Sarah Pullman is very unhappy with Facebook’s privacy policy.
OK, I got a Facebook account last fall, at the urging of several people, who told me that I simply had to have one (though they could never actually explain why). I’ve yet to figure it out myself. I’ve gotten no discernible benefit from it (of course, I haven’t invested much time in it, either). Can anyone explain to me what the big deal is, and what I’m missing out on if I don’t have an account, or don’t use the one I have?
[Update late morning]
While we’re on the subject, here’s an article on which is better for business: Facebook or LinkedIn?
Facebook gives you a great opportunity to reconnect with people from your past and see how much better your life turned out than theirs 🙂
I started getting a bunch of spam from a headhunter wanting to find me a new job (as if), and since by the nature of their work, they have to provide a real email address, I replied and asked him to remove me from his mailng list. He did, until the next spam about a week later. Another email, somewaht more heated, and he removed me from his list again.
The third time I complained to him, he claimed that my LinkedIn profile said I was open to contacts of that sort. This was the first I heard about this LinkedIn BS, so I tried to access my linked-in account to shut it down- but I had no idea which of the innumerable Doug Jones entires was the culprit.
The saga ended when I sent a NASTY email to the LinkedIn admin address, demanding that THEY find the profile with my address on it and delete the damned thing. To my astonishment, they complied
Then a week later, a friend invited me to join her LinkedIn network. I had to politely decline… she didn’t really understand why.
I agree with Jerry Pournelle, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest” is a dangerously seductive thought. Kneecapping is too good for spammers.
I sort of use it to keep up with friends. In some ways it’s more natural (to me at least) than email, because they post pictures, links, etc that I can then comment on or vice versa, rather than long letters about what’s going on at the farm (or in my case ATLAS versus D0 or NSLS).
Some people put a lot more into it though. I find facebook more restrictive than myspace though. MySpace is closer to a blog, because you can post links, pictures, movies easier in the comments (or one’s myspace blog). But the restrictiveness of facebook guarantees it looks slicker. Most people’s myspace page looks like it was made by html defecating pidgeons.
Well, one of my questions is, if it’s to have an on-line presence, why would a blogger need another one?
“Most people’s myspace page looks like it was made by html defecating pidgeons.”
Hehe apt description, I’ve only seen a few but it held true for all of those (and that’s why I’ve only seen a few). Some of them even sound bad which is almost some kind of achievement ^_^
I receive more recruitment spam from people trawling the MAINTAINERS and copyright statements than from LinkedIn. Curiously, most of the reminder is from Microsoft, and for fairly goofy jobs too. This indeed suggests real spam: they do not even try to match any keywords. Since I haven’t changed the job since LinkedIn was founded, I cannot estimate how useful it actually is. It projects itself more stolid and respectable, but is it?
Reading teatrises on the proper LinkedIn use is revealing. Since they attempt to monetize the degree of separation, behaviours they foster are more bizzare than I imagined. For example, most suggest that connections should be done indiscriminately (unlike other social networking sites); the more the better. Only recommendations have value.
While we’re on the subject, here’s an article on which is better for business: Facebook or LinkedIn?
Wouldn’t the proper answer for most businesses be to block those social networking sites?