As Facebook grows, millions say, 'no, thanks'

[OOOOOOOO]

To all of you who do this - stop being paranoid, antisocial freaks for christs sake.

+1

And btw, those same people WILL miss out on cool stuff like events, parties, gigs etc. They will. THAT is a fact. Are they so sure to believe that their friends can be bothered to call or text them as a special case? Unlikely ;)

[Osiris]

Oh I thought I was one of the last few not on it, nice to know there's others out there. To be honest I can see there are good reasons to use it but yeah everyone that's important to me I already keep in touch with but each to their own :)

[S_Herbie]

If you set up the group and subscription options properly you can filter out most of the fluff...

FB really do need to provide some better tools to manage this.

[Praetor]

FB? sorry, can't be bothered with endless farmville requests and and cute babies & cat photos and crappy events... you know, spam.

[Calum Veteran]

And many millions more say "yes, please," including me :)

[Calum Veteran]

FB? sorry, can't be bothered with endless farmville requests and and cute babies & cat photos and crappy events... you know, spam.

I don't see any of those, and I have over 400 friends added, I'm subscribed to over 1,000 people. and I've liked nearly 4,000 Pages.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Facebook to me is a tool to keep in touch with friends and to post the occasional link on it. My online life doesn't depend on it at all. I kind of wish more people would use Google+ instead of FB though; the latter appeals more to me from a design point of view.

I'm going to watch closely what Facebook are going to come up with in the future. They have to find more ways of making money besides ads to make the stock exchange happy. Eventually they're bound to charge users for extra features (the pay to advertise your posts experiment springs to mind). Once that becomes common I'm out of there.

[OOOOOOOO]

FB? sorry, can't be bothered with endless farmville requests and and cute babies & cat photos and crappy events... you know, spam.

Except that stuff can be blocked ... I never get any requests. Since you haven't even considered looking into it, you're making assumptions. Silly really :)

[threetonesun]

If you set up the group and subscription options properly you can filter out most of the fluff...

FB really do need to provide some better tools to manage this.

I'm sure they'll get right on that after everyone there cashes out today and they had the company over to marketing. :laugh:

[ylcard]

I don't have a face book and I hate it. You want to get ahold of me? Text me, email me, call me, drop by sometime. I rearely ever even check my twitter. I have better things to do than shareing my life with the world and friends I haven't seen in 10+ years.

You sir, fail.

[ylcard]

INCORRECT. Nearly all of my friends use Facebook for IM. None of them use AIM or Windows Live Messenger. Facebook is necessary if you want to instant message my friends, and I'm sure that's true with a lot of people (at least in America it seems to be true)

I can relate to that, there are those who I can keep in touch with using "conventional" means, such as a face to face meeting or a phone call, but I have family and friends abroad that I talk to, Facebook (and Skype) are essential to me.

Hell, even those within my own country, it can be a bitch to set talk to someone, so we use Facebook to send messages to each other, not necessarily TALK to each other.

People who hate Facebook are idiots, people who blame Facebook for their failures are idiots too.

[(Spork)]

FB? sorry, can't be bothered with endless farmville requests and and cute babies & cat photos and crappy events... you know, spam.

with this http://www.fbpurity.com/ i dont see any of that and i choose to block a lot more

[nominak]

I'm going to watch closely what Facebook are going to come up with in the future. They have to find more ways of making money besides ads to make the stock exchange happy. Eventually they're bound to charge users for extra features (the pay to advertise your posts experiment springs to mind). Once that becomes common I'm out of there.

Why do you think such a thing? They're a multibillion dollar company, and they charge for nothing. They're not forcing people to pay to advertise their posts. They never will either.

Also, back to the original post. Yeah, I'm sure Zuckerberg and his $20 billion dollar payday are gonna go cry in a corner because "millions" are deciding to leave.

[S_Herbie]

I'm sure they'll get right on that after everyone there cashes out today and they had the company over to marketing. :laugh:

From everything I have seen there will be little change post floatation... :)

[threetonesun]

From everything I have seen there will be little change post floatation... :)

Sure, they'll keep their valuation by selling unicorn tears and rainbow sparkles. They need to make more money in the future, and your guess is as good as mine as to how that happens, but I don't think it's going to be pleasant for the end user.

