Why so much hate for that site? 🙂
How different is the social interaction there, from logging into this forum every week?
I think its great for keeping in touch with various groups of people in your life. Anything you don't like about it you can either ignore or block. You can block almost all pages and applications. And to be honest, if you get dumb and boring updates from people, it just means you haven't used the "ignore' feature enough. Click 'ignore [Person]'s updates' for those who are regularly boring or publish dumb stuff, and you're left with those you care about, or those who actually make either interesting comments.
Here are examples of how I use facebook in my personal life:
* Use it to plan, execute and then get feedback on a social events:
-- I Publish plans for a get together (usually a dedicated event page, but sometimes just ask "Who's free for beer?")
-- People RSVP using the site, and the event page is used to chat about where we meet and who brings what
-- After the event people share photos, and tag each other. Interesting photos get conversations going so the there's an "after event" chatter.
* Discover new stuff
-- My actual friends sometimes publish music, books, art or books they like.
-- I'm friends with local clubs and pubs, so I get invitations to live shows or various events they have
-- I'm friends with local bands I like, so I get invitations to their live performances
* Ask and give advice
-- Personal advice (anyone knows how to do X or where to buy Y or which brand is best)
-- Professional advice (many of my friends are in my field of profession)
-- Believe it or not: Job offers.
* Politics and civil life
-- Publish a links to news stories and discuss them
-- Comment about political events and argue over them.
-- My city hall has a dedicated account publishing stuff going on in the city and new projects. I comment with my ideas and sometimes criticism. My ideas are heard by a large public.
-- The same is possible for politicians though I haven't done this yet.
Of course nothing of this can replace "real life". But the beauty of it that it doesn't. It complements it. I use facebook to expand and enrich my real life, and both to keep in contact with friends, and be involved in things I rarely have time for (letting the mayor know what I think.
Many friends I haven't met in ages, and would have surely lost contact with, but we keep having discussions and share jokes or ideas, instead of drifting apart.
