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| British Expats; Gone the way of the Dodo? | |
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| Topic Started: 16 Nov 2009, 06:49 AM (1,169 Views) | |
| Amanda & Simon | 19 Nov 2009, 06:01 AM Post #26 |
Braiiiiiinnnss
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You're most certainly not alone. Faecesbook holds all the appeal of un-anaesthetised root canal work for me. I joined it because I thought there might be the occasional group I'd want to add my name to like the 'Campbell Brown is a dickhead' group, but that's about it. Other people use it to announce the birth of their children - seriously, I'm not kidding, we really know people who did this and so the kid was a month old before we had any idea. Don't get me started on Twatter. I'm sure there might be #campbellbrownisadickhead and other stuff going on but I just can't be bothered to look. If it's worth saying surely it's often worth saying in more than 140 characters, in which case isn't a normal blog or a forum like this better than having to use annoying txtspk 2 keep it shrt? |
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| Petals | 19 Nov 2009, 06:24 AM Post #27 |
A phenomenon
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I have been a member of Facebook for a long long time and it was only recently really that I started to use it, probably when others from another forum got fed up with the rubbish in the forum and moved to Facebook. I have personally met some of the people so it makes it easier to know who one is talking to. I joined because my adult children are on there and if they are away overseas its easy they drop by and post, also easy to share photos etc. No need to be physically on the site together so no need for appointments. Privacy levels are set by the member and can be exclusive or all inclusive. Most people only let friends have access to their information. However as I do with all forums never put my actual date of birth and change a few things this way extra protection. The games are free and remain free unless people want to pay and get a bit extra. They develop games on Facebook and its fun to see them evolve. Some are rubbish some are not. Non violent mostly which is a plus in my book. One word of warning if ever wanting to dabble in Facebook do not click on anything and never give a mobile phone number to any application as it may cost lots of dollars. Being selective is the name of the game. |
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| Maggie | 19 Nov 2009, 09:35 AM Post #28 |
Elite Member
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I have to agree with Petals. I joined Facebook to see what my older kids, nieces and nephews are up to. I lurk mostly. Occasionally one of them gets a shock when I comment! However, my 12 year old will not be joining, and least I will notice if she tries to do so without telling me. Maggie |
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| Amanda & Simon | 19 Nov 2009, 10:27 AM Post #29 |
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Braiiiiiinnnss
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Perhaps I'm cynical (ha! - perhaps? :Grin: ) but I'd have thought faecesbook's success was that it was perceived to be cool among younger web users. When parents are using it in large numbers it'll stop being cool again and go the way of the elephant. Or at least Friends Re-united.... remember that? Many of them have already moved their social lives over to twatter, which last I heard was worth bazillions without ever having made a cent :crazy: :dur: Can't see that lasting indefinitely. And then in a couple of years twatter will be where faecesbook is now - too mainstream and last year and having to deal with the next big idea. On the bright side you can be damn sure that your emai will still work, you'll still be able to attach photos and the various IM and VOIP services will still let you chat to people on the other side of the globe. |
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| Jimma | 19 Nov 2009, 03:33 PM Post #30 |
Addicted Member
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Funny thing Facebook. I tend to go on it in stages, and then don't really seem to accomplish anything. When I come off of it, I wonder whay the hell I went on it in the first place. :wacko: Originally set up to keep in tough with the rellies (with photo's etc), as they are such tight arses and won't pay for the phone call (but that's a different story). Won't reply to my nephews/nieces as they aren't capable of stringing full words together and have to use "spk" etc and LOL :realmad: I agree with OZ T (for once, and painful to admit :Grin: ), as they are clueless on how to speak to people face to face (although for now lets hope that's the minority). Love it or hate it, it's probably here to stay - well until the next bright idea. maybe Arsebook - now theres a site right there. |
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| Petals | 19 Nov 2009, 04:58 PM Post #31 |
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A phenomenon
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I never read my children's pages same as I never tried to find out stuff when they were younger. They play a few games with me and my son will chat in the mornings before he goes to work but that is about it. I took the view that if I found out something that I should not know it would only worry me and I had trust in my children and its worked they are both fine. I think Facebook will survive but not so sure about twitter, I have had twitter for yonks too but its not as interesting as facebook and having friends all over Australia Facebook is much easier for us to all keep in touch very quickly when things happen. You can post group message so everyone knows whatever you want, invitation to a barby, death in the family, etc. Facebook is something you look at and think "what the " and then one day it sinks in and its enjoyable. |
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| koalakim | 19 Nov 2009, 05:07 PM Post #32 |
Legend
