Facebook

I use it quite a bit, I like being able to see photographs of my children and my friends. I like how I can keep up with people's lives and how it reminds me of birthdays.

My dislikes are atrocious English and people linking to sites that promote hatred, be it racial, homophobic or religious.

I've jsut had a cull and got rid of 20% of my 'friends'

I've only got 23 "friends" as I only use Facebook for sharing family photos and news with family who are living in other countries

Meant to add that I ignore friend requests from everyone else [antisocial emoticon]

Use it to share photos with close family ....some of whom are abroad. Its also useful to 'keep and eye' on grown daughters without the need to phone up and check they are ok (they do hate me doing the old 'worry wart').
I do however, find the 'look at what I'm doing' syndrome a bit of a bore.....you know when someone posts that they at a railway station or having a meal somewhere....but I guess that's just me being a bit old fashioned.

Exactly the same for me, HildaW

In fact my MiL is the worst offender. She is wandering around the States at the moment and expects us to 'like' every meal she has, along with all the museums, vineyards etc. But even when she is back here she is just the same.

I use it to stay in touch with friends and family who are scattered all over the UK, in the hope that at least I will recognise them when I next see them! But currently I mostly stalk my son at Uni to check that he is still alive, and my daughter regularly posts photos of my GCs so that I can see how they are changing. There used to be an option to only show those posts that are 'important', ie only written ones and not photos of cats that can't spell and dogs that have gone missing and I am so glad that I applied it before Facebook got rid of it recently.

I would really miss it if it didn't exist, it's a wonderful way of keeping in touch and communicating at a time that suits you, in the same way that this board does. It's no different really. Just more photos and adverts and with people you have met in the real world. I wish more of my older relatives would use it, it would make life so much easier. Yes, people misuse it, but few of us are likely to come into contact with them.

I agree with all of the above and use it just as the other posters do. Also, my children have more contact with the wider family (aunts and uncles, cousins etc) than they would otherwise! I also use it to play games in a very relaxed way with family members. I ignore most friend requests.

I too wish other family members of my generation used it as keeping in touch is easier on an ad hoc basis.

I use it for family and a selected few friends.

I use it to keep up with cousins and family who live many miles away, and like janerowena to stalk my son at University, they just dont keep in touch! I too get a little tired of the 'click and share if you love your children' type of things, but overall find it a great way of keeping in touch. Friends have used it as a means of updating news on a sick family member's progress, which is great; saves that dilemma of not wishing to intrude with phone calls from lots of people, and as a way of letting them know you are thinking of them. One friend was grateful as she said after a harrowing day at the hospital the last thing you want is fielding calls from concerned friends and family. We can still send cards as well of course, but overall Facebook, if used as you want it, is a great thing. On a grander scale, it is due to Twitter and Facebook that we get to know about things from countries that are closed to us, events such as the atrocious events in Sudan, Nigeria etc.

I use it all the time, but, i do not like the way it shows so many adverts now, also i do not need to see every post which my friends, friends send. As an Xpat in a very transient community it is a great way to keep in touch with all those who move around. A friend was US Ambassador to Mongolia recently and his photographs were amazing.
Unfortunately it decided yesterday that my X BIL was now a friend, couldn't stand the spoilt brat when he was young and the thought of being his friend in any way makes me shudder. He has 4 children by different Mothers, very clever but does basic income job so he doesn't have to pay child support,,,, sorry going on a rant.
As i have the rest of my X's family on FB including X I assume FB thought I wanted him too, yuck.

I like FB. Let's me keep in touch with ex-colleagues since I retired.

You can block him, Felice!

Oh and the other thing I dislike....and is the reason why I have put a stop on a couple of friends' idle posts.....is the habit some have of flagging up a cause such as animal cruelty or violence to women that has a pretty nasty picture with it. I am then assaulted by said unpleasant picture coupled with some trite comment. My instant reaction is that if I listed all the things I was not a fan of we'd be here all day. Unless you are actively supporting a cause, by raising money or doing something constructive it all seems a bit daft. I should hope no one I was friends with was pro animal cruelty anyway.

With family and friends all over the place, FaceBook is just great. Without actually writing letters,, etc, I keep up with family and their children, see them grow and the main events in their lives they want to share- same for some of the students I've had in the past who keep in touch. Again, as other posters, I've deliberately kept my list short.

I detest Facebook. I fully understand why some people love it for keeping in touch etc, so this is just a personal view. I used to be on it briefly but I saw so many things that upset me that I closed my account or whatever it is called. It made me feel, left out of my own family's circle. It made me question why I was being excluded and I started to feel that maybe I was an embarrassment to them or something. It was self preservation for me, what I can't see won't hurt me. It also made me feel that people weren't being honest with me. Sometimes someone would tell me something and then I would see something on Facebook that made me suspect that they weren't telling me the truth, or maybe the Facebook post wasn't true. I realise this makes me sound a bit pathetic and paranoid but it really got to me at the time. I am constantly surprised that people put pictures of their dinner on it or have to share their every action with the rest of the world, or brag about their life. As I said above though, I can see why people use it if they live a distance away from loved ones. Yes I am a grumpy old bat !

FB has allowed me to resume friendships with musicians I worked with forty years ago... one or two of the special interest groups are fun and useful, too.

Twitter, on the other hand, is a bore - I look in from time to time but almost never tweet anything myself.

@Felice: Adverts? What adverts? I wonder if AdBlock is stopping them showing up here... I didn't know there were any ads on FB.

jane, I have already unfriended him,,, also a few 'friends' who post gory photographs of animal suffering, i support a lot of 'good' causes of my own choice and don't need other peoples rammed down my throat.
The worst for me was when the news reported a young child being mauled to death in a park in Romania when out with his Grandfather, a 'friend' from my Church who is dog obsessed and some of her friends then started posting about the 'poor doggies',no sympathy for the child and family at all. I was seething and posted my thoughts, she then gave me a lecture saying i should have PM her if I did not like her and her friends postings, unfriend immediately. It can be a good and a bad tool, and should be used as that.

Feetle, we get ads here all the time, every second posting is for cars or Yoghurt.

Yes I am on facebook because I have family abroad, I see their photos and they can see mine.
If you get upset by what you read then probably facebook is not for you. People tend to post brief messages and straight to the point, suits me just fine.

harri, if i do not like what i read or see i delete the person from my FB friends, suits me fine too.

I'm running a campaign and Facebook is an excellent communication tool. I rarely use Facebook for personal contacts though

I have it, and friends use it, but I am not a great user myself. My grandson regularly 'tweets' his work ideas (part of his masters) and I get copies of these, I only wish I could understand what it is he is talking about. Great though.

I love FB it allows me to keep up with lots of family I hardly see and my newest grandsons pics and videos allow me to see him grow as I can't get out to see him much.

I use it every day but mostly to play Words with friends (a kind of scrabble) with friends I have about 30 games on the go at any one time - let me know if you fancy playing.

For serious stuff we have a page for neighbourhood watch, a recycling group and the Slimming Club. In the last couple of years I launched a community campaign to keep a local cinema open using facebook and that was a huge success.

I do quite like Facebook, and enjoy keeping up with the things that family and friends have been up to (though don't need to be informed if they have just hung the washing out, etc). What I HATE about it, though, are the awful, awful photographs of abused animals that pop up from goodness knows where. If I could stop these, I would love to know how. Just thought, though - I wonder if I could do it by 'unfollowing' - even if I wasn't following it in the first place? I try and scroll down quickly, but still see bits of these horrible posts.