Definitely not, and I also don't talk about religion on FB and I'm surprised at how many people do. Honestly, I'm tired of seeing all those cutesy inspirational/religious photos that one or two of my friends keep posting. You know the picture of the clouds with rays of sun bursting through with some comment about loving Jesus. Don't get me wrong; I am a Christian (though I don't really go to church) but I just think FB is a strange forum for that stuff.

Or how about people who make dinner and then post a picture of it?

Sorry, FB just annoys me at times! On the other hand, I love it for seeing pics of my friends' vacations or their kids, dogs, etc. I also have a class reunion coming up and thanks to FB, I will actually recognize many of my former classmates!

What started out as a social network for college kids has turned into something entirely different.
My "favorite" is friending a store like Lands' End or Talbots! How ridiculous is this?
I use it only as a way of seeing what a my kids or a few people are up to. I have less than twenty people on my list.

I don't think politics belongs on Facebook at all, but at least a political rant means the person took some time and effort to compose the thought and type it.

That's slightly better, IMO, than having someone's political "likes" of meaningless cliches from extremist political Facebook sites showing up on my screen. These one-button press "likes" are a reflection of the shallow thought process of the person pressing the button.

I have my 3 children and my DIL and my brother and nephew...that's it ! I don't have a pic of me on there either and never post. I just use it so I can see my DIL's pics of grand baby and DD's pics. c

The political and "cutesy" photos have gotten out of hand. Just this weekend a friend and I were talking about it. I think it's more tit for tat than anything. If someone puts up an anti-Obama link, then one of their friends put up an anti-Romney link, and on and on it goes.

What's worse is so much of it is filled with hateful vitriol. Do they think they'll change my mind on what candidate I'm going to vote for? NO.

Other than that I still love FB! And I'm one of those who post pictures of something I cooked. lol. But my friends do too, so it's a lot of fun to see what we've cooked up.

Ellendi: People frequently "friend" a store, product, hotel chain, restaurant, Redbox, etc. because it can get them special offers -- discount codes, test products. It's not really because they want to make sure friends know where they can afford to shop or anything like that (altho, if somebody's friending a very, very expensive shoemaker, that's probably just wishful thinking!)

I went on Facebook because it's an easy way to stay in touch with my nieces and nephews. My only "friends" are my nieces, nephews and sisters. I seldom make a comment and the stuff that is talked about is the next marathon or bike race that my sister wants to enter and does anyone want to join her. I get photos of my great-nephews and of my nephews latest car, etc.

My impression is that Facebook, despite your settings, is one of the easiest sites to get into and fish around for info. My advice is to keep your personal beliefs away from facebook.

My one friend made a strong comment against Obama on her account and that really started a war. I stayed out but I did take away the lesson to stay away from politics. I do occasionally "Like" the comments of organizations that I admire. I guess others can see that and I definitely have differing opinions from some of my friends. I guess they can figure out where I stand on certain subjects, but we never debate it. I can see some theirs, too.

I have one friend who is very religious and I finally "hid" her remarks because they were getting to be too much. (Hallelujah, the sun came up today! Praise God! - with pictures of sunbeams and angels).

I have to say that although what I wrote above is annoying I do find my young cousins five or more postings a day on potty training her child (including details) even more annoying than politics. I have kids, they are grown now but even though we have being a mother in common how could they possibly think anyone else cares so much that they need moment by moment details. My husband recently went through a heart procedure and I gave one daily update. Is poop more important these days? I think so because the poopy pee pee icky kaka mom did not even give a hidey ho.

So, to me facebook is good for something's. I'm going to stay off another two and a half weeks or so until "Kegan" is potty trained. Or a least that's how long the mom predicts. And that is how long the bombardment of pee/poop posts and photos went on with the first one. I can put up with the other cousin in-laws moment by moment nausea and vomiting updates in regards to her new pregnancy. This pregnancy is keeping my aunt (the one with brain tumors I told you about) alive, she is already well past her life expectancy. She really wants to see her first grandchild.

I will continue to stay mum about politics and poop.

Jt, instead of not getting on FB, simply "hide" your cousin's postings for a couple of weeks.

Okay, here's the funniest FB posting I've ever seen in my life! Last night I checked FB before I went to bed. One of my friends posted, "Pray for me, I'm on the way to the ER with chest pains and pain going up my neck!" Part of me found it hilarious because she still had to do FB at such a scary time, then the other part of me was really worried.

She may be having a heart attack and gets on FB? lol. But she's fine so far, still in the hospital taking a bunch of tests and she's posting away!

