Forums VS Facebook

I may be very out of touch with the current scene when it come to Facebook, Twitter, etc. so I'm going to ask a question that has been bugging me for months. That question is "why are the Forum members choosing to post on Facebook rather then the Forums?" We pay for the Forums so why not use it. Is it faster on Facebook, simpler on Facebook or just because Facebook is the "in trend thing to do" and you can say "I use Facebook". A simple question deserves a simple answer!!

IMO, I thinks its trendy right now to post on Facebook and/or Twitter.

I still would prefer these Forums, but with so little info lately, and it doesn't look like much going forward, I'm finding myself visiting and posting less and less.

But I still visit these forums more then I visit my Facebook page.

There is some good info on Facebook, but you need the time to sort through all the posts.

I'm still hoping these Forums come alive again. I've enjoyed them so much the last seven years !!!

Rich,
The difference with Facebook and these Forums can be somewhat summed up as follows....

1) There is not only this group of lighthouse people but one can keep in touch with a much larger and diverse group of individuals. (i.e. I'm not only able to catch up with lighthouse people while I'm there, I can also keep in touch with family and friends in one group as well as my old high school classmates in another, all while keeping in contact with my customers).

2) Facebook is easier for today's on-the-move society to access on their mobile devices (phones).

3) People can chat real-time one-on-one privately rather than post in the forums for all to see and wait until another logs on and answers.

It doesn't mean that there isn't a place for these Forums. It just means that these Forums are not the ONLY place lighthouse people and friends can connect anymore.

Don't fear technology and new things. Bet your parents didn't like some of the things you did or the new and emerging ways you were communicating during your younger days. Turned out OK for you, huh?????

Roland - Technology does not bother me at all spending 50+ years in electronics in the military and Lockheed Martin. What bothers me is the more impersonal means of comunicating between members. It's like the answering machine/voice mail/caller ID feature on phones. You know the person you're calling is there but they are not answering because there is no personal tie to them to make them answer. If I post something on the Forums it is for everyone to read. If I want to get personal, I will email the person.

I have all the bells and whistles on my TV, stero, cars, etc. so it's not the scientific technology that I'm against, it is the IMPERSONAL technology that I am against. Maybe I'm the only one that feels this way, but, I still answer my phone unless it's an advertiser (caller ID at it's best) even when I may not feel like it or don't want to talk to the person calling.

Rich if you aren't on facebook, you can't really know what it is like.. It is exactly the same as posting on the forums if you set your privacy setting correctly.. I post with all my friends at WISH TV8 where I retired from, my lighthouse friends, and my family on facebook.. My former work friends and family could have cared less about the Forums so facebook is a much better way for me to communicate with all of my friends not just one group of them..
As far as getting personal in facebook you just send a private message to that friend and all of your messages with that friend are all there in a running dialog not separate emails you have to sort or go find.

You really can't know about something until you try it, if then you don't like it you can just not use it..

I originally only joined Facebook so that I could see pictures that my children put up. And I only logged in when they told me they had posted new pictures. Then Stephanie sent me a friend request, and about 10 friend suggestions, who were all forum members and therefore lighthouse people. From there it has grown. I now see posts by well known lighthouse people like Jeremy D'Entremont and Tim Harrison. I also see pictures posted by lighthouse people all over the world. I still tend to look here on the forums much more than I look at Facebook.

A good question Rich. Wish I had a good answer.

I'm not on Facebook. Can't see myself joining any time soon either. But, I can see the benefits of being where so many other people, companies, organizations, etc are these days. With one caveat. One has to be comfortable with the relatively public, and tracked, social interactions that are at the heart of Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Google+, etc.

Paul and I haven't agreed with each other about too much here on the Fora, but I agree with his comment 'You really can't know about something until you try it,'. If you have lots of different groups that you regularly interact with, being able to to it all within Facebook might make sense.

Heck, it sure seems like there is a lot more lighthouse chatter on Facebook than there is here. Who knows, maybe that Hatteras and Coquille you are looking for are just waiting to be found, on Facebook.

Rick

Rick - I guess Hatteras and Coquille will remain out there some where in La-La land on Facebook if they are waiting on me.

Well Rick we get a chance to disagree again, I have a small program loaded on my three computers that works with Firefox that prevents anybody tracking me on the internet and the best part it was free.. I do have to turn it off with a simple click at times because it prevents some websites from loading up the next window but it really works well.

By the way if you use any of the search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing they are all tracking your search history if you don't clear it out..

I always thought we agreed quite often, Rick, I guess I didn't track you on the forums correctly.. Or is that Fora?

boys.... ... ...

Thanks for moderating Bob, but Paul and I are good.

One of the shortcomings of communicating via written word over distance, and not in person, is that nuance is sometimes tough to discern.

Paul is correct, again. There are programs such as he describes. And search engines track what is searched for. Got it. Understand it. But that isn't what I meant in my post.

