John Scalzi Speaks For Me

[filkertom]

On the subject of Facebook.

Comments

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I've been writing html since 1998.
Facebook is where I go to keep up with people who can't be arsed to get an LJ account or a blog.

[jenrose]

This. Exactly.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I went further, tried it once, hated it, and haven't gone back. Yes, like Scalzi, that makes it possible for them to still count me as a member, if it makes them happier to do so (which doubtless it does, as their memebership numbers are their most effective way to get more membership numbers). But anyone who tries to contact me through it will be disappointed, because I don't go check. I don't even know how, nor wish to learn.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Steve Pavlina (http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2011/01/leaving-facebook/) about why Facebook isn't good for famous people who value their time.

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

I actually like Facebook for playing Scrabble and keeping up with some of my friends; a number of them post interesting links to things, and it gives me an easy way to share interesting links myself (as well as little bits from my life). For the longer stuff, there's LiveJournal. That's the way I roll.

[delazan.livejournal.com]

I was on FB at least 3X a day trying to keep up with everything on there, and I wasn't even playing any games. Then one night the husband said to me, "Next time you complain about not having your novel written, I'm going to remind you about how much time you waste on FB." I logged off, and have only been on to collect special messages friends have sent me (once or twice) ever since.

I now have over 22,000 words done on that novel.
-L.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

My life to date includes a panorama of friends from high school, college, family who have moved to the ends of the earth, a few long-term Usenet discussion groups, fandom, and many, many summer camps, summer stock theaters, internships, and other situations where I was someplace for two to four months and hit it off with a couple of people who would have become good friends except that when the show was over we never saw each other again.

To me, it's valuable beyond belief that nine out of every ten people I've ever regretted losing touch with are on FaceBook and I can keep up with them, and never mind that almost everything I post is a joke or a link to some goofy article or political outrage. Or that, whenever I log on, I'm made aware that I have over 700 FB pals, and they *all* ate something for dinner.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

"like"

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

What does something taste like?

[birder2.livejournal.com]

I just signed up for facebook--have not yes used it, so I can't speak to its usefulness/time-wasting ratio. Signed up because there are a couple of things I apparently can't get to any other way--or at least not easily.

[jovan-scorn.livejournal.com]

I've never bothered to use it. Never want to. The only thing that bothers me is that someone else might try to impersonate me but I figure the only people who would do that I a)haven't spoken a word to in over two decades and b) have no current photos, no accurate information about me and probably can't even spell my name right.

[wingus.livejournal.com]

Eh, I use it now and then. Can't wait for Diaspora to start up for the general public so I can drop FB like a bad habit.

[natasiakith]

I hadn't heard of Diaspora. After a quick look-up, now I'll be waiting for it. thanks!

[wingus.livejournal.com]

No problem! It'll be like Facebook, but made by people who know what they're doing. :B

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Facebook and LJ (and for that matter, Yahoo Groups and Twitter) are different tools which all serve different purposes. As a long-time aficionado of "the tool for the job", this doesn't bother me. FB wants to pretend it's an all-purpose tool, but most of its pieces are broken. I happily use the ones that aren't (such as the ability to invite most of my friends to a party in one central location, and the ability to keep in loose contact with a bunch of people I used to know) and don't worry about the rest.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

I have to agree. I remember when having my own website, written in HTML, was enough to get me a job. It was even a note on my resume as proof I knew HTML. Then came along the geocities, myspace, facebook, etc where anyone with 10 minutes can have a fancy web page. I don't look down on those who use it though. I know that it's popular because it's easy and anyone can do it. And since it's popular it is a resource business.

But like so many other things on the internet, it will be replaced by something better. It's just a question of when.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

It's a huge time sink, but I like the immediacy. My friends consist mostly of 3 communities - filkers, ukulele players and folk musicians. There are a lot of filkers, for example, who are either not on LJ or whose LJ IDs I haven't decoded yet, who I hear from on Facebook. There is a new FB filker community that kind of reminds me of RMF on crack. The main reason I'm staying on FB, however, is it keeps me in touch with the worldwide ukulele community. I hear about videos, CDs, festivals, new uke makers, and so on. As a result of a FB contact, I bought a ukulele made out of an oilcan from someone in France. And BTW, my response to Mr. Scalzi's blog is #124, from "Flipper."

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

I like FB much of the time, it infuriates me at others. It depends on what I want to get out of it. Once I blocked the postings of all the games, horoscope-of-the-day apps and such trash, it's turned out to be a decent way to keep up with friends I don't see very often.

It's certainly not a place for in depth conversation, but it's fine for casual public conversations. The email client sucks, but then I don't use it for more than the occasional private message.

I like that it's become a place where I can follow NPR stories which I rarely have time to listen to anymore. I've gone from listening almost every morning and evening on my commute to rarely tuning in at all due to time constraints, so the fact that I can skim stories on my phone via FB is handy. Yes, I could just go to NPR's site directly with my phone, but I'm more likely to see the story on the FB feed these days.

People get so worked up over this-vs-that. LJ vs FB. Mac vs PC. Android vs iPhone. iTunes vs WMP. [insert book/movie/music/play] vs [insert book/movie/music/play]. I'm not sure why people get so incensed about the place. It's place to casually chat with my friends and keep up with what others are doing, nothing more. If I want more than that I'll post on LJ.