Facebook, who belongs and why

We are always asking questions, who does this? Have you done that? Etc. John (West of) Ajijic is always asking good questions

What I find is that when many of us come down lakeside on a permanent basis, that most of us sort of freeze and don't advance techie wise. In fact, many of my friends get confused if I ask them if they tweet, or have a Facebook account. Most of those who have been lakeside a few years, answer, hell no. VoIP? Never heard of it, streaming video, no etc..

Until last Sep. I gave tech support at a local fixed WiFi ISP, and the boss's kids then about 11 and 15, a couple of years ago, shamed me into joining Facebook (something that I swore I would never join). No I don't post much on Facebook and spend about 2% of my time when on the computer on Facebook reading what my old friends and many younger relatives post. But gosh, once I joined, all of a sudden, my lost distant relatives and younger friends from the past, sometimes from more than 20 years ago, have found me on Facebook and we are catching up on lost time. These are friends who I knew very well 20 years ago, friends that I had forgotten about, friends and distant relatives that I never thought I would ever run across again.

Interestingly, the oldest person I know who is on Facebook, is a cousin who is closing in on 70, the younger generation and their children (our grandchildren) are all on it (you are supposed to be at least 13 to join). Many joined when they reached 10 or 11.

And what is really strange is that my Dad who died in 1981 and Mom who left us in 2000 all have active Facebook accounts. Sadly I don't have the option to ask them to "Friend me". I guess an employee of Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) opened their Facebook accounts which my younger relatives and I find very cool.

Question: Do you or do you not have a Facebook account? And I bet the answer will be based upon your age when you arrived permanently in Mexico. For example, John I would guess that you never tweet and that you don't have a Facebook account.

I'm looking forward to your comments

Not a FB member; I'm 56 y/o. Don't consider myself a Luddite. Don't like FB's policies on privacy and its narcissistic bent.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/mar/17/facebook-dark-side-study-aggressive-narcissism?CMP=twt_gu

I'm a FB member and use it to keep in touch with long-ago friends (elementary school and, in one case, pre-school!, old co-workers and family. I find it's a great way to share pictures. I have a Twitter account, but don't Tweet - never was able to "get" it. I consider myself pretty tech saavy, especially in my profession, which isn't known for being progressive technologically! (BTW, I'll be 49 in a few weeks.)

I am not living Lakeside yet, but we are building a home and hope to move down in ~4 years.

I have facebook to keep in contact with friends from back home, classmates since I have a reunion this year.

I have a Facebook account.

We lived overseas for several years and made friends that are now scattered all over the world. It has been absolutely fantastic for keeping up with all of them--not to mention my family, who are all in the west and we live in the east of Canada. My 89-year-old mother just recently got her own page.

A side benefit was reconnecting with old high school, university and army buddies from the stone age (I'm 65).

I do NOT tweet. Someone said that Facebook is narcissistic. If so, then I shudder to think what Twitter is!

Bob

Binky got it right. Just don't put anything out there you don't want others to
know about. You might have to show your face book account to get a job
etc etc and yes I know that it is illigal to ask someone to do that but employers
do. Everything you put out there is public infomation and doesn't belong to
you anymore in effect. You might still own the content but Facebook controls
it forever more or less.

Z

I have a FB account. It is my main source of staying in contact with friends and family. More so now that we live far away. I find it is the simplest way to post some news or a picture and have everyone see it. I also use the FB video chat function however we tend to use Skype more for that.

I was a victim of a crime that unfolded over a course of 6 weeks about a year ago in the U.S. I knew that a crime was being committed but I didn't have enough evidence to go after the persons responsible. Eventually this person contacted me through facebook and through facebook I gathered the evidence I needed to get the police interested , make arrests and prosecute the crime. At the time I didn't even know if the facebook records would be considered evidence by the police but I didn't have anything else at the time.
Two suspects were picked up immediately and a few hours after I filed my report a total of five people had been arrested. More evidence came out, they all made plea bargains and were sentenced, three are still in jail over a year later. This isn't your average facebook story but it isn't unique either.

last week a mentally ill Brittish woman got lost in Ajijic and was missing for over 24 hours. Word got out through her friends, this web board and other social networking media. Eventually the information landed on the facebook page of someone who had seen this confused, lost person a few hours earlier in the day and she was rescued minutes later.

I have some friends who have passed away and I continue to visit their facebook pages. On every single one, the friends and family are still posting and talking to their lost parent , child, or friend. The memories left behind on a facebook page can be a great reminder of who someone was. What I wouldn't give if my own grandparents and great grandparents had facebook pages! I mean WOW, that would be amazing for me.

I use facebook for the same reasons as everyone else. My pictures will never be lost or ruined and I keep in touch with people that I wouldn't otherwise be able to be much involved with. I don't consider it narcissistic, people are interested in me and my life and I am interested in them and theirs.

Wow Ms.Thang, thanks for that enlightening post.

