Is Facebook deteriorating?

[Randorama]

Facebook can be good for networking goals. I use it for some work-related things and it is ok. The program can be useful if used by someone who can use it.

So, for 0,5% it is an ok tool. For all the rest, it's a way to be abused by companies. Nothing new, film at 11.

[DEL]

So Facebook Timeline is soon to be mandatory, I think the 15th...
The timeline format gives a historical picture about you and in a clearer 'snapshot' way.
Anyone concerned about this (Spying on you etc.)

I am seriously thinking about OFF'ing it, but at the moment its a convenient way for me to communicate free with friends in the Muthaland.

My currently not live Timeline page reads as follows:
I'm Sikh. 17 years old like the Great Fighter 17. I'm 'its complicated' with Gina Carano. My interests (likes) are bombs, nuclear fission and TEC-9s. I moved to Darkovin in Iran in 2011 Overseeing construction of power plant with capacity of 360 MW with travelling companion Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. I visited the Fukushima Atomic Sushi Bar, Fallujah, Denver International Airport and other great places in the last 2 years. My email address is based on a ten year old twice moved London address and I'm not even in that Country at the moment.
I was born in Fort Lauderdale and live in Miami. I know Basque and I think that the National Rifle Association is Just Great.

[BPzeBanshee]

That timeline thing's becoming mandatory? Damn.

I'm not concerned about spying (it uses your pictures - if you don't want to reveal anything, don't use pictures of yourself/pick the least 'revealing' ones), but I don't find the format very friendly. Looking at people's Walls who have them enabled is actually irritating, and nothing like the straightforward interface like the classic one from the day of Facebook's creation.

[Acid King]

I'm not concerned about spying (it uses your pictures - if you don't want to reveal anything, don't use pictures of yourself/pick the least 'revealing' ones), but I don't find the format very friendly. Looking at people's Walls who have them enabled is actually irritating, and nothing like the straightforward interface like the classic one from the day of Facebook's creation.

Agreed. The reason I liked Facebook was the simplicity. Everyone's updates were right there, all you had to do was scroll down and you'd see everything your friends posted. It's just terrible now and getting worse. I hate how it picks and chooses whose posts show up in your feed, the rather random organization of it all and the shitty new features they keep forcing on users.

[ryu]

i'll never understand why people prefer facebook over simple instant messenging

[Ed Oscuro]

i'll never understand why people prefer facebook over simple instant messenging

Because it's always on, and everybody can see it.

I set up a Google+ account - sorta, it was already set up for me. I would much rather just not use Facebook, and Google+ is only marginally better in the privacy department I think.

[BPzeBanshee]

I'm not concerned about spying (it uses your pictures - if you don't want to reveal anything, don't use pictures of yourself/pick the least 'revealing' ones), but I don't find the format very friendly. Looking at people's Walls who have them enabled is actually irritating, and nothing like the straightforward interface like the classic one from the day of Facebook's creation.

Agreed. The reason I liked Facebook was the simplicity. Everyone's updates were right there, all you had to do was scroll down and you'd see everything your friends posted. It's just terrible now and getting worse. I hate how it picks and chooses whose posts show up in your feed, the rather random organization of it all and the shitty new features they keep forcing on users.

Clearly Zuckerberg himself isn't heading these otherwise this crap wouldn't happen. I thought the posts that show up are usually on the money but there are a few where it's like "WTF".

i'll never understand why people prefer facebook over simple instant messenging

Because it's always on, and everybody can see it.

Not many people realise that as soon as they get a Hotmail email account they automatically have a MSN account too since they're tied now, but the misconceptions about MSN/Windows Live Messenger having viruses and shit still seems to remain. I should also add that Facebook is more of a group thing - it was after all "the college experience put online" to begin with - compared to instant messaging which is more person-to-person (which I still use too).

[Ed Oscuro]

Just a random thought here - I've just glanced at my Google+ feed, and while it is very small, I'm pretty impressed by the professional nature of most of it. There are a lot of dumb things being said (I am probably guilty of this too!) but its organization collapses threads and leaves only the most relevant bits (i.e. the first post, maybe a few highlight comments) visible by default. You can expand it if you like. It seems like a sensible way to manage the complexity of a Twitter and Facebook style feed of updates.

The last few weeks (with Google's new privacy policy and the discussion about it) had me on edge about Google, but so far I am pretty happy and not terribly worried about the privacy aspect.

[Illyrian]

I just use facebook to organise social events with my friends, it's an easy way to have dates/times written down for everyone to see.

Also fuck twitter, no-one cares that you just went to take a poop.

I remember when it first came out a friend of mine was taking the piss, twittering things like "I'm going to the toilet." and then a minute later "poop is coming out" and people will literally respond to someone describing taking a shit like it's important.

[Frederik]

Facebook is an additional tool, not a replacement

Nailed it.

Depending on how you yourself use Facebook it can be a fantastic tool to both stay in touch with people you know and people you don´t know yet - I´ve made quite a couple of actual real-life friends through Facebook which I wouldn´t have otherwise gotten to know.

On the other hand, if you keep adding people you don´t really know and don´t block out "friends" that annoy you with vapid, vain, attention-whoring or plain useless status updates, Facebook can be a cesspit of nonsense.

Just like real life, really!