[butilikethecookie]

You sir, fail.

I'm a fail because I'm smart enough to realize they track and sell our data?

Just because I don't have one currently doesn't mean I've USED it. Ever heard of the delete profile button?

You sir, fail.

[oliver182]

If even if you don't want to "share triviality" there is one advantage that always seems to get glossed over.

Lots of websites are now using Facebook to manage their login / registration - not only is this a quick way to sign up to the latest / must have service but it's also easier to only remember one username password and know that when you change the password it's changed for everything.

If you don't want to post anything on Facebook then don't (or don't let anyone have permission to view your wall / timeline).

Agree, besides using it for login I use my facebook as an information source, I follow several sites that fill my wall.

[ylcard]

I'm a fail because I'm smart enough to realize they track and sell our data?

Just because I don't have one currently doesn't mean I've USED it. Ever heard of the delete profile button?

You sir, fail.

No, you fail for that statement alone.

How am I supposed to know you had one ? You're supposed to say so.

Based on the information you had given in your post, you indeed, fail.

In addition to that, you didn't even MENTION the "track and sell" bull****, you fail all over.

I swear, those that "hate" Facebook and claim they are in touch with their "friends" without it are the forever alone types that don't have any friends to be in touch with, so they don't need Facebook, and they hate it because they can't add any friends :(

Boooooo let's whine about Facebook !

[S_Herbie]

Sure, they'll keep their valuation by selling unicorn tears and rainbow sparkles. They need to make more money in the future, and your guess is as good as mine as to how that happens, but I don't think it's going to be pleasant for the end user.

No, my point was that the balance of power won't shift as the voting powers and board remain the same.

Yes, they will need to monetize (is that really a word?) the business model but it will follow the gradual hacked evolution rather than massive big bangs.

[Doli]

I'm a fail because I'm smart enough to realize they track and sell our data?

Just because I don't have one currently doesn't mean I've USED it. Ever heard of the delete profile button?

You sir, fail.

Oh no they now know I like Subway, The walking Dead, Battle Royale, MythBusters, Track & Field, Blender, and Michael's Pizzeria. My data is out there up for sale.

[threetonesun]

No, my point was that the balance of power won't shift as the voting powers and board remain the same.

Yes, they will need to monetize (is that really a word?) the business model but it will follow the gradual hacked evolution rather than massive big bangs.

If that's the case, then add them to the bin with LinkedIN and Groupon. They've been valued higher than a lot of companies with a proven track record and business plan (Amazon being the big one), so they can't just putz away at stuff like Timeline if they want investors to stay happy.

It will be interesting to see what happens, but my fear is still that they're going to try and make a walled garden out of the free internet, and use their giant user base to create an artificial market for such things.

[butilikethecookie]

Oh no they now know I like Subway, The walking Dead, Battle Royale, MythBusters, Track & Field, Blender, and Michael's Pizzeria. My data is out there up for sale.

But how many people do more personal things on FB? I'd say a good 95% of people. That's the point I'm trying to make.

[butilikethecookie]

Boooooo let's whine about Facebook !

Look, dude. I'm not about to have a pi*sing contest with you over the stupidest **** in the world. Forever alone? All my true genuine friends drop by everyday (3-4 guys/girls usually) and my girl lives w/ me. For the people out of town, we text each other and Skype. What is it with you and Facebook? Fanboy? Stock Investor? Do*she that thinks everyone is his friend? Be a big boy and go to G+. As for the inadequate information, I left it out because I didn't think anyone would give a f*ck.

[Doli]

But how many people do more personal things on FB? I'd say a good 95% of people. That's the point I'm trying to make.

So people are sharing information facebook for others to see.......?

The point im making is that you share what you want to share. If people want to put all of their business on facebook then so what. Its that same for G+, MySpace, LinkedIn, even Neowin.

[The_Observer]

Sadly had Facebook since it was University only and still using it today, Attempted to switch over to G+ but not enough of my friends/family use it to justify the switch.

+1 that's it for me, i use it to talk to family and friends overseas! hate the dam thing so try and stay away from it.