Tell me… what are your reasons for using FaceBook...?

[Dee]

As title!

Some people I know have only lived in one place their entire lives, normally their birthplace. Girls I work with for example, have lived in Ashby since they were born, have no friends outside the Ashby area, and only use FB to write on each others walls and fling poo. (that’s one application even I just don’t get). Makes you wonder why they bother, why not just email/text each other?

I on the other hand, have a genuine reason. Having lived abroad when I was younger, I lost touch with a lot of friends, moving back to the UK at the age of 9, you don’t seem to realise what's just happened, and that these people you’ve been friends with all your life, may just never be a part of your life again. Years down the line you wonder, I wonder what they are doing now? And would you believe it, they are ALL on FaceBook now. Ok I hold my hands up, I write on peoples walls, sometimes the people I work with, and they are only downstairs, but I've found FB to be better than Friends Reunited for finding long lost buds.

Some of the girls will sympathise here, people we went to school with, who never spoke to us, have tried adding us as friends. Why? Why after all these years do they feel compelled to make the effort? Our inner cynic suggests they don’t want to catch up and see how you are doing now, they just want to get their friends list numbers up. Is that right? Well, block block block.

Its also a good place to post photos from the weekends shenanigans, and get people to comment on how rough you look. Its good for reminding me when peoples birthdays are as well. And it gets me out of work for hours at a time

So tell me, why do you use FB?

[Blackstar]

My reasons are:
To keep in touch with friends from my high school who went off to uni in another city, i could just text them but the majority of the time it never occurs to me. It also lets me organise things when they come back through to Edinburgh or know about events that i would want to go to where they are.
Talking to people i've met whilst doing things like the dig i went on last summer, i met Lindsey who lives in Texas and other people all over the UK who's phone numbers i did get but it is a bit more personal than sending a text to drop them a wall post every now and then and see how they are getting on.
I have some of you lot on FB because i like to see the things you do off of the forums (in a weird and stalkerish way)
Finally, i have my friends who live or work in other countries who it is often difficult to catch on msn due to time differences and other forms of contact are also more difficult.

[Goose]

I use it to catch up with people I've not seen for a long time.

Other than that, I tend to avoid it.

[Wossi]

I normally use it to chat to people I knew years ago but lost touch with. Most of the people trying to add me as a friend are either people I don't know or don't want to talk to.

Don't get me started on the stupid applications. People on my friends list haven't quite figured out that I don't want to add bajillions of applications so keep sending me invites

[Pheebs]

Originally to keep in touch with friends or to find long lost friends on there!

Now... as well as the above... it opens the doors for advertising A Kettle of Fish

I like some of the silly applications - they make me laugh and can entertain me for a few minutes! Other than that... not a lot else!

[Dee]

I do like the new feature "Do you know these people?" Brings up a list of possible mutual friends, and Ive found a few people through that, saves trawling through other peoples friends lists

I cant stand the applications though, any requests I get now are marked as spam and the friends that send them are banned from sending more

[Blackstar]

I can't stand stupid applications, i usually black them which stops you getting more of the same one.

[Burble]

I use it for staying in touch with people. Spending a lot of time abroad (ok, not at the moment I know) makes staying in touch with people genuinely difficult but Facebook helps out there.

Also I've got back in touch with some good friends from School which I'm very pleased about. After leaving school we all went out seperate ways, got ourselves busy lifes and realised how easy it was to lose touch with people. I've recently met up with a good friend of mine who was living in Japan for 6 years and his brother (who is currently living in South Korea) and I have been nattering over Skype. Had they not had Facebook accounts then I wouldn't be in touch with them.

The applications don't bother me to be honest, I add the ones that seem interesting/fun (then usually delete them after half an hour) and ignore the ones that don't.

[Belmit]

I find it excellent for a number of things. I'd say the main reasons I use it are:

- Posting pics from weekends and other outings. Because digital cameras are now pretty much the norm for the average snapper, relatively few people have film cameras any more and hence no photo albums. If you wanted to show someone your photos you either had to be sat at the computer, view them on the camera itself or have access to some web space. Now you can upload them easily and allow all your friends to see them if they wish.

- Organising events. I can look at the list of events and almost instantly see which weekends I'm free. It's nice to know who else is coming to certain things as well, especially if it's something where there will be people you don't know so you can get a few names and faces.

- Blogging. I don't have a blog any more, but I like to be able to post the occasional link, comment or piece of music I've recorded. People can choose whether to read/listen to it or ignore it.

- Just seeing what people are up to. You can browse the status updates and generally see how people are and what they're doing.

- Distraction from work. Sometimes it's just nice to go on and play with a couple of the apps.

I know different people use it in different ways, but I'm not fond of the 'if I want to contact someone I'll call them or go and see them' argument. Frankly I never called even my closest friends before Facebook was about (not because I'm a ****, I just never had anything so important it couldn't wait until I next see them) so if anything it's made me more social than I was before. I know a lot of people go through their friends list and cull those that haven't contacted them in a while, in which case I may have been wiped off a few!

I just see it as a more functional version of instant messaging really. A lot of people take the friends list literally and only have their close friends on there. Personally I've added most people I know, some of whom I'll only contact a couple of times a year, but it's nice to know that I can.

[Lana]

I didn't want a facebook for the longest time, but a friend in university talked me into it.
For me, it's a place to keep up with friends from all over the world... I have found more people on there than on Myspace. I also get a kick out of the applications, as Garp can attest. I was well addicted to Knighthood and this raising a dragon one.

I do have some people from high school that started adding me...we were never really close back in the day, and for the longest time I was just denying them. But I figure just because we weren't friends when we were teenagers doesn't mean we wouldn't be now.