Facebook and Twitter........must haves?

[CeeJay]

I suppose I am typical of he of a certain age who finds it necessary to drag oneself into the present century. I use the computer quite a lot, I have a tablet and I even have a smartphone, although I find it very difficult to read the numbers and letters hence it is switched off most of the time and I certainly don't have a 3G contract!!

However, its seems that there is pressure to get even further into the modern era by being harangued by No.1 son to get a Twitter and Facebook account.

I even had to look at a BBC web site to see what these sites actually do, and there lays the problem. I can see no positive benefit of either apart from spending even more time in front of a screen getting messages from people who you thought had died years ago, or by reading what Stephen Fry had for breakfast!

Am I missing something here or are they really the must have sites that will revolutionise my old age?

[Chancer]

I have only ever seen négatives regarding the current obsession with sharing your most intimate détails with the world and going public with every unconsidered thought.

They are definitely not for me.

To be fair I have not looked for the benefits and unusually for me I am unwilling to even listen to others extolling their virtues, rather like Smartphones.

[nectarine]

hmm, I'm a fan of Facebook, great for sharing photos, updates with people, keeping in touch. Yes of course you could phone, but I think it's the photo aspect of Facebook which is best.

I just don't get Twitter though ...

[idun]

I have never been much of a photo taker and regret that sometimes I didn't take just a few more, not many, but a few more in the past, but I didn't c'est tout.

OK modern cameras are handy occasionally, but really, do people need to take so many photos and share them? Is any one really that interested.... anyone remember the dreaded holiday slides in days of yore when someone could bore you near to death, with all the explanations you were not interested in anyway.

Take it that these things are not for me. I am not bothered enough about my own photos to want to see those of others, unless, because there always is an 'unless', they are of something that really interests me. ie someone has a proper nuclear fallout shelter, love to see photos of it.....not your house/home, just that. I know, I'm a bit odd!

And just a thought, there was a moment of magic with paper photos, they were precious really. Taken and then the wait, and in my case having forgotten to get them developed, eventually when I did,  it would be like opening a lucky bag when I was a kid when we got them back from the chemists, as we were never quite sure what we were going to get.

Ceejay, I'm with you. No interest and shall never understand why people need to be constantly 'in touch' these days and know all one's business and worse still share iffy photos.

I'd feel like I was being stalked if anyone close to me was in touch hour by hour. I'm an independent lady, and I NEED my space.

[NormanH]

Facebook or FB lacks the initial I

It should read FBI, since that is who is most interested in recording all these details of people's private lives.

[Quillan]

Twitter, well I am sure everyone will be pleased to know I am hoovering today and painting my shutters. Can't really see the point of putting so much mundane stuff on the Internet to be honest.

Facebook - I think I had an account once but never worked out how to use it so don't bother.

The Cloud - Seems logical, put all your data into the cloud and it is safe from getting lost and you can get to it from anywhere. The Cloud is something that causes me great concern because I do not consider it secure. All of them have been hacked including Google, Apple (latest 'nude celebs' scandal) and even Amazon where millions keep their 'paid for' Kindle books.

Photobucket - This I use just for the forum to be able to put photos in a post if I need to and thats it. I don't store masses of photos other than at home.

However I like to take responsibility for my own data security and if you do a bit of Googling it is clear that many people have had their security hacked. Indeed I have had 'spam' emails from people in the past offering to send me a file with hundreds and thousands of email addresses with passwords that have been 'verified'. At least if I lose any data it is my fault and my problem.

The problem with tablets, be they Apple or Android, is you are 'forced' into opening some form of social network account and join a 'cloud'. Android 'forces' you to have Google +. Windows wants you to use their cloud storage,'Sky Cloud' I think it is called. They 'force' you by keep sending you messages to join so you do just to rid of the messages. That said you don't actually have to use it i.e. put any data into it.

I guess even though I come from an IT background I am a bit of a luddite. Why text when I can phone and as we get free phone calls it costs me nothing. If I want to send somebody a photo I can email it.