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Ooo I feel a bit guilt this week having complained of quietness - I've been quiet myself the last few days as soooooooo busy with the W (work) word. Going back to communication this is my real bug bear of today's society. I'm not sure if it's an Aussie thing or whether it's just the way of the world but I always answer my business emails promptly and send potential clients all the information they need and sometimes that is it ......I mean how hard is it to hit the reply button and say thanks I'll get back to you if I want to take it further! At least then we know they received the info otherwise we have to keep chasing them as we don't want them to think they've ignored us - just in case the email didn't reach them especially with hotmail accounts. Likewise the same with mobile ansaphones - no one ever answers and then you get these silly message banks whereby it just records a number so they don't know who on earth is calling! Grrrrrrrr............... I know we are all time strapped these days but it is nice when you actually chat to people! As for Facebook ....I've found the mobile version actually easier to use! It's nice to see what people are up to generally but not what they had for tea etc. One friend is expecting a baby so it's good to just hop on and see that he's reported it's not arrived yet! We are still old fashioned and send group emails to everyone with our news! Oh well back to the W word! |
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| johnyardley | 19 Nov 2009, 05:17 PM Post #33 |
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Hi, Do you think people are losing interest because of the exchange rate 30% fall? Best wishes John |
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| Maggie | 19 Nov 2009, 06:14 PM Post #34 |
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Elite Member
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Hi Petals, I may have misrepresented myself. I don't spy on my children on facebook. We have our 2 adult children at home for now and I only read what comes through to my home page or whatever it's called. I have to say that when I read Sarah's post that she was lying in her bed listening to what she thought was the washing machine flooding in the laundry, she wasn't going to get out of bed because then she would have to clean it up.............I did give her a stinging reply :realmad: And she deserved it, but we laughed. Luckily the machine had not flooded, otherwise I would have had a lot more to say. Her response was "oops, I forgot you were on here". As far as nephews and nieces go, it's nice to see them live their lives and keep track of what they are doing, but it's not for me to tell their parents anything I don't disapprove of. I thinnk most of them are on facebook too and they can keep track of their own kids. It's smply a way of keeping up abit more when we are so far away. Maggie |
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| OzTennis | 20 Nov 2009, 01:23 AM Post #35 |
Legend
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Once upon a time, parents wouldn't dream of reading their children's diaries and children would be most offended if they thought they were; today it's ok to look at their Facebook pages? :Grin: Anyone remember a diary which you kept to yourself; why this urge now to tell the world? I think Si is right, it's the vogue thing (today). Friends Re-united indeed. |
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| Petals | 20 Nov 2009, 05:28 AM Post #36 |
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A phenomenon
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I think Facebook will be around for a long time even if parents have access to their children's pages, for the younger children its reassuring to have someone around as we read so much about cyber bullying these days. Also the parent can guide the child as to how to use the web safely. Most young people are on my space as well these days running the two sites. As older people retire and have time on their hands I think sites such as Facebook will be wonderful for people as they can join a group with similar interests. Especially if the older person is limited due to arthritis or similar conditions. It keeps them in touch with people so important. I could go on and on as to the way disabled people who are housebound lives have been changed too by these sites. Wonderful stuff. |
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| Amanda & Simon | 20 Nov 2009, 08:14 AM Post #37 |
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Braiiiiiinnnss
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Dear Diary. OzTennis and I keep agreeing on something. Is this the way things will be from now on or is it only because there's no realistic chance of Adam Smith or JM Keynes coming up in conversation :rofl: I think this stuff is okay if it's worth reading which is why the occasional blogger is getting a book deal, but we're talking about well written stuff on an interesting or original theme. Working your way through each and every recipe by some famous cook or running out of money at uni and becoming a high class call girl is what gets the publishers and screenplay writers interested. The same thing is possible with other social sites if used to promote something e.g. people like Lily Allen and Sandi Thom using MySpace to get their music known. But very nearly 100% of it is just the minutiae of people's lives and close enough to the minutiae of the lives of anyone else reading it that it's just not interesting to random passers by. Interesting to their friends and family perhaps (as opposed to the complete strangers I seem to get friend requests from now and again), but as I said before pretty much all of that could go in an email. For example, this morning I got a email from my mum asking what's going on here and giving a bit of news from their end, and she knows I'm going to see it because she sent it as an email. In the same way I knew she'd see some Melbourne pictures I did because I attached them to an email I sent her. OTOH friends living 15 minutes drive away announced the birth of their first child on faecesbook, which relies on everyone they know checking in to see what's going on in their lives. As a result people found out in dribs and drabs instead of everyone knowing more or less simultaneously. One is active and the other is passive, except