Are you a Facebook Holdout?

[TTQ B4U]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shunning-facebook-living-tell-000204976.html

 

Tyson Balcomb quit Facebook after a chance encounter on an elevator. He found himself standing next to a woman he had never met — yet through Facebook he knew what her older brother looked like, that she was from a tiny island off the coast of Washington and that she had recently visited the Space Needle in Seattle.

“I knew all these things about her, but I’d never even talked to her,” said Mr. Balcomb, a pre-med student in Oregon who had some real-life friends in common with the woman. “At that point I thought, maybe this is a little unhealthy.”

 

As Facebook prepares for a much-anticipated public offering, the company is eager to show off its momentum by building on its huge membership: more than 800 million active users around the world, Facebook says, and roughly 200 million in the United States, or two-thirds of the population.

But the company is running into a roadblock in this country. Some people, even on the younger end of the age spectrum, just refuse to participate, including people who have given it a try.

 

One of Facebook’s main selling points is that it builds closer ties among friends and colleagues. But some who steer clear of the site say it can have the opposite effect of making them feel more, not less, alienated.“I wasn’t calling my friends anymore,” said Ashleigh Elser, 24, who is in graduate school in Charlottesville, Va. “I was just seeing their pictures and updates and felt like that was really connecting to them.”

 

To be sure, the Facebook-free life has its disadvantages in an era when people announce all kinds of major life milestones on the Web. Ms. Elser has missed engagements and pictures of new-born babies. But none of that hurt as much as the gap she said her Facebook account had created between her and her closest friends. So she shut it down.

Many of the holdouts mention concerns about privacy. Those who study social networking say this issue boils down to trust. Amanda Lenhart, who directs research on teenagers, children and families at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, said that people who use Facebook tend to have “a general sense of trust in others and trust in institutions.” She added: “Some people make the decision not to use it because they are afraid of what might happen.”

 

Ms. Lenhart noted that about 16 percent of Americans don’t have cellphones. “There will always be holdouts,” she said.Facebook executives say they don’t expect everyone in the country to sign up. Instead they are working on ways to keep current users on the site longer, which gives the company more chances to show them ads. And the company’s biggest growth is now in places like Asia and Latin America, where there might actually be people who have not yet heard of Facebook.

“Our goal is to offer people a meaningful, fun and free way to connect with their friends, and we hope that’s appealing to a broad audience,” said Jonathan Thaw, a Facebook spokesman.

 

But the figures on growth in this country are stark. The number of Americans who visited Facebook grew 10 percent in the year that ended in October — down from 56 percent growth over the previous year, according to comScore, which tracks Internet traffic.Ray Valdes, an analyst at Gartner, said this slowdown was not a make-or-break issue ahead of the company’s public offering, which could come in the spring. What does matter, he said, is Facebook’s ability to keep its millions of current users entertained and coming back.

“They’re likely more worried about the novelty factor wearing off,” Mr. Valdes said. “That’s a continual problem that they’re solving, and there are no permanent solutions.”

Erika Gable, 29, who lives in Brooklyn and does public relations for restaurants, never understood the appeal of Facebook in the first place. She says the daily chatter that flows through the site — updates about bad hair days and pictures from dinner — is virtual clutter she doesn’t need in her life.

“If I want to see my fifth cousin’s second baby, I’ll call them,” she said with a laugh.

 

Ms. Gable is not a Luddite. She has an iPhone and sometimes uses Twitter. But when it comes to creating a profile on the world’s biggest social network, her tolerance reaches its limits.“I remember having MySpace for a bit and always feeling so weird about seeing other people’s stuff all the time,” she said. “I’m not into it.”

Will Brennan, a 26-year-old Brooklyn resident, said he had “heard too many horror stories” about the privacy pitfalls of Facebook. But he said friends are not always sympathetic to his anti-social-media stance.“I get asked to sign up at least twice a month,” said Mr. Brennan. “I get harangued for ruining their plans by not being on Facebook.”

And whether there is haranguing involved or not, the rebels say their no-Facebook status tends to be a hot topic of conversation — much as a decision not to own a television might have been in an earlier media era.

 

“People always raise an eyebrow,” said Chris Munns, 29, who works as a systems administrator in New York. “But my life has gone on just fine without it. I’m not a shut-in. I have friends and quite an enjoyable life in Manhattan, so I can’t say it makes me feel like I’m missing out on life at all.”

But the peer pressure is only going to increase. Susan Etlinger, an analyst at the Altimeter Group, said society was adopting new behaviors and expectations in response to the near-ubiquity of Facebook and other social networks.

 

“People may start to ask the question that, if you aren’t on social channels, why not? Are you hiding something?” she said. “The norms are shifting.”

This kind of thinking cuts both ways for the Facebook holdouts. Mr. Munns said his dating life had benefited from his lack of an online dossier: “They haven’t had a chance to dig up your entire life on Facebook before you meet.”But Ms. Gable said such background checks were the one thing she needed Facebook for.“If I have a crush on a guy, I’ll make my friends look him up for me,” Ms. Gable said. “But that’s as far as it goes.”

or am I the only one here who is? I'm with those that don't need any more BS clutter in my online social life. I could care less about what my 2nd cousin is doing or where my friends that I don't talk with regularly went on vacation. I really don't care. Why?

[PRD2BDF]

I was a FB holdout for a year and half but I just returned only because I will be in Oregon for three months and it's easier to just upload pictures and share what I've done so far in Oregon to my friends instead of sending individual texts/emails to them.

 

However once I return from Oregon, I'm logging off and deactivating it.

