<p>I joined it last year when my h.s. class was calling to get me to go to 40th reunion. I had literally not seen any of these people since the day we walked off the football field 40 yr ago.</p>
<p>I was able to connect with a bunch of them – all that old crap about cheerleaders & stuff is forgotten now–</p>
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<li>and I also have used it to find cousins I never even knew I had! That part is the best! It’s great for seeing photos of friends and cousins’ kids, graduations, etc.<br></li>
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<p>This summer DH & I planned and carried off a surprise birthday party for my FIL, and one of the guests was a 2nd cousin of my H whom I found through Ancestry.com (not fb). We also had a “ladies lunch” the next day, and a group of second cousins decided to make a fb group, family access only, for posting the really old photos, etc. (Great grands)-- Which we have been doing. </p>
<p>I have another cousin, on my side, whom I regained contact with through fb. He spends all day posting political stuff and every so often I comment and rag him about something contradictory. But we are still cousins & care for each other, even though we had not seen each other in many years. </p>
<p>So, yeah, fb is for grownups, and I can see it or the next incarnations of it coming in incredibly handy for the baby boomers when we become housebound & disabled. It gives people back their social connections, if they can’t drive. </p>
<p>I don’t play any of the games, though, or “like” much besides Bruce Springsteen and the colleges to which my D has been accepted.</p>
<p>That Time’s article struck me as somewhat silly. My husband was deployed a lot when he was in the Marine Corps. The idea that FB would be a threat to our marriage after all we have been through is ridiculous.</p>
<p>I have been able to reconnect with friends that I haven’t seen in a long time and lost track of.</p>
<p>Stay in touch with friends who aren’t talkers on the phone - I can see what they are doing, have a quick chat message, see how their kids are growing on my own time.</p>
<p>Stay in touch with family members that aren’t geographically close.</p>
<p>See photos of my college kids and their travels without having to clog up email box.</p>
<p>I’ve avoided this thread for days because it had Facebook in the name. I’m just not interested. I can appreciate why some like it and I see the positives. Just not interested.</p>
<p>Facebook is what our future wave of technology, communications and social networking are going to be. Might as well get used to it. This is only the beginning.</p>
<p>m&s- actually, I see it as flavor of the month. Ok, maybe flavor of the decade. Just the “it girl” until the next innovation. I really think the next level will ensure better privacy and deeper conections to our friends’ lives than a like button affords. I think this graffiti stage (scrawl what you will) will be replaced. We’ll see.</p>
<p>I found my extended family on facebook. Really!!</p>
<p>My mother had two brothers and two sisters. One brother and she were estranged since 1973. Her sister lived out west - New Mexico and had a bunch of kids I had never met.
My mother died two years ago and my cousin read her obituary and searched for me on facebook. He found me and it was so nice to have a connection to cousins and talk about our family history.
My aunt (his mother) and uncle died within two weeks of each other. My cousin searched and found my uncle’s daughter on facebook and she discovered a family she never knew existed. Kinda sad - huh?</p>
<p>We have been sharing old photos and comparing old stories about our parents and grandparents. Such fun!
Incidentally, these three siblings all died of the same illness, same time of year and very close to the same age.</p>
<p>I have been on facebook for a couple of years - my kids rebelled but they are very used to me. Some of their friends have friended me.
I actually like getting my ‘news’. I ‘like’ a lot of websites - The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, The weather channel etc. When I get home from work, I just scroll down the page and it’s all there.</p>
<p>My kids antics keep me in stitches. My daughter and her roommate are currently posting haiku’s on each others walls!</p>
<p>I’ve been on FB for about 2 years and love it. The best thing about it was that I reconnected with old HS and college friends that I hadn’t been in touch with for over 20 years. In fact, some old college friends and I had a IRL (in real life) reunion weekend last fall. It was wonderful!<br>
I also like that I keep in touch with nieces and nephews that live far away. Of course, my own kids won’t friend me :-p But that’s OK…maybe someday!</p>
<p>Call it what you will, FB is here to stay. I find the people who complain about FB privacy, dont understand FB. You have complete control over your personal information.</p>
<p>^^ So what? Don’t check in or do product likes. There is no real expectation of privacy anymore. The good in facebook very much outweighs any bad.</p>
Exactly. So let’s not kid ourselves about “complete control”. FB has a ton of info about you, and they decide how to use it.
I agree that FB is here to stay, and that there are benefits in participating - I have an account too, and so does my dog. But let’s not kid ourselves about who has total control.</p>
<p>Like I said, you have complete control. Checkins are public acknowledgements of your whereabouts so that mother can connect with you there. Like brings your info into an area that you may not know any of the other 3000 people who LIKE the same thing. You have to know What you are doing. Dont Check-in and dont like.</p>
<p>That article is meaningless. There will be hackers in all areas of the internet, not just FB. I stand by what l stated. You have to know what you are doing.</p>