What I was referring to was specific to what Facebook and the like to when people are within their eco-systems. And that is to connect the dots of your interactions with other Facebook members. They build a very specific picture of your life, and it's pretty accurate because you are source of much of the data.

Clearly, judging by the gazillions of people who use Facebook and it's ilk, Rich and I are in the minority. For me, I don't think it is a lack of understanding what Facebook is and how it works. Rather, I'm just not comfortable with giving up that much knowledge about myself for not a lot of tangible return.

"Know thyself" I think applies well here.

Rick

Here is a negative benefit of being overly connected.

An excerpt:
"When a new fleet of helicopters arrived with an aviation unit at a base in Iraq, some soldiers took pictures on the flightline, he said. From the photos that were uploaded to the Internet, the enemy was able to determine the exact location of the helicopters inside the compound and conduct a mortar attack, destroying four of the AH-64 Apaches."

Some might say this is a little over dramatic, and perhaps it is, but I spent 20 years in the intel biz. Not all that hard to pull together lots of info. Facebook and other sites make it very easy, especially when you seem to read on a regular basis that Facebook changed its setup so all of a sudden all of your security settings are toast. Can't speak from experience because, like Rick & Rich, I'm not on the site.

Granted that a large portion of the responsibility belongs to the individual. However, some of the settings on electronic gadgets we all possess are very much at fault. Are companies, from camera makers to phone makers to sites like Facebook morally responsible to advise buyers of the information being collected and shared, in a straightforward manner as well as how to opt out or disable that capability? I would say, yes, but we must also be aware buyers and users.

Little off the core argument of Facebook vs Forums, but for many it does factor in. Yes, there are ways to defeat the intrusions, but not all are aware how to.

Dave and Rick seem to have hit on a lot of the feeling I have about social networks and the ability of others to learn more about you then you may want them to find out.

I have read several times about companies monitoring these sites and finding information on them about employees. A case in point, and not knowing all the intimate details, was a employee that was fired from his company after they found out some information about him that they felt was detrimental to their standards. Seems like the employee had mentioned something on Facebook a few years ago that shouldn't have been mentioned and the company found out about it. It was something about the upper management and not anything that had to do with the company's security or product.

Did the company react to harshly about the employees post? Maybe yes, maybe no, as they did not give the details. All I know is this was just a situation I read about and it brings to mind 2 phrases that I have seen posted on the wall, both in the military, and at my civilian job. The first is "Loose lips sink ships" and the second is "Would you want your son's enemy knowing the information your telling him"?

I have never had any of my privacy settings changed by an update to facebook, Dave. The privacy settings are very easy to set and it doesn't take any time to check them or be a computer expert to do it..

Your story about the soldiers doesn't have as much to do with facebook as the soldiers being idiots for posting pictures on the Internet which show something that they aren't suppose to show in the first place, that's an Internet thing not a facebook thing.

While on the subject of privacy I wonder how many here on the forums haven't turned the gps settings off on their cell phone and their cameras.. With very little effort people can get your exact location here on earth with the information that is know stored digitally with their images..

I'm sure that some (many?) Facebook user experiences have been as positive as Paul relates his to be. That's a wonderful thing for those people. But Google 'facebook changes privacy settings again' (yes, the big G will record that search) and see how much comes up.

The crux of the matter for me is the presumption by Facebook and the like that it is okay to opt members into available features (is that the right word for FB 'stuff' or is apps better?) with settings that do not have the members privacy foremost in mind. The default settings are always in favor of Facebook's business model, not we the consumer.

Facebook may not have a business if they did privacy the other way around. Opt In instead of Opt Out. Their business is selling the data they collect on their members to advertisers, data miners, and the like. And they command a premium price for the information because it so very accurate. After all, they get the data straight from the source, their members.

This is different from what the search engines have to do. The search engines can't be absolutely sure who types what into the search box. Might be the usual user of that IP address, might be someone else. So their data can't be as accurate or complete as Facebook's is.

If, like Paul, your experience on Facebook works for you, that is great. As I said in a previous post on this topic, I can see the benefit of having so much in one place. However, there is another side of the coin and some folks (maybe just Rich, Dave and I?) aren't comfortable in that world.

Rick

As Rick notes, Facebook works for many, and I'm happy they are enjoying that experience. My wife and daughter use Facebook. I choose not to for a variety of reasons. There are times I choose to share personal information, but I do have a problem with companies changing their rules mid-stream and I have to re-set anything I had in place. If they weren't trying to open new 'mines' they would find a way to import users settings.

And, the opening line in the article does imply Facebook was the conduit used - "While the U.S. Army knows its soldiers live in the modern world and carry location-aware, socially networked smartphones, it is reiterating the dangers of broadcasting too much information, because oversharing could cost lives."

