fun re-deleting my account, but it looks like I've waited long enough this time.

[mightyix.livejournal.com]

If you're getting spammed by Facebook, it's because your "friends" aren't unchecking the box next to, "Invite these Friends to Join Facebook" when they do an email search. The spammers are your "friends".

Facebook is NOT LJ, and serves a very different purpose. It's more of a quick networking tool as opposed to LJ's more blog-based nature. It doesn't lend itself to long posts (like this one), but rather to the 15 minute attention span theatre.

That makes it less time consuming to participate in, and lowers the standards for participation at the same time. It's a larger, more active, lower _quality_ of communications site, with a lot of superficial interaction.