Candace insisted I sign up with Facebook a few years ago so I could keep up with family. I finally did and though I won't admit it, enjoy checking in on family and friends. While I've always been suspicious of technology and social diseases I'll give it a big plus. I think I'm 65, past worrying about social anything and if the government has a file on me it's listed under: zzzzzz

My nephew told me about it in late 2005 and it was by invite only. He sent me an invite in 2006. Didn't think much of it because there weren't many friends to find. Eventually made more and more connections but never found really old friends. I've hidden just about everything that pops up on the main page and only check in a few times a week. It was fun for awhile

I too have a FB account and have had for the last several years. I use it for all the same reasons as everyone else. I've lived in many different places over the years and am thrilled to be able to keep up with friends and their lives in all those places. I even had a FB birthday party one year, so much fun. I do try to keep abreast of the privacy issues and act accordingly.

I think Ms. Thang's response is one of the best reasons to have access to FB and other social networking devices.

During the recent violence here a page put up by local young people had all the news up to the minute. FB and Twitter are the new communication tools for the people since corporate media in so many countries is corrupt, slanted, bought, controlled, and sensational.

I don't tweet but I have an account so I can read instantaneous reports when there is violence or other news happening in the area.

With family all over the globe I find it a great way to see what's going on.
I've also reconected with lost friends. Pretty cool methinks, just be carefull what you post.

I find FB to be a good way to follow the lives of my grandchildren up in Chicago, one of my best friends in Panama, and a few other friends scattered around the States. I'm mostly a follower and don't post but a few times a month, but I enjoy being able to see how my friends and family are doing.
My wife doesn't want anything to do with FB and that's fine with me, although when something interesting is posted and I show it to her she thinks it's pretty cool.
I can understand people wanting to avoid it out of privacy concerns, but I doubt if there's much that I've put out there that is going to have an impact on my remaining years.
To each his own.

I'm on Facebook but you have to remember to set your privacy settings appropriately or however is right for you. I really enjoy the games on Facebook & it's fun to find old pals, in my case my best friend from when I was 12. I have a lot of fun there. I don't tweet but never say never.

That's some story, Ms Thang.

I also need to add that I don't have more than a basic cell phone that can't even take pictures because I don't care to pay for it & no longer travel as much as I used to so I'm not interested in I-phones, etc. but to each his own.

I'm 80, but still young enough to enjoy Facebook and be an active participant. I've reconnected with friends from past lives, some more than 40 years past. I've also made many new friends online.

Good topic, Pete.

I just do what my kids tell me to do. Originally, MSN Messenger was where they met all the time. Then that disappeared when they discovered Facebook. If I want to keep in touch, I go to Facebook. NOW, everyone has iPhones, and I was gifted a Touch so I could use iMessage and FaceTime to keep in touch. (FaceTime allows for video chats for free, anywhere in the world, and it works better than Skype.)

Couple of years from now, it'll be "retina-enabled video" or something. And I'll be counting on my grandkids to keep me up to date.

I'm 75 years old. I've been FBing for probably the last 5 or 6 years. I check it out every morning to see what my far flung friends are doing and then get along with my day.

uj

It's so cool that many of my peers (Spelling?) are using Facebook. Most of the folks I run across lakeside, look at me like I'm crazy when I ask if they use Facebook or twitter. And some of them then lecture me about how I am wasting my time using these products.

Oh well, they don't know that they are missing. It's like those who come to Mexico and never try to learn Spanish. (That was an evil comment)

Say I at the Houston Airport drinking free rum and diet coke.

Pete.....I hope the Facebook folks are paying you commissions....you deserve 'em.

Gringal. There are a lot of reasons not to like Facebook, and just like here, I don't read every post. Most of my friends from my generation give me a bad time because I kind of, sort of like it.

It's like using your real name here. You have to make sure what you post is not private. It's like what I learned on the memory, when talking on the phone, over the radio (not yet over the internet) usually no one will be listening, but always asume that they are. I've always followed that rule and so far ,FINGERS CROSSED, nothing has really gone wrong with me following that rule.

I am 55 and use facebook a lot to keep up with friends from all over the world. I never use my real name on line and do not use it on facebook. That takes care of the privacy issues for me and people who I want to find me know how. I have a very small group of friend on FB and they are all people who I dialogue with rather than just share games or mutual friends.
I find it a great fun way to keep up with a lot of people I care about and keep them updated on my adventures.

I was a reluctant joiner, convinced I wouldn't need or like it but I use it daily now. I also like getting news about local events, bands, restaurant info etc on my FB.

I would never use my real birthday, address, phone number etc on it because of the privacy sieve and I shudder when I see the amount of info some people share. But to each their own.

I use twitter to keep up with a favorite sports team during playoffs and when meeting up with people while travelling only.

We use Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter but were reluctant for many years. DrMike's colleagues and former patients keep in touch with him on Facebook with posts and PMs. I use Facebook and Twitter for the promotion of Latin American artists and musicians. Each form of media has its place and we determine the level of security.
Twitter and Pinterest have been the most productive for us as we developed a following of art collectors and musicians.

I use FB and have been here 14 years. I use it both to find friends from the past and share info with local friends.

I originally got mine in 2004 when they were only giving them to university students. It was required for a study abroad class I did in Berlin, Germany.

I've found people on there I thought were lost to me. Some I am extremely happy to have found (I moved around a lot when I was a kid) and some, I quickly go and block.

I keep it to keep in touch with my friends and family.