I recently heard Facebook described as a "high school reunion gone terribly wrong". This made me laugh, as I recently started adding real life people to my formerly "fake" Facebook account and have been bombarded with friend requests from people whose phone numbers I tossed away a millennium ago.

Facebook is a stalker's paradise with their ridiculous privacy policy that keeps changing from day to day. For example: one day they changed it and everyone's dirty laundry, embarrassing pics, and cell phone numbers were out there for all to see. People lost their jobs over this, and many more lost their dignity.

Facebook was started by a couple of Harvard students who eventually sued each other when it became the giant monstrosity it is now. It most likely was a way to pick up on chicks and gossip, but now has spread to over 500 million users worldwide. I despise them for creating this thing.

I've never used my real last name for any of my endeavors, much less the internets. And I can't believe people are stupid enough to do this unless you are already using it in the media and can't avoid it. I have many musician friends, industry contacts, and former band members whose only internet presence is Facebook. So that is why I put up with this mess. Most of them are smart enough to not use their real names.

But the peripheral people I cut out of my life still find me. And out of politeness I accept their friend requests, only to be horrified to find out they are now Born Again/Republicans/Tea Baggers! I can't tell you how thrilled I am to learn how much they love JESUS and hate OBAMA and are organizing a fucking TEA PARTY! I'm so glad you are breeding and just love your pics of your stupid kids!

There is a reason I threw your numbers away. I'm psychic!

Never used it. Never will. I see no point in wallowing in nostalgia.

So just quietly de-friend them. It's not like they get notified.

Also, don't put embarrassing shit on your Facebook. Duh. I can't sympathize with anyone who thinks it's OK to do that.

It's a great tool - if used properly. Never treat it like it's private. Treat it like it's your public soap box.

^"Tool" being the key word here. Glad you like it, Insane.

I feel like I'm caught up in a network I can't escape from unless I delete the whole fucking thing and piss everyone off all at once!

I use it, but i don't post much stuff. My friends don't live that close to me, so it is an easy way for the group of us to keep in contact and make plans. Most of that is done through private messaging. Also it is easy to set up events. And i use it too share websites/photos/videos to people i work with. Other than that i don't post much.

It is creepy how people find you, ulg there are some people i never want to talk to again. And i fucking hate farmville.

I'm on it all the time. At first it was just for fun, playing games (ugh), etc. Now I use it for networking (and posting the occasional random thought, picture of the mini-worster, or funny video). Being a full-time writer means becoming a hermit for a large portion of your life, so it keeps me up to date with my friends who I'm neglecting in real life. I also use it to stay in touch with family, since we're spread all over the globe. Some of the high school people that friend me, I'm like "What the hell could you ever want from me other than to raise your friend count!" But eh, whatever. Like it was said earlier, I don't post too much personal information out there - no phone number, no address, no email, no year of birth, etc.

What kills me is when people play what I call "status games" (eg. "In your status list where you were born", "List your mom's maiden name" ). I was tempted to start one "List the last 4 digits of your social." Anyone stupid enough to play along with those deserves to get hacked in my opinion.

I use Facebook daily--keeps me in touch with friends and family members. My younger brother serving in Afghanistan uses Facebook to let us know he's still alive.

I play some games too, but I've been scaling back on that because all the stupid game postings annoy the shit out of me too.

I'm on Facebook and I use it all the time. But I try to follow these simple rules:

1. No inappropriate pics. No one wants to see your "business," I don't care how hot you think you are.

2. DO NOT badmouth coworkers/bosses/work. Why should managers keep you around if you make it VERY public that work sucked yesterday? What I do is I try to keep all my work-related updates as neutral as possible. Boring? Yes. But boring > losing your job.

3. Don't say fuck. wtf doesn't count. Yeah, I say it on here a lot, sue me.

4. No sex talk. Just. No.

5. Don't get political tyrade. You want to like the group "I Hate Obama?" Fine. But don't start attacking people because of their political beliefs. It gets annoying.