[Flyin Miata]

I got the most use out of it while in college. It can come in handy for group projects, party invites, asking classmates about material, and so on. I can say that now that I've graduated and gotten a job I use it much less, as the people I want to contact are people I see at least a couple times per week. I think it loses a lot of appeal as people age.

[wnaplay1647545503]

My dad is a stonch(sp) holdout on not using facebook. I am to a degree. I get on it to post very quick thoughts since theres really never anyone around and I am home all day by myself or to quickly just see what others have said, usually in response to mine. I dont seek people out and keep a very short friends list which is edited regular to thin it down even further after 1. realizing I cant stand to read what someone else posts 2. I have no idea who the person actually is or 3. I want to see if the person realizes I unfriended them and care enough to send me another invite. Most people never realize I unfriend them and resend an invite. I guess I do it more out of boredom and disgusted with myself for using it to gain some sort of human interaction outside of my family. But then again, thats the whole reason I am on CR as well.

[mrs.cos]

My dad freaked out and quit facebook when his sister posted a picture of him from junior high.. the rest of my family is on it, including my husbands.. I dont trust facebook, at all, but i stay connected with so many people this way that i hate to leave it.

[evil8]

Looking for a job? Don't be suprised your prospective employer doesn't look you up on FB.

[AudiOn19s]

I"m with you Tim. I've never signed up for it and don't intend to.

[mrs.cos]

Looking for a job? Don't be suprised your prospective employer doesn't look you up on FB.

 

If you are dumb enough to post your shenanigans online... Or too dumb to figure out privacy settings....well let's just say, you probably aren't going to get the job anyways.

[Rally Pat]

I was a holdout for the first year or so it was out, now I can't imagine not having it or something like it. So many events now send out invites almost exclusively through facebook.

[351mach11647545510]

Always thought it was gay and if I want to talk to you or vice-versa, pick up a phone.

[Aaron]

Never have, never will.

 

Wife doesn't either.

[gaewsky1]

I'm one of the people who is friends with actual friends I've been close to since elementrary school and family members. No one I don't know very well is friends with me and all my privacy stuff is set for friends viewing only. It also gives my family a way to see what my kids are doing since we live in different cities.

 

Its also easy to access on the iPhone. I never use the regular site.

[Cordell]

I shut down my MySpace account years ago and refused to partake in such a waste of time. I don't feel like I miss out on much, I also refuse to get a smart phone as I feel like I don't need that either. Part of keeping my life simpler I guess, CR is enough for me.

[TTQ B4U]

I shut down my MySpace account years ago and refused to partake in such a waste of time. I don't feel like I miss out on much, I also refuse to get a smart phone as I feel like I don't need that either. Part of keeping my life simpler I guess, CR is enough for me.

 

I should ditch the smart phone too. It is interesting to see that FaceBook users are either hit or miss and hardly use it or they are addicted to it like crack. I had to release an inside rep who would spend 50-75% of her day on it. Even after knowing we were monitoring it, she continued and said she couldn't help it.

 

Hell, I spend enough time on CR, I can't imagine holding my iPhone with Facebook on my mind. I'd be a vegetable. :dumb:

[truckin]

Never have and don't intend too.

[zeitgeist57]

I'm on it, and have used it APPROPRIATELY to reach out to old friends, and they can talk to me.

 

Like any tool, it serves a purpose when used correctly.

[iwashmycar]

I'm on it and use it quite a bit.

 

Recently just picking up everything and moving 9 hours away it lets me keep in touch, and also add new contacts from down here. Since we are down here for my wife's Grad School, most of our new friends are also in the program so needless to say it is the popular and viable option.

 

Also started back into Twitter. I like being able to have tons of new product info and news tailored to my interests.

[Smokey]

I'm a holdout. I feel it would be nice and beneficial for about 5% of the people and content, but I'm not willing to put up with all of the other crap for that.

 

I'm also wildly inappropriate in my conversation and humor and do not want an employer looking at what I'd be putting on there. No matter what you do with your privacy settings you can never completely secure that information.

[twistedfocus1647545489]

No Facebook for me either. I see no need for it. I had a Myspace account back in the day, but i haven't logged in to that for probably 3 years.

[zeitgeist57]

I had to release an inside rep who would spend 50-75% of her day on it. Even after knowing we were monitoring it, she continued and said she couldn't help it.

 

Was this on a work computer terminal? Why doesn't your company just block FB?

 

I'm also wildly inappropriate in my conversation and humor and do not want an employer looking at what I'd be putting on there.

 

I feel the same way sometimes about CR. If employers could see what goes on in here, half of the site would be deemed unemployable.

Edited December 14, 2011 by zeitgeist57

[Buckeye1647545503]

I use it (and Cr) to much, but my job is boring most of the time .....

[smokinHawk1647545499]

do not have facebook, do not want.

[TTQ B4U]

why not just block FB?

 

It's our Culture. We operate on a very open trust based system. The SPEED of Trust, is a great read and our culture is based on it. I highly suggest the read if you've not picked it up.

[OneRunnin72SST]

I am not on it and do not care to join.

 

-Erik

[Doc1647545523]

I've tried experiencing Face Book but when I've asked at bookstores if they carry it in stock, and they just look at me funny and shake their heads.

 

I've looked to buy one used, but they're never on Craigslist or eBay. I can't find it at the library either, but they have apparently moved the library card catalogue and I'm having problems finding any books I want. I admit I don't understand how a book can do all that the Face Book claims to do, but I'm willing to try it to keep me in tune with you young'uns.