who´s got the longest one - friends lists & other things i hate about social networks

[morytz]

can someone please explain to me how someone can have a friends list longer than a midsize city´s phone register?
and why do i have to sign up to facebook and create my own account if all i want to do is take a look at a friend´s FB-site?

i am working with some friends on a social network with a different touch. that´s why we need to know all the things you hate about your favorite SN so we can attempt to avoid it.

 

[JNB]

How about the entire point of them is to feed one's own ego?

 

[eawmp1]

It's not the size of the list, it's the quality of people on it (and how you use it)

 

[miles01110]

can someone please explain to me how someone can have a friends list longer than a midsize city´s phone register?

Because they accept every request they get, and send requests to everyone they can find. It's just a way to increase the size of someone's epeen.

and why do i have to sign up to facebook and create my own account if all i want to do is take a look at a friend´s FB-site?

Because they want as many accounts as possible to make more money.

 

[-Ryan-]

Because they want as many accounts as possible to make more money.

Or from a non-cynic p), it's because of privacy issues.

 

[MasterDev]

i am working with some friends on a social network with a different touch. that´s why we need to know all the things you hate about your favorite SN so we can attempt to avoid it.

Give up now would be the best advice. The fact that you are headed here asking that when you don't even capitalize the first letter in a new sentence, shows me you aren't ready for life in general.

 

[iParis]

It's not that hard really. I personally think "friend whoring" is overrated and I don't see a use for it. Silly SCC3N#3 Kids adding everyone they can find.

 

[miles01110]

Or from a non-cynic p), it's because of privacy issues.

Suggesting facebook is concerned with privacy is like suggesting Apple is concerned about Adobe.

 

[morytz]

It's not the size of the list, it's the quality of people on it (and how you use it)

would you care to elaborate what´s your particular way of using it is?

 

[iParis]

would you care to elaborate what´s your particular way of using it is?

He means if you actually know the people or sometimes know of them, and just don't add every account you run across.

 

[morytz]

It's not that hard really. I personally think "friend whoring" is overrated and I don't see a use for it. Silly SCC3N#3 Kids adding everyone they can find.

i agree. still, i think, if you would take the friend whoring aspect out of most SNs, they might die quicker than you can spell their names. so not offering this possibility in a new SN might be the best way to kick ourselves out in no time. or maybe people would actually appreciate it. that´s what i am trying to find out.

 

[Disc Golfer]

Apparently the best way to avoid all the asinine things that go along with social networking and the drones who use it is to avoid social networking sites entirely. Believe it or not you won't be missing anything.

 

[-Ryan-]

Suggesting facebook is concerned with privacy is like suggesting Apple is concerned about Adobe.

Why would they not just allow anyone to view profiles then? They obviously care enough to prevent public access.

 

[yg17]

I saw "Who's got the longest one" on the main page and thought this thread was about something else

But now that I think about it, I don't think there's much of a difference between comparing friend list sizes and penis sizes.

 

[morytz]

Why would they not just allow anyone to view profiles then? They obviously care enough to prevent public access.

that´s exactly my point: they´d have a nice sum of page views from me because i keep getting invitations from my friends "for real" to check out their FB-sites. i just won´t bother to register for that. this calculum on behalf of FB escapes my understanding.

 

[notjustjay]

would you care to elaborate what´s your particular way of using it is?

I only accept friend requests from people who are, you know, my friend. I count that as someone I have associated with for some length of time in some capacity or other. I don't accept contacts simply because I recognize the name from one of my social circles or because they are a friend of a friend. In other words, I don't accept requests from people who are simply "acquaintances".

I routinely ignore friend requests from people who I do not know, do not recognize, have not met in person, and have no real association with. ("Oh yeah, I think I remember him, he's my friend's buddy, I think I met him at the party last week" does not count.)

As a result my friends list is small, but I know everyone on the list. If I ever see someone pop up on my news feed and I have to think, "Who's that guy again? How do I know him/her?" then I ask myself whether this is someone worth keeping on my list.

 

[morytz]

I saw "Who's got the longest one" on the main page and thought this thread was about something else

no kiddin´ ... that´s called marketing ;-)

 

[morytz]

I only accept friend requests from people who are, you know, my friend. I count that as someone I have associated with for some length of time in some capacity or other. I don't accept contacts simply because I recognize the name from one of my social circles or because they are a friend of a friend. In other words, I don't accept requests from people who are simply "acquaintances".

I routinely ignore friend requests from people who I do not know, do not recognize, have not met in person, and have no real association with. ("Oh yeah, I think I remember him, he's my friend's buddy, I think I met him at the party last week" does not count.)

As a result my friends list is small, but I know everyone on the list. If I ever see someone pop up on my news feed and I have to think, "Who's that guy again? How do I know him/her?" then I ask myself whether this is someone worth keeping on my list.

i digg this attitude. it´s exactly the way i see it. i wonder how much of our kind walk this planet ...

 

[morytz]

Apparently the best way to avoid all the asinine things that go along with social networking and the drones who use it is to avoid social networking sites entirely. Believe it or not you won't be missing anything.

i would say you are right if it wasn´t for the fact that there is tons of interesting people around the world and a lot of them have particular knowledge in very special fields of interest, be it science, sports, culture - anything that distinguishes us from the apes.

i see no better way to get in touch with them than internet. so to me, the getting-in-touch aspect is the valuable nucleus of SNs. the rest is what the vast majority of us is currently making of it.

 

[Melrose]

I had a Facebook account and deleted it. I didn't see any use for it; I use Twitter to connect with workmates and colleagues (and, literally, three friends).

Lists are overrated. Granted, if you have 15k followers on twitter and all you're after is large amounts of traffic for an ad-driven blog, then sure - but that tends to result in larger amounts of spam (or at least crap content).

Twitter can be very useful, but for people who just join to tell the world they farted sideways is stupid.

 

[Disc Golfer]

i would say you are right if it wasn´t for the fact that there is tons of interesting people around the world and a lot of them have particular knowledge in very special fields of interest, be it science, sports, culture - anything that distinguishes us from the apes.

i see no better way to get in touch with them than internet. so to me, the getting-in-touch aspect is the valuable nucleus of SNs. the rest is what the vast majority of us is currently making of it.

Except none of those people are on Facebook, they're in the real world living their lives.

 

[0098386]

I had around 250 people on my facebook, but I trimmed that down to 150 in the past couple of weeks. But see I had a good time at school and college so the bulk were made up of old friends and acquaintances. Also: big family and colleagues.

Now my friend in a popular, signed band has thousands of friends on his Facebook. He doesn't know them, but I guess it's a way to connect with fans. I went down that route too but then your news feed just overflows with useless information.

 

[notjustjay]

I had a Facebook account and deleted it. I didn't see any use for it; I use Twitter to connect with workmates and colleagues (and, literally, three friends).

I was very resistant to Facebook at first, primarily because I had tried social networking before through MySpace. I felt the concept was pointless and that it was not age appropriate (it seemed to be targeted at teenagers). Those same teenagers kept talking about Facebook and so I figured it would be more of the same.

Eventually I opened an account and still felt it was pointless until I started tracking down some of my old university and even high school and grade school friends. People started contacting me that I hadn't been in touch with for years. Now I see the value, although I block all requests from games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars and all those silly quizzes.

 

[rdowns]

Any SN must have Farmville.

 

[anjinha]

Except none of those people are on Facebook, they're in the real world living their lives.

Having a Facebook account doesn't mean you spend all your time on Facebook.