that the active option isn't that much more effort in electronic form when you can click send to all. That's the bit I just don't understand. Why spread your personal news via the electronic version of pinning a note to your own front door in the hope that people you know will open the gate and walk up the path on the off chance the door has something on it? And why respond to it by leaving a post it note with a brief comment? Other than the games, which does seem like an innovation (though only worthwhile for those who are into them), I just don't see what faecesbook or it's imitators brings that we didn't have before. It's all a bit much for someone who just wanted to agree with others who think that Campbell Brown is a dickhead. I'm sure faecesbook and most of its imitators will last for a while yet. After all Friends Reunited is still hanging on in there in a desperate attempt to turn a profit for whoever paid ITV a seventh of what they paid to the couple who had the idea in the first place. FR probably doesn't have any further to fall so if someone can work out how to make it work with the users it's got it'll be around for ever. More likely I think it'll go the way of Geocities because someone has to pay the bills and things that cost significantly more to run than they make can't last forever unless it's a freebie to attract people to more profitable areas of what they do (e.g. Google and the various free stuff they do). AFAIK faecesbook is determined to stay independent bar the small chunk they flogged to Microsoft, and was actually in the news recently because it claims to have finally started to make profit. However, that's taken millions in investment and five years to reach the 300 million users needed to make that profit happen for the first time. Unfortunately this is all going on at the same time as Twitter is becoming the big new web thing and Basefook is becoming uncool because generation Y keeps running into its parents on it. For those of us in our thirties and forties I think this is the noughties equivalent of finding your mum dressed in black with spikey hair and Goth makeup at a Cure gig... in front of all your best friends :bashful: Before that it was their parents with moptops or pretending to be Roger Daltry and getting all the words wrong. These days the shame happens online and is even greater since it will stay there permanently, and if it's really embarrassing it may even have screengrabs spread all over the world so that the complete financial collapse of the site won't even save their blushes. While facebook needs to keep growing what it's up against in the not too distant future is an exodus to the next fad provoked by increasing amounts of stuff like this: Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image And most uncool of all, at least for the lads involved: Posted Image Posted Image You can almost hear the embarrassed screams, can't you? Edited by Amanda & Simon, 20 Nov 2009, 08:20 AM.
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| Petals | 20 Nov 2009, 11:48 AM Post #38 |
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A phenomenon
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We will have to just wait and see what is the next big thing but I do not believe it will be email, people like being able to voice their opinions and be heard and I think forums such as Facebook, Twitter and My Space give more insight into what the population is thinking than phoning a person and asking them to do a survey. Hence the pollies are right into it too. See the guy who was cruel to the dog got caught because of everyone chasing him down with Facebook, maybe Kangaroo Courts (hope not). Downside of this of course is people posting misinformation about people, very dangerous. |
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| Amanda & Simon | 20 Nov 2009, 01:05 PM Post #39 |
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Braiiiiiinnnss
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No, it certainly won't be email. I'm not convinced email has ever even been the big thing as such. Email was more evolutionary than revolutionary and didn't seem like a huge step up from a fax - you just look at it on the screen instead of wasting some A4, or before that a piece of crappy thermal paper. In turn faxing didn't seem like a big deal to anyone who'd used a telex. Boiled down you're still just sending the written word from one place to another, which is something that's been going on for centuries. Each step is a faster and better way of doing it starting from the time someone organised a scheduled delivery service to replace the practise of simply giving your letters to some random bloke who looked like he was heading in vaguely the right direction. The last two or three steps have brought us to the point that I can sit in a park here in Melbourne and use my phone to email my mum on the other side of the world, and in turn she could use her phone to receive the email while walking on a beach in Devon. When sat-phone pricing comes down to near where cell phone costs are now we needn't even be near mobile coverage. Middle of the desert? No probs, the signal only has to go >100 miles or so straight up. Short of someone inventing some sort of thought to text typing gadget so we can ditch all that tedious typing there's not a lot of room for improvement. No, I think email is going to be one of those things that is always there regardless of mybespacebookwitter or whatever else comes along. Never having been the next big thing it's got no pedestal to be knocked off of. No status to try to hang on to, nothing to prove and no site to promote and make profitable. It'll just carry on being quietly useful and commercially successful as it has been since it started making fax machines obsolete.Didn't hear about that and I'm not sure I want to. It sounds like the sort of thing I'd just get very angry about if involves pointless cruelty to an animal. You mentioned misinformation and the dangers. Yes, very true. I saw there was some idiot proposal on some website or another to have a button to click for suspect child molester or something. Seems like a good way to overrun the system with false accusations whenever one person is annoyed or offended by something someone else said. |
