Facebook, who belongs and why

I originally got mine in 2004 when they were only giving them to university students. It was required for a study abroad class I did in Berlin, Germany.

I've found people on there I thought were lost to me. Some I am extremely happy to have found (I moved around a lot when I was a kid) and some, I quickly go and block.

I keep it to keep in touch with my friends and family.

I resent the invasiveness of FB and have always refused to join the herd. I value my privacy and time, and prefer face-to-face connection over spurious "friends". i have absolutely no interest in finding people I may have known in kindergarten. I write my own blog and my real friends and family keep up with me there. If I want to know what's happening with my daughters, I ask them and they tell me (what they want me to know!). And no, I'm not afraid of technology due to age. I am a retired web developer who changed careers in my 50's into the tech world, and will always enjoy techie stuff.

I signed up a few years ago, was contacted by a bunch of people I didn't even like back in high school, and I shut the account down. I am not comfortable with the privacy issues. I too am pretty tech savvy, retired tech writer and Web designer, maybe that's why FB makes me nervous.

It's actually pretty easy to make FB non-invasive, block anyone except specifically chosen "friends", hide all your pictures, prevent email notification, avoid "sign-ups", and now lock much of your information away from FaceBook itself.

That is what I found MiKe.

Yeah, that's what I think too.

I've done everything on HG's list except hide photos, ooooh, that's a good one. Gotta figure out how to do that. Thanks.

I have everything hidden on mine and unless you are a friend of a friend, you can't even search for me. Even among the people on my fb friends, not every one can see all of my photos, etc. I have restricted list set up for local groups and businesses (that aren't using a business page) and the acquaintance list set up for those who aren't close friends.

I must say, I also found an old college chum from Algonquin Radio/TV, via FB. THAT was pretty cool.

I've been her almost 5 yeras, 65. I don't have a cell phone, iAnything, or use Facebook or any of the other such services.

My daughter is a GBI IT forensics agent. Listen to her and you won't even use a computer.