I would not comment on politics until recently. Now, if someone posts an opinion I don't agree with I will just ingnore it. If someone posts an opinion and tries to pass it off as fact, I will comment and link to a reliable news source (Politifact, NYT, WaPo etc) to clarify why I might disagree.

Imo, too much at stake not to highlight the facts when rumor/falsehoods are stated as facts.

I post whatever I want, if someone is offended they don't have to follow my posts. I dislike that facebook has become so much trite sayings gathered from Pinterest and few want to stand up for what they believe in. It's the way of the world, somebody won't like what you say!

But you have to stand for something otherwise you stand for nothing.

That said, I don't post much, and get religious feed as well as raunchy near porn from some young guy friends almost daily.
At least they both stand for something!

I am more appalled that anyone can/does have thousands of friends. Even hundreds is appalling to me. I wish my "friends" were my real true friends but most are bare acquaintances at that. I have never turned down a friend request but I have felt annoyed to get requests from people I have hardly spoken two words to ever.

We can stand for something but not post it on FB.

I don't get the hundreds or thousands of friends either. I don't accept half the friend requests though. If I don't know them well, then I won't friend them.

As my daughter has mentioned to me, sometimes people just friend you so they can snoop and they also get to see what others who are not their friend are doing through the person they friended.
I think too, you can not take it too seriously. The young people especially post provate jokes that might seem weird and only have meaning to the ones in on the joke.
Pammy, yes I realize that you are not friending a store per se. When I agree to be on Lands' End list I thought what you mentioned. That I woould only get post for sales etc. Not the case!So I dropped them.

I now have seven FB friends, most members of my own family who post pictures. I'm just not interested if people go to the grocery store, whether they like a certain product, are wearing a particular brand or are attending "virtual" events. Its embarrassing that people have allowed their lives to become advertising fodder. Also agree that the religious and political posts are ridiculous--- and at times nauseating. I would guess that the people who post the most about those topics know the least about them!

I came across this hilarious "template for every Facebook argument ever" and it is so true! See the link--- you will undoubtedly recognize something you've seen on Facebook!

Here is a link that might be useful: A Generic Facebook Argument!

Kawl...that is funny and true. I know I have a link somewhere to prove that it is not only funny but TRUE. Here it is thezoonews@$%^&&. Because this is a link it is true...as you know all links are true that I post (but not that everyone else posts).

Oops I meant to address Kswl's post not Kawl. The other side made me do it.

I have mixed feelings on the political postings. I would enjoy it if people wanted an open debate where they were willing to respectfully consider other opinions, but that is generally not what is going on. Many people that I love have differing political views than I do so I have decided that my friendships with them are more important to me than arguing over those differences so I ignore most political things. I also just take it as a part of themselves.

What I find most irritating are the people who use such mediums to present a better side of themselves. There are so many times I have been tempted to write on some posts of one my relatives because their posts are so very far from the reality. I also get irritated with adults people who just love to post pictures of themselves taken with their phones, all the time. Then I just want to say Grow Up and get over yourself.

All in all, I do enjoy facebook. I like being able to keep track of some things from stores I like and blogs that I like. It is convenient to have that just pop up on one page. It has also allowed me to get to know some people better too, like some women from church. It helps somebody like me with poor conversational skills to have a lead in, like, "So how did it work out with that snake in the garden?"

I don't put anything personal on facebook, much less my political or religious beliefs. I have actually seen very few political posts. Actually, I rarely post anything other than comments on other's posts. LOL I don't put up pix, etc. either and very little personal info.

tina

I post whatever I want, if someone is offended they don't have to follow my posts.

If you "like" something on Facebook, apparently there is no way for your friends not to see it. It shows up on their screen no matter what their settings are . . . as far as I can figure out.

You can choose not to follow friends in your feed, there are choices but off hand I can't direct you to the place to do so. I stopped following some who posted continuous baby and children pics- or, I found boring!

How do you do that, do not follow or hide their postings? Is that the restricted tic?

Go to a friends page.
Hover over the Friends box.
You will get a drop down list, click on settings.
Choose what you want to see from them.

Thanks Bumblebeez!

I do not appreciate political banter on FB. I always just ignore it.

I will say this, FB helped ease the pain and insomnia the first few nights after my father's sudden passing last week. I have spent a lot of time on there at night, because I simply can't sleep, but reading all the beautiful tributes to my Dad and sharing pictures and stories with my family made this unbearable loss bearable.

So, it can be good for some things.