[Quillan]

[quote user="NormanH"]Facebook or FB lacks the initial I
It should read FBI, since that is who is most interested in recording all these details of people's private lives.
[/quote]

Apart from them most companies these days do not bother to take referances themselves when you apply for a job they use a third party to find out all about you. The first source they 'visit' are these social networks and photo storage websites. Something you put up that was 'funny' like the photo of you 'mooning' years ago in your mis-spent youthcan come back to haunt you as could a few coments you might have made in the past.

[NormanH]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/16/-sp-revealed-whisper-app-tracking-users

[Quillan]

There is some 'black' software you can use that stops all this sort of thing Norman and not even the NSA or GCHQ can read your date etc. t is a little complicated to set up and the person at the other end needs to have it as well and to be honest for 99.9% of us we can't be a*sed and anyway the easiest thing is not to use these social media sites if you really value your security and then you can't go wrong really.

If you're interested in a rough dea of who uses what then the link below is a survey carried out in the US back in 2013.

http://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-in-2013-user-demographics-for-twitter-facebook-pinterest-and-instagram

Of course it is not 100% accurate but it does show some interesting information on age and sex.

[AnOther]

I concur with the majority, I have no desire to share my daily movements (a deliberately chosen word) either with my kids (only family I have) or the very few people I really class as friends, I can use email and Skype for that but in fact I'm more likely to phone them just to chew the fat.

I do tend to use Whatsapp to keep in touch with my son but that's about it.

[Théière]

Glad I'm not the only one, I must have this or that I am told but email works for pictures the phone works for conversations including skype which works in Mc d's.  I get requests to join this or that or sign to this petition via the very limited social network I have but it's not going to happen because I do not know the facts before signing which makes me wary of these cyber lynch mobs which spring up.

Also most of these social networks raid your email address lists and fire off emails or tweets or whatever inviting people to contact you and in a lot of cases i wouldn't wish that, if I did I would have made regular contact in the first place. 

[Chancer]

Just had a good laugh [:)]

At the end of my call to the Deposit Protection Service (UK tenants damages deposit) they said they were carrying out a Survey, - "which of the following social media sites do you use for your business, personal life etc, Fessbook, Twatter ........................"

He was reeeling off a long list so I interrupted and said "I will never use any social media as long as I draw breath, does that answer your question?" [:D]

And to save you the time of pointing it out I am aware that this site could be considered a social media [;-)]

[Théière]

Yeh like I'm off to brush me teeth [:D]

[EmilyA]

Have just seen a sign in Leroy Merlin that says "Je twitte".

How utterly illiterate; are there no standards anymore?

Surely everyone knows that the verb form is "tweet" and "twitter" is the noun.

Obviously it should be je tweete, nous tweetons.

What is the world coming to?

And yes, I use both.

[Frederick]

My UK village has a facebook page .. I thought it was a good idea ...at first ...as it put on what was happening in the village hall which was handy to know .

Then the ladies took over and IMO became very nasty indeed with each other and they did not hold back on what they said about local businesses ... Not just comments on if they did a good job or not but things like a hairdresser being "pervy " and generally slagging off people ... Putting on photos of peoples cars parked near the school and comments on how they parked it.. plus what they think of them !

I don't look at it now ' What could have been a good idea ...ruined we can do without Facebook .

[Quillan]

[quote user="Frederick"]My UK village has a facebook page .. I thought it was a good idea ...at first ...as it put on what was happening in the village hall which was handy to know . Then the ladies took over and IMO became very nasty indeed with each other and they did not hold back on what they said about local businesses ... Not just comments on if they did a good job or not but things like a hairdresser being "pervy " and generally slagging off people ... I don't look at it now ' What could have been a good idea ...ruined we can do without Facebook .[/quote]

Apart from being a bit child like it is not so bad for adults, water off a ducks back and all that. What also worries me about it's use is that those that run these social networks have little or no control over them or simply refuse to control them. How many times have we read about 'cyber bullying' and indeed some children even commiting sucide which can all be linked back to these sites. Like politicians the owners say they incourage people to be responcible yet refuse to police and take action against those that commit 'offences' or remove abusive posts.

[Rob Roy]

I'm a Facebook user, having resisted it for years and I have to admit I find it useful for sharing photos and keeping in touch with extended family more easily. It has also helped me reconnect with some friends I had lost contact with since moving to France.

Twitter I have no interest in and have never used - I don't even use a mobile phone.