Facebook

[MissionMan]

But Ap is social media! There is no difference.

I think this is different from the perspective that it's a little niche so it's less likely to be a target for trolls.

I also think sites like this are far more controlled. Facebook and twitter have very little control. I guarantee you I could post something and it would probably take 48 hours to get removed whereas AP would probably remove it within an hour or two. Ausphoto also has limits around what you can post, pictures, links etc where social media don't. The moment you're on there, you can do whatever you want.

[Steve Axford]

Facebook has plenty of control if you choose to use it, or almost none if you don't. Same as here. The reason AP has control is that several people spend a lot of time vetting things. You can do that on Facebook. The sites that are a free-for-all are those that nobody bothers to exercise control.

[ameerat42]

"Social media" is just a description of the vehicle. But even so, FB and AP are rather different vehicles.
It is true that AP is more "social media" than it is a giraffe, but AP has a fairly focused purpose - photography - and it is moderated, and not just by moderators, but by the whole lot
of us here. I suspect that:
1) FB is less moderated officially (I dunno, could be wrong), and certainly much less so by the users themselves (from what I've seen over shoulders and heard from others).
2) The respective motivations of the users would be widely different. Who knows what you could say about its broad purpose.

Sure, it has its uses, and some people abuse it. It depends on whether you want to be part of it or not.

(Blarstt! Had to restrore auto-saved content. Was supposed to answer post 20 of Steve's)

[Steve Axford]

You talk of facebook as if it was a single site, yet you can create groups on it, define the rules for the group and then moderate the group. Not a lot different to here really.

[Mark L]

You talk of facebook as if it was a single site, yet you can create groups on it, define the rules for the group and then moderate the group.

And is that what most of facebook is devoted to?
And is that the way most people use facebook?
I suspect if the majority of people used it the way you do Steve, there'd be a lot less problems created by the use of facebook.

[Steve Axford]

I suspect that most people do use it the way I do, Mark. I really don't see great problems associated with it.

[freelancer]

On the facebook positive side, my local area has a buy swap and sell which seems to be very popular and well liked.

Another plus which I never thought I would be saying is that my teenage daughter recently joined it. She's not your typical teenager as she's more about nature and research than social media. She scuba dives and does both underwater and dry land photography. Since being on facebook she has now become part of a very large network of researchers and is finding and photographing species which were not thought to be in our area. She was also featured in the Brink UTS magazine with full front cover and the Sydney Morning Herald. She has also discovered introduced species (which through the network of facebook), has ended with another contact in biosecurity at its highest level. The list of contacts she has made within the field of her interest and the respect she receives from these people, has truly amazed us.

On the flip side - what with school and time in the field, she got knocked off this site for not posting regularly enough!!!
Jon

[ApolloLXII]

Like it or loathe it, Facebook is a fact of life (unless it goes the same way as Myspace or Geocities) and you are always going to get some idiot spoiling things for others whenever you encourage public participation. Here, there are moderators who keep those who err in line but you would need an army of moderators if you want to see any semblance of the same thing on Facebook. Due to the sheer scale of Facebook and it's multitude of participants, any sort of moderation is nigh on impossible. Trolls, idiots and knuckleheads come with the territory so it all really boils down to your privacy settings and who is able to see your posts. Most people don't bother with privacy settings and then wonder why some nork is giving them grief. My best advice is to ignore the trolls, knuckledraggers and other assorted idiots and don't give them the opportunity to start picking on you. If they start being a problem, hide their posts and block their access to yours.

I have a general policy regarding who can and who can't see what I post and that is really simple. If I don't know you, I won't make you my friend. You would be amazed how many Facebookers ignore this rule and make the whole wide world privy to what they post (mostly because making complete strangers your friend increases your friend count and gives the appearance that you are a popular person) and that's just asking to be trolled, spammed or bullied. I use Facebook primarily as a tool to keep in contact with family and friends, the majority of whom are spread across the continent so it's a cheap way of staying in contact. I haven't written a letter to a family member in years (except for my favourite Aunt who is really old school and doesn't use the internet) because I can catch up with them via Facebook and vice versa. Having said that, I'm not entirely sold on Facebook because it has far too much advertising and only a small percentage of my family/friend circle can see my posts unless I cough up some moolah to boost them (socialising at a price). In spite of that, Facebook is a tool (much like a camera) which, if used properly and with due consideration, can be very useful and I don't mind admitting that I spend far more time on there than here but that is purely because I'm the only serious tog amongst my family and friends. AusPhotography is my social site where I can interact with like minded photographers and it serves that purpose rather well.

The bottom line to all of this is that we should all spend less time on the internet anyway and spend more time behind our cameras .

[Steve Axford]

On the facebook positive side, my local area has a buy swap and sell which seems to be very popular and well liked.

Another plus which I never thought I would be saying is that my teenage daughter recently joined it. She's not your typical teenager as she's more about nature and research than social media. She scuba dives and does both underwater and dry land photography. Since being on facebook she has now become part of a very large network of researchers and is finding and photographing species which were not thought to be in our area. She was also featured in the Brink UTS magazine with full front cover and the Sydney Morning Herald. She has also discovered introduced species (which through the network of facebook), has ended with another contact in biosecurity at its highest level. The list of contacts she has made within the field of her interest and the respect she receives from these people, has truly amazed us.

On the flip side - what with school and time in the field, she got knocked off this site for not posting regularly enough!!!
Jon

That's the way I use it too, plus my personal page for family and friends (real, live, touchy-feely friends). Never had any problems with idiots and I have collected good contacts from around the world. It does help if you have an interest to focus on and photography is way too broad. After all, everyone has a camera (phone) now and so considers themselves a photographer.

[Analog6]

My sentiments precisely. I do not make friends easily in person, as I am a bit of an introvert, but I have made some pretty special friends via Facebook, some of them overseas, touched base with people I haven't seen or heard from in years, and had a lot of fun.

I take people as I find them, if they prove to be not my 'cuppa' I unfriend them. I share the images I like personally, both mine and others, and I enjoy seeing all the images there, some are inspiring and some are pretty ordinary, but if we all liked the same things life would be very B O R I N G ! !

FB is a very useful tool for the lonely and disempowered, for whatever reasons.

If you don't think much of FaceBook then why are you using it?

I enjoy FB. I keep in touch with family and friends. I share my images. I have had many a good laugh, and had a few cries. I have seen some images that have inspired, and some that make me want to throw up.
FB can save lives. FB can take lives. Many a time when this site is down, I have checked FB to see the reason why.

Yes, you get trolls among the millions of users. But how many times has this site alone had cyber attacks trying to get information to invade our privacy, steal money from our bank accounts and send us loads of spam.

My only pet hate with FB, is how the younger generation use it to get sympathy. There is a fair bit of "woe is me", and the expect to get heaps of support messages.

And the grammar.... Don't me started on that one.

My only fear, is that it takes members away from forums like this one. FB is simple and easy to use. The only forums that are not so effected are the ones that have some sort of piracy involved.

[enseth]

My biggest issue with Face Book is that it doesn't have a "Dislike" button.