I am an avid user of Facebook and have had the same experience with the privacy settings as Paul. For those of you who have no use for Facebook, that's totally fine and your choice, but you would be happily welcomed if you should choose to join us there, esp. on the Harbour Lights Facebook page.

Nevertheless, rest assured that if you have ever posted anything anywhere on the internet (such as right here), you are fully searchable, and totally exposed. That's the world we live in.

Judy

Not a facebook user. Simply have never felt the need to spend time on the computer sharing details of my day, etc. Most of my guys at work are on it. Recently, one of them got in an accident on his way to work (not his fault, nobody injured). Took the time to take pictures of his wrecked car and post them to Facebook and tell the story whaile waiting for the P.O. to write the report. All before calling me to tell me he would be late for work. And freely admitting so. I asked him in retrospect if maybe it should have been the ohter way around. He didn't get my point. I'm not talking a teenager here, I'm talking a 36 year old. Mind you, I'm not blaming Facebook in particular, just what seems the be the overall direction the whole "social media": thing is taking us. I'm sure it can be fun, but it seems to me in the hands of the younger set, it seems to be the place where too much information is shared and too much time wasted.

Will miss the Forums when they are gone...

MW

That's a user problem not facebook's problem..

That's why I wrote "I'm not blaming Facebook in particular".....

Rich, I posted but didn't answer your question. Roland's list of 3 would also be my answer.

As for security, Facebook is not a worry for me either. I use common sense (try anyway) and I know plenty of IT specialists who use Facebook. My own brother led me there and he has a doctorate in computer science and works for the government keeping the military's computer system running smoothly. If he's comfortable with posting on FB, than there is no reason for me to worry.

I enjoy the lighthouse world on FB as much as keeping in touch with family, friends and old (I do mean OLD) classmates. I can interact and get the news from all the different lighthouse societies, and the individuals. It feeds my hunger to know what's going on with our US lighthouses and in other parts of the world. Although I have my HL collection and have been involved with the Youngers since the early days, my major passion in lighthouses is the history, and preservation of the real thing.

As for here, there just isn't much going on anymore. It is sad, but that is what has happened. I will always enjoy my Harbour Lights, but the passion for collecting went away when the Depot started "giving" them away.

To those of you who are not on Facebook, I understand where you are coming from. That was EXACTLY me a couple of years ago. Then I was contacted by a member of my high school class who was putting together a reunion via a page on Facebook.
The only way to access the page was to become a member of the "dreaded" Facebook.
I had heard all of the stories, (fact and/or fiction). Computers getting hacked. Identities getting stolen, etc. etc. I had hesitated to become a member because of the stories even though I had been urged to join in by family and colleagues. More and more businesses were using Facebook, so there HAD to be something there. But then again, the stories.......
After being contacted by my old classmate I figured it was time to bite the bullet and see what this Facebook was all about. True, it's not the old way of communicating, (which, by the way, I still prefer), but it's a way to enhance and add to what we already do.
I was taught by one of my mentors long ago that if you want to stay young and relevant you can't be afraid to accept change and embrace it. Otherwise you just wither away and die. I ain't ready to call it a day yet!

Facebook is good. I have two private sites and my regular "wall" that I add stuff to every day. I think I must have close to 5000 photos all together on the sites. There are plenty of privacy controls and it's easy to use. Give it a try, you'll be amazed at the people that are on it.

Bob

Thanks for the encouragement and anticipated welcome to Facebook all, but I'm just not 'there' yet.

Maybe one day I'll have a moment like Roland and have no viable other choice. If so, I'll look you all up.

Rick

I will also choose at this time not to frequent Facebook. It sounds like it might be safe but I prefer to take the extra precaution and err on the safe side and not frequent a site that could potentialy cause problems. I'll continue to frequent the Forums until they just die away.

I came across this article earlier this morning. I thought it might help illustrate my feelings about social networks like Facebook.

It isn't so much that they do things like this, want to know your personal information. It is that they assume it is okay with you to just take it. You have to tell them that it isn't okay, but often by the time you realize what has happened, the horse has left the barn.

The world we live in includes the Internet. Got it. Understand it. Use it. But these social media sites and services are not 'free'. The price to join isn't cold hard cash, it is information about you and your life that is then sold to the highest bidder. That is thing about social networks that I just haven't come to grips with. Maybe someday.

Rick

Pluses and minuses on both sides. It is what it is. Take it or leave it.

Bob,

Exactly tight. Works well for some, not so much for others.

Maybe I can find some friends who will let me peek over their shoulders while they're using Facebook.

I'll challenge them to change my mind!

Rick

I am on Facebook to keep in touch with my sisters and the rest of the family, my Red Hat friends, my lighthouse friends, some groups about crochet, quilting, beading etc. I can be as private or as public as I want to be and I like the ease of exchanging photos. BUT ... I do think there is a place for a forum as-well. Yes I know, I have not been here regularly for a while (I have read a lot, but have not posted)and I will try to do better!