Facebook - good or bad?
 

With the controversy about the lack of privacy and people spending more time posting on each others walls than actually meeting up physically, what do you think of facebook (and social network sites in general?).

I have to admit I was surprised to read that people are becoming addicted to facebook to the extent that they've been calling in sick to work etc. Although the media always tends to exaggerate this kind of thing for the moral scare effect (example; a tabloid newspaper once claimed that spending to much time on facebook - on a pc - could vastly increase the likelihood of you getting cancer)

Good and bad aspects I guess. Only reason I keep mine is so I have an outlet where my 1,000 or so Facebook friends can be exposed to my music. I do enjoy keeping tabs on long lost friends or whatever, but it's just too much exposure I think. I'll see someone in public and know way too much about them without ever meeting them. Like I'll form an opinion on them without ever getting to know them, just from the things they have posted on Facebook. So i guess I have no definitive answer, it's helpful and can be a good time waster with all the games and stuff on there. But it also takes away from real socializing. I don't know.

Its good and bad.

Good, because its a really easy way to keep up with friends. When I switched schools, I was able to keep up with friends from my old school and friends from my new school (since most of them live a little further away and i cant see them very often).

Bad, because it also makes it very easy to get stalked and whatever. I suppose that's why they allow you to lock your page so only certain people can see it.

Those things happen? I suppose I avoid it by not having friends. All I get are farmville requests.

Good. I don't see anything bad about it. I like knowing things about people I barely know.

I would also have to say good and bad. It is a great way to network if you are looking for a job or if you have a band or trying to get your music out to the masses because loads of people use it.

The bad is because of the people that get addicted to it and are always on their phones when they go outside anywhere. I have a friend like that and I always have to punch him in his arm to close his phone and stop posting on facebook. They are trying to get a new law passed in NYC to fine people for using their phones while walking and trying to read texts/facebook and even calling on them. They are endangering themselves by talking on the phone and crossing the street.

facebook is totally bad. It's the work of Satan himself, I tell you. I mean, what the hell? If I want to post porno pictures of myself (which would be extremely hot, by the way), who are Facebook officials to prevent me from doing so? xD

You can't really blame Facebook as such, it's just sitting there on a server looking stupid, people misusing it or using it to the point of serious addiction have themselves to blame. It is a really good tool to use to keep in touch with friends as others have already pointed out but that's all i ever really use it for.

But i suppose the bad thing i see about it is that peoples lives are basically in your face constantly, some people use it as their bloody diary and you know about everything that they are doing, and everything you don't want to know they are doing. As regards privacy, well there are privacy settings to limit people viewing your profile and also to make sure that your profile can't be searched for on Google, but most people are just too stupid to bother with these so basically it's their own fault. Another serious privacy issue is people posting a link to their Facebook page on websites such as this, as i've seen in the Facebook thread. I wouldn't recommend anyone to do that, you'll end up becoming friends with some random creep (not saying that there's any here but you never know) and that person can view your personal details and basically view your life, again that's your own fault not Facebook's. My Facebook profile is like my inner circle, i don't mind becoming friends with random people on last.fm or whatever, but my Facebook is for friends and family and ONLY friends and family and only they can view it.

If people just took more care about their privacy and only use Facebook causally well then it would be a very good website to use.

I don't think that is too much of a problem all you have to do is choose not to accept the person that you don't want. so what if they see the link to your page? You don't have to automatically accept every single friend request you get.

I know that alright, but for people who have the habit of accepting every friend request they get even from people they have never heard of in their life in order to have as many friends as possible, they're the ones really at risk.