I'm not a huge facebook user - just a few close friends. I don't post my political views there and I also generally don't discuss them except with people who have similar beliefs. People are just too visceral about politics these days. It wouldn't be bad if people had a stimulating intellectual discussion with opposing views but that's not how it usually plays out. People seem to not only attack your political views but it morphs into attacking you personally if your life's choices or lifestyle are in line with the opposition. I can tell from facebook that most of my friends have the opposite view from me. I want them to remain friends so I ignore their political postings and I don't share my views.

Bumblebeez, that did not work for me. I tried over and over to stop the "Likes" from one person on Facebook and was unable to do it. It didn't matter what I clicked on. I made that person an acquaintance, I tried "restricted." You can control what they see of your stuff, but I could not find a way to stop the "Likes" appearing in my news feed.

Hmmm, I don't know why that is. Are you unchecking the boxes on their page under Friends, Settings, What type of Updates?
Unchecking the Comments and Likes box?

I'm curious now.

Gray, go to your FB newsfeed, which is Facebook.com. Of course you have to be logged in. That's the only page I go to so I can read everyone's updates on one page.

To the far right of the person's name, hover your cursor there and an upside down arrow will appear. Click on it and choose the option you want.

I did that just now, Oakly however, if you go to a friends home page, you have many more options than in the newsfeed dropdown box.

Now if someone could tell me how to get the birthday app to work! I cannot respond to anyone's birthday requests.

You can hide posts by going to their most recent post and in the upper right corner if you hover there is an arrow. Click the arrow then you can choose to hide all posts from that person, recieve only important and a variety of other options. That way you're not unfriending them, you just don't have to see all the stupid junk.

However, you might not get a lot of their posts, but if they're just real time wasters, it's not too bad.

I don't spend much time on FB, but my uncle and an old high school friend continuously send out emails with their political comments. It's like they assume everyone they know has the same views and I'm actually the complete opposite. It's funny, because I haven't responded back because I don't want to offend them, but I keep telling myself that's stupid since they're certainly not worried about offending me. My high school friend is a very sweet person in every other way and my uncle is in his 70's and probably not in the greatest health, so I guess I just don't want to start trouble.

Aha! They must have just added "unsubscribe from comments and likes." That wasn't there two weeks ago.

While we are on the facebook subject, I get a lot of "Do You Remember When" photos and am supposed to like it if I remember.
Uhhh, half of these photos/things took place in the eighties!

I get the pics taken from the forties and fifties but yes, I do indeed remember events that occurred in 1985.
I guess I am truly approaching old age now that those born in the eighties think that is a long time ago!

Oh that is wonderful that you can now unsubscribe from comments and likes. I can't stand all that junk.

I joined FB (reluctantly) 2 1/2 years ago. It was the easiest way, and very pleasant, to keep up with soldiers in the family stationed overseas and another family member doing a muli-year work stint in Europe. The rest of my family is scattered across a few states so it's been nice seeing how everyone is doing, watching kids grow, weddings, etc. I don't Friend local friends/family, just personal preference. It was good for a long time, but now the political stuff is just getting out of hand. Several relatives are very politically active & it's a daily bombardment in my news feed of photos, stats, slogans, complaints, all political. Others are tired of it too, they just don't post as much. Those little newsy updates are overshadowed by the huge political pics that take up so much space. And I've seen a few posts in feeds get heated between family members affiliated with opposing parties. I stay away from politics & religion, again personal choice.

As an aside, I read an article last spring that FB will be the new primary venue for business; corporations to retailers, etc. who will have their own pages, a 'wave of the future' . So it won't be just social.

Bumble, I just came from my newsfeed and I swear, most of it was those "do you remember when?" photos!

Oh, and are you getting the "count the squares?" photo numerous times? At first it was fun, now it's not.

Maybe it's the heat of the summer and people aren't doing anything so we get those pictures instead? lol

I love Facebook to keep in touch with old friends and see what my kids are up to. I'm a very political person, but I don't start political posts, and it's been really, really hard for me, but I've decided not to respond to other's political postings. Sometimes I'll post on a thread that I agree with, but I try to keep it casual and funny if I can. Like others have said, we're not going to change anyone's minds about their beliefs and it can only lead to bad feelings. When someone posts something that's just not true, I have tried to dispute it, because really, they are getting their "news" from conspiracy bloggers and don't see the difference, but in the end they don't care because they really don't want facts to get in the way of their beliefs. I'm not going to waste my time trying to change that.

But I'll admit that I occasionally post a picture of my dinner!