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| Petals | 20 Nov 2009, 04:12 PM Post #40 |
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A phenomenon
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Misinformation and accusation is a very sore point with me it ruins peoples lives and I must admit I need proof before accusation and I probably still would not repeat any malicious gossip as it is very very harmful. Unfortunately the web is a place where this can happen and does happen and should not happen. |
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| brady bunch | 20 Nov 2009, 11:16 PM Post #41 |
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Bloody hell, it really is as dull as I keep hearing (yep there is massive potential for embarassment and misinformation isn't there?). I don't think I'm in any rush to get us into this sort of method of communication. I've been put off by so many stories recently about cyber bullying as mentioned above especially amongst kids. Listening to just how horrible kids can be to each other in the playground (from my 8 year old), giving bullies 24 hour access into the home is a real worry. I read recently about a girl who hung herself because she was being so badly bullied at school and online. Her parents didn't have a clue. I have always said that our computer will be kept in a public area in our house and not put in the kids' bedrooms for this very reason. Scary stuff. |
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| OzTennis | 21 Nov 2009, 02:16 AM Post #42 |
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Legend
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"Question: How Many Emails Are Sent Every Day? Answer: Statistics, extrapolations and counting by Radicati Group from August 2008 estimate the number of emails sent per day (in 2008) to be around 210 billion. 183 billion messages per day means more than 2 million emails are sent every second. About 70% to 72% of them might be spam and viruses. The genuine emails are sent by around 1.3 billion email users." Even at 30% 'non-spam' that's an incredible amount of emails per day by businesses and people, emailing is certainly not going the way of the dodo for one heck of a time. P.S. I have friends whose son went out to NSW to work for 6 months. He phoned them 3 or 4 times in all the time he was away and each time they said why don't you call and speak to us more often he said ........ you can read what I'm doing on my Facebook page (and he honestly and genuinely didn't understand why his parents were upset at few calls)! |
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| koalakim | 21 Nov 2009, 06:33 AM Post #43 |
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Legend
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Just thinking, Facebook probably does appeal to todays youngsters more as it is an "it's all about me" tool. Hey look what I'm doing etc not as you would normally start of an email saying hello Bob how are you, hope all is well etc. I do think you have to be careful what you post of an internet tool whereby the public can see what you are talking about. The MOST scary thing is that now if someone doesn't like you or your business, service, whatever they can spread the word around faster than a fast thing that is going very fast! |
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| Amanda & Simon | 21 Nov 2009, 07:14 AM Post #44 |
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Braiiiiiinnnss
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Perfect example of what I mean. Kim, you might have something there, though OTOH I'm sure some users quietly moan that their mates aren't good at keeping their status pages updated because they want to know what's going on with them. The alternative doesn't always seem to occur to 'em. Posted Image_________________________________________________________________________________________________Posted Image |
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| tam_n_brett | 22 Nov 2009, 04:26 PM Post #45 |
A phenomenon
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I'm a facebook fan.... i think if its used properly then its excellent!!! Its a great way of keeping in touch with your mates back home and seeing what they're up to the same as them seeing whats going on in your life. Its entirely up to you how much info you do or don't want to give out. I think if i hadn't got my nieces and nephews on there then i'd probably loose touch with them as its unlikely they would go out of their way to call or email at their age but they will willingly send a smilie or write a small piece on my page. You can really easily block people too, so if someone turns psycho or cyber bullying etc etc you just delete them so IMO you are in control and its up to you who can access your page. |
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| johnyardley | 23 Nov 2009, 07:49 AM Post #46 |
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Tam and Brett, Would you like to meet for a coffee sometime? Best wishes John |
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| tam_n_brett | 23 Nov 2009, 10:24 PM Post #47 |
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A phenomenon
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Have sent you a PM |
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| Ema | 24 Nov 2009, 09:02 AM Post #48 |
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First thing I do when I get to work is open email, facebook and Britvics - I like to think of it as my little ritual - who said real face to face communication was dead!!! |
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| hevs | 25 Nov 2009, 02:23 PM Post #49 |
Forever Ignored.
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Yep! I have 26 games on the go ATM! |
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| hevs | 25 Nov 2009, 02:31 PM Post #50 |
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Forever Ignored.
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It isn't the world, unless you choose the world. I only have people I know on my FB AND certainly not my kids or anyones klids for that matter! :bashful: |
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