Attention Anti-Social Networkers!

[TheDoctorsCompanion.]

I've been on here for a couple years now, and I've noticed that many of you bring up the fact that you loathe the very thought of being on a social network from time to time. You're anti-facebook, anti-myspace, whatever. And yet, you talk to tons of people on here, and seem perfectly fine with it.
Why is this? Wouldn't you rather talk with people you know personally? Or are the people you know just that horrible?
Why do you prefer forums to social networks? I'm very curious to read your responses, I thank you for your time.

 

[delet]

With Facebook and Myspace, it's filled to the brim with stupid pictures and idiots trying to 'hook up' as well as people 'friend whoring.' There's also the 'clever status updates' things which is why I hate Twitter even more.

Here, no pictures unless you really want to, and you can have more conversations, intellectual or not, especially within the Usergroups. In either case, this is the lesser of the evils when it comes to social networking.

 

[Low Key]

Some people think social networks are fads or part of pop culture, and quite a few people here seems to have this unwarranted hatred for anything popular for some reason. Myspace, okay, I can understand that a little bit. There were a lot of random friend requests by people you didn't even know just so those people could attempt to have more friends than others. Aside from that though, both sites can be very useful at times and I think people need to start realizing that social networks will never go away.

 

[Spinozaad]

GOOGLE SEARCH.

I prefer to be as anonymous as possible. I don't "hate" the social networks, so I'm not really part of the audience of this topic, but still.

That, and it is of little added value to my actual life.

 

[Thedayrecker]

I've been on here for a couple years now, and I've noticed that many of you bring up the fact that you loathe the very thought of being on a social network from time to time. You're anti-facebook, anti-myspace, whatever. And yet, you talk to tons of people on here, and seem perfectly fine with it.
Why is this? Wouldn't you rather talk with people you know personally? Or are the people you know just that horrible?
Why do you prefer forums to social networks? I'm very curious to read your responses, I thank you for your time.

I think because people on the Escapist tend to be smarter and Escapists users prefer intelligent conversations. Maybe?

Or maybe this is one of those unexplainable things like the Bermuda Triangle and French toast...

 

[Nwabudike Morgan]

I'm not on Facebook because of the way it can quantify friendship, whether you mean it to or not, and how it adds a degree of separation between you and your friends.

 

[gl1koz3]

Social networks are so annoying. Just as real people.

But forums... you can forget about this place whenever you feel like it. Nobody ever complains nor notices, NOT causing any issues.

 

[oppp7]

No, actually I prefer talking to people that don't know me in real life. I guess I'm just shy.

But I'm not anti-Facebook. It's just not my thing. As such, I don't make fun of it as much as everyone else seems to.

 

[JRCB]

I have Facebook. People weren't surprised when I had only thirty friends for a year...

I actually see it as a good thing, though. When I clean out my friends list, I actually can't remove some people since I think good of them. Makes me feel more like a human being.

 

[Pegghead]

The thing about Facebook (Because Myspace is dead in the dust at this point) is that there's nothing to do, very few people I know (And would enjoy being Facebook friends with) own one and if I wanted to keep in touch with friends I'd ring them. And there are so many pretentious douchebags there and it seems that even semi-regular people turn into persistent morons with a bad grasp of english the moment they log on.

But here not only does this site cater to my interests but there are plenty of things to do and participate in (Forums, videos), maturity is valued but not to the point where the site becomes boring and the community is so varied, nice and welcoming that I've even made a few online friends.

 

[Benefactor]

I'm on Facebook, Twitter, the works. Thank Thor for the changing face of journalism.

I don't find it as annoying as some might, but using Twitter as a tool for news is nice, and I routinely purge my facebook friends if I don't contact them anymore.

The one thing that DOES get to me though, are the people that treat social media like it's the second coming of our lord and savior, Thor.

See: http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-social-networking-site-changing-the-way-oh-chr,17465/

 

[CrashBang]

Myspace is full of friend whoring, true. It's good for music though. I found a bunch of kick ass bands on there like Blackhole, The Gaslight Anthem and so on
But I'm on Facebook all the time. I never understood why my fellow Escapists hate it either. I'm always talking to mates on there, it's an easy way to socialise if you just want a quick chat or update on your friends' goings-on

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Because nowadays FaceBook, Twitter, and MySpace have all become a contest to who can have the most friends and what underage 12 year old can make themselves look like the biggest whore on the internet so that they can complain to their parents about a 40 year old grandpa pervert making comments about their looks. It's too much hassle, which is what i don't get when i come here.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

I'm on Facebook, and I do use it fairly often. The parts I don't like are mainly management of the site. The code is terrible and it constantly breaks, the ads are overflowing, and there is a large amount of crap I don't care about that gets shoved in my face. However it's a decent concept and a site I still use.

 

[Matt_LRR]

I'm always astonished by how many people are like "twitter is annoying because there are so many pretentious narcisistic douches!"

... forgetting that you are entirely in control of who you follow and interact with, and can, in two clicks drop anyone off your timeline that annoys you.

-m

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

On here and Twitter, I can give as much or as little as I want.

The other networking sites DEMAND YOU GIVE THEM ALL YOUR TIME AND INFORMATION AND YOU MUST LOOK AT THIS AND FILL IN THIS CHOICE OF WHAT X-MEN BABY YOU ARE AND WHAT IS YOUR MOOD AND ...

Or...I can just sit back, type what I want, and look for pertinent replies. Rather than being overwhelmed with people shouting at me.

I just don't like the information diarrhea that flows from those sites.

 

[TheDoctorsCompanion.]

Myspace is full of friend whoring, true. It's good for music though. I found a bunch of kick ass bands on there like Blackhole, The Gaslight Anthem and so on
But I'm on Facebook all the time. I never understood why my fellow Escapists hate it either. I'm always talking to mates on there, it's an easy way to socialise if you just want a quick chat or update on your friends' goings-on

I like Gaslight Anthem too

 

[Kasawd]

I, personally, have nothing against social networking sites. They're excellent for organizing an event with a long guest list.

Besides, I get some of my kicks off of bad forums. There are more on that site than you can shake a stick at.

 

[Jack_Uzi]

As mentioned above, Facebook (and twitter?) are mor personal in the way it's easyer to trace your profile back to the real you. Here you can only see the name and country. For all the personal stuff I've placed here, well... I'm just as faceless as the next avatar around here.
But don't worry, everything from the internet can be traced back to the RL you. Only most people wouldn't hold the picture of my avatar next to mine.

 

[Rarhnor]

The social networking sites presents themselves way to connect people, but really are shallow. Though this is a forum that has the optionality to be socially connective (profile pages, gamertag sharing options, escedera), we get more deep and philosophic (click "latest posts" for examples).
The social networking sites are so outgoing that you either: create a facade one would normally do to interact with people, or become dim-silly shallow.

I'm against it, because it's simply shallow and unnecessary.