Your relationship with social media

[Morrus]

The line IS blurry, but I think social media allows for more broadcasting and less control over who gets the initial info than do communications tech.

Depends on the media. Twitter is broadcasting. Facebook has tight privacy controls so you control exactly who sees any given item. G+ is similar, I think, though I find it a bit confusing.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But even with the potentially tight setting controls, Facebook can also be used to broadcast to the world. Can't really do that with a messaging app.

 

[Scott DeWar]

Part 1: I am mostly a hermit, as facebook is all and that is sporadic.

Part 2: I have but one, but I had made a joke account a long time ago named"the other guy" Or something like that.

 

[Umbran]

But even with the potentially tight setting controls, Facebook can also be used to broadcast to the world. Can't really do that with a messaging app.

I think it is even safe to say that broadcast (with perhaps some focus and filtering) is the intended use the designers had in mind. Facebook proper is not really designed for one-on-one conversation. They have a separate Messenger functionality for that purpose.

 

[Umbran]

I just brought that up as an indication of my hostility.

Being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, in other words?

I have found that adopting new technology and communication paths really annoys me... until I actually have a need for it. I don't early adopt just because a thing is new and shiny. I adopt because I need the darned thing.

 

[Scott DeWar]

Being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, in other words?

I have found that adopting new technology and communication paths really annoys me... until I actually have a need for it. I don't early adopt just because a thing is new and shiny. I adopt because I need the darned thing.

dittos this. If I say any more, it might be subject to scrutiny by the admins and I would get ban-hammered.

 

[Bullgrit]

I think participating on/with Facebook, et al. is more driven by having a personality for socializing than by having a personality for adopting technology.

For instance, I'm very non-social, generally, but I explore the Internet wide and deep. My wife is more social, but less steeped in the Internet as a whole. As I said earlier, I have extremely little to do with FB. My wife gets almost all her information (news, trends, etc.) through FB.

My wife knows all about the lives and goings on with our friends and families because of FB, and I know only what she tells me she saw on FB. But I know far more what's going on in the Internet world than she does. Every time she wants to show me a video or tell me a story she saw on FB, I already know it from my Internet usage. (She doesn't know what a meme is. She's seen some, she just didn't know it was a thing with a name.)

Generally, my wife is very web unsavvy, and I am the family web guru. She comes to me for help with any and all web sites, but she knows FB very well, and I know next to nothing about its workings. So it's not an interest in the Internet or technology that drives interest in social media. It's a drive to be social that people learn to love social media, not a desire to be in the latest application or Internet environment.

Bullgrit

 

[Janx]

I think participating on/with Facebook, et al. is more driven by having a personality for socializing than by having a personality for adopting technology.

For instance, I'm very non-social, generally, but I explore the Internet wide and deep. My wife is more social, but less steeped in the Internet as a whole. As I said earlier, I have extremely little to do with FB. My wife gets almost all her information (news, trends, etc.) through FB.

My wife knows all about the lives and goings on with our friends and families because of FB, and I know only what she tells me she saw on FB. But I know far more what's going on in the Internet world than she does. Every time she wants to show me a video or tell me a story she saw on FB, I already know it from my Internet usage. (She doesn't know what a meme is. She's seen some, she just didn't know it was a thing with a name.)

Generally, my wife is very web unsavvy, and I am the family web guru. She comes to me for help with any and all web sites, but she knows FB very well, and I know next to nothing about its workings. So it's not an interest in the Internet or technology that drives interest in social media. It's a drive to be social that people learn to love social media, not a desire to be in the latest application or Internet environment.

Bullgrit

I have similar patterns with FB and news. My wife doesn't watch/read the news. She sees stuff on FB, which by then, is old news.

I listen to NPR in the car and read news.google.com which keeps me reasonably up to date. The off topic forum usually fills in for "new movies/shows that are coming" for me as well.

Bear in mind, I have been on the internet since 1992. I predate the web (which came out of the closet in 93/94). I am a web app developer who's experience aligns directly to the public adoption of the web browser. So I'm not gunshy of this stuff.

I only use FB to connect to people I personally know. I seldom post any new stuff as that tends to give away if I am not home. I sometimes reply to other folks posts. I usually don't open any links to anything anybody re-posts. In fact I can't stand that aspect of FB, I wish it only allowed you to post a picture/video YOU took.

On the internet, I never click a link to watch a video. I can't stand the news sites that do that from google news. I want to READ an article. I only go to YouTube to google up how to do a physical process (like open up a playstation) because there's not a written article on it. I hate videos for learning anything as I'd rather read and see stationary pictures that I can study.

I do all of my personal online stuff under a fake name. As I work in the tech industry (I have interviewed with the Bing team for instance), I expect my real name to be googled and I would prefer to keep my private interests private.

I only visit a few sites, I have the URLs in my head and am comfortable typing them every time I want to go there (ex. enworld.org, basicinstructions.net, gmail.com, news.google.com, dilbert.com, giantitp.com). This frees me from any dependency on favorites/links that I might lose (kind of like losing your cellphone means not knowing anybody's phone# nowadays). And yes, that is pretty much my list of sites I frequent.

I cannot stand the idea of Twitter. Gather followers and speaking to them from on high in 140 characters sounds like a cult of personality. As a non-famous person, I want to talk to my friends. That's it. Phones, email and FB meet that need.

I also hate texting or Instant Messenging. It's an interruption to my work when it beeps. I refuse to install FB's Messenger app for that reason. Communicating with me outside of the phone should be a Pull relationship, not Push. I choose when to Pull when I open my email app or FB. I do not want crap getting Pushed on me.

 

[Morrus]

I'm told that younger folks don't use Facebook any more, except for its excellent event organising/inviting functions. It stopped being the place to be when everybody's parents joined! It's apparently seen as for old people.

 

[Scott DeWar]

I'm told that younger folks don't use Facebook any more, except for its excellent event organising/inviting functions. It stopped being the place to be when everybody's parents joined! It's apparently seen as for old people.

Hey! I resemble that!