Funny, I just deactivated my FB account this week. It started out so great, and I loved catching up with old friends, relatives and classmates from far away - esp to see their pics. But now I'm so sick of the bragging, the extreme political posts, the religious posts, the DRAMA, and especially the "likes." I saw the same "remember when" posts over and over and over. And I could give a rat's you-know-what if one of my friends "likes" one of their friend's (who I don't know) family picture.
And FB decides what you get to see; you don't. I would see so much crap that I had zero interest in, yet nothing of the posts by some of my friends that I would have liked to have seen.
Not only that, FB's security issues are legendary. There have been at least four times when FB has changed privacy settings, with the setting defaulting to sharing your personal info. Thankfully, I either read on the net about it or someone alerted me to it so that I could go back into my privacy settings and fix it.
Having said that, tho, I think a big part of what's wrong with our political system today is the inability of people to discuss politics in a civil way. I have friends on both the extreme right and extreme left, and I think they're all wrong. If someone wanted to - intelligently and politely - post an opinion on FB and offer some facts to back it up, I'd want to read it and I think it's great if people discuss it. Unfortunately, some people seem to equate "discuss" with personally attacking anyone who doesn't share their opinion. I certainly don't now know everything, and I doubt that I ever will, so I'm always open to learning. I love the Hot Topics forum on GW. When I was on FB, I just ignored most of the posts I didn't like unless I thought someone was way out of line. I did unfriend a couple of people who were over the top with their religion and politics and drama.
Deactivating your account makes it disappear, but it's still stored in case you want to activate it at some point in the future. I'm going to evaluate how much I miss it.
Besides, it really is a black hole sometimes that wastes A LOT of time.

I finally agreed to FB and several friends asked. I enjoyed catching up with old classmates and their families. I still enjoy seeing pictures and giving BD wishes but I stay out of other conversations/postings and games. I too saw a classmate defriend another because of political beliefs.

I don't have facebook, never have, but you can actually see someone defriending someone else??

After an 18-month absence from FB, I recreated an account in order to view photos from my scuba instructor. I can say that, having now been back on FB for a couple of weeks, I definitely haven't been missing much. I find I'm not nearly as drawn to it as I was before, and that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I don't have many FB friends at this point - only the people that I really want to be in contact with. Under my old account I had managed to reconnect with just about everyone from my past and present, and realized that only a fraction of those people really had any relevance in my life anymore. I think that FB is a ridiculous place to spout political views, although most of my friends are of like-mind, so I'm not seeing much "drama" in that regard anymore.

Shortly after I rejoined FB, I got a friend request from someone who had 500+ friends and it was obvious he was simply "collecting." Then I got a request from someone who lives in an area where we vacation who wanted to send me risque photos. I have no idea what is wrong with people like that, but I want no part of it.

"People are just too visceral about politics these days. It wouldn't be bad if people had a stimulating intellectual discussion with opposing views but that's not how it usually plays out. People seem to not only attack your political views but it morphs into attacking you personally if your life's choices or lifestyle are in line with the opposition. "

Gibby, you hit the nail on the head. What a shame too, because we so badly need dialogue. Too much stereotyping & demonizing, & not enough "what is your reasoning behind your position on this issue?" There is valid thinking on both sides of many, many issues, surprise surprise.

Jterrilynn, too funny--- Of course your links and my links are always reliable, lol! :-)

This popped up on the FB feed today! Made me laugh.

{{gwi:1516430}}

I saw that too! I was tempted to share it to my page but I'm afraid I'd anger a lot of my friends. lol

But I'm glad someone had the good sense to do the picture because I think it will spread like wild fire and some will get the hint!

That is perfect!! I'm almost tempted to re-activate my account just so I can post it.

Goldgirl, that is great. I "subscribe" to several pages with whose opinions I agree, but I know some of my friends do not. I am always tempted to share those that resonate with me, but I don't because I don't want to start a war or hurt someone's feelings.

I wish there were a way to keep others from seeing all my comments and likes. I have already hidden most of those from other people but I;d rather be in a position to decide for myself what others see from me. I have my settings at Custom, because there is one person in particular that I do not want seeing my posts. This way, she doesn't see them and I don't have to Unfriend her.

Dear heavens, FB has even engendered a totally new vocabulary. When did unfriend become a word? At least my spell check recognizes it as incorrect!

I have begun to use FB more as a newsfeed from sites I like such as PBS and Slate and a few others. I do enjoy people's pictures.

I think posting the things we are passionate about is not about changing those who disagree, but relating with those who do and also keeping up to date on the latest categorical news.
I get both sides of nearly everything, it doesn't offend me at all.
The "friend" who uses facebook to constantly advertise her business and always has something I feel vaguely guilty for not participating in, well, she annoys me.

I don't use it much, but Google Plus has the option of creating different "circles" of friends and family. You can choose to share certain things with different circles. And the circles can overlap. So you can have someone in your work circle and also in your personal friend circle.