Facebook can be a useful tool if you know how to use it.

I originally opened an account for family only. Now I have everyone from my HS contacting me. The sad thing is; I remember their names but nothing else meaningful with most of them comes to mind. So I keep my posts bland and update family on activities. It's like a group email with less hassle. I do get a portion of ex girl friends who friend me then try to bring up the old days in PM. (Me banging them in their father's bed) but I just change the subject. To me FB is a take it or leave it proposition. Where as MySpace was 90% fantasy tards!

I will also admit that i have gotten in touch with old classmates I was dying to know what happened to. Basically FB is classmates with out the fee.

As far as people I do not like and do not want to offend I just hide them. I hide all people who play those dumb games.

I say fuck a lot on FB. I have tried to cut back though, since some of my friends' kids have friended me, and I don't want their moms bitching at me for teaching their daughters how to swear like a sailor on shore leave.

I resisted FB for quite a while because I thought it was a frivolous waste of time. I still kind of feel that way, but must admit, I enjoy being able to stay in touch with friends who have moved, current and former coworkers, and even a long-lost cousin! I also have some former high school and college classmates as friends, which I think is pretty cool, actually in that I moved the week after high school graduation and never returned. I've become good friends with a woman I went to high school with who I really didn't know then.

I don't post much personal stuff, don't swear, and avoid posting any incriminating photos (not that there really are many of them!). I wonder about people, especially some with whom I work, who are totally out there with the photos - lots of pictures of them drinking and doing all kinds of ridiculous things. Not cool.

I first got a Facebook at a time where I swore every ten seconds. Now I'm starting to cut down on the cursing drastically because I realized I shouldn't make myself look like an unintelligent hick by swearing every time I post something on there.

I stopped cursing on Facebook once I started adding people who had kids who are old enough to read and recognize curse words.

I curse and describe how little Tommy's mom was a slut. Sorry Tommy... the truth will st you free!

Yeah...I also never post TMI pictures...or mention my job in anything other than a vague "good work day" "challenging work day" kind of way. I have my privacy settings on as private as they can be, but I'm not naive enough to think that stops people that really want to see.

I use facebook to keep in touch with my real life friends who are too busy to meet often, some online friends from other countries, and Supernatural fans. I set everything to "friends only" but I'm still careful with what I post. I never post any embarrassing pics or mention people on my status that pissed me off. 90% of my updates are about Supernatural anyway, other times it's mostly other TV shows.

Okay, you all need to send me a PM with your full name so I can find you on facebook! Hahaha, just kidding. It really is creepy how so many people can find you there. I rarely search for people unless they tell me to look for them.

I got Facebook way the hell back when it first started and it was for college students only. I was a freshman in college at that time, so it was the cool college thing to do.

It's a great way to keep in touch with people and see how they're doing, but that's pretty much all I do. I'll update my status a few times a week. I don't play games, I don't post too many party pics, I don't like to brag about how cool I am and how cool my life is like so many of my friends do. And I don't complain or bitch about anything, like so many of my friends do.

Definitely no inappropriate pictures (I'm classy), but if a friend posts a picture of me with a beer in my hand at a party, okay whatever. I just don't like to post party pics myself because then it looks like I'm bragging about how cool I think I am. And I don't post pics of me in provocative clothing because then it looks like I'm bragging about how hot I think I am. I am not one to have a picture of myself in a bikini in the profile pic that everyone sees. I am not that full of myself. I also keep everything as private as can be. The only thing people who aren't my friends can see is my profile pic, name and hometown.

I get really annoyed by people who basically do everything that I just said I do not do on Facebook. And I HATE PEOPLE WHO PLAY THE FUCKING GAMES and I am constantly updated on my news feed about everytime they get 20 coins in cafeworld or whatever the fuck they're playing.

K, Facebook rant, over.

Facebook is so last year, and only The Devil is The Devil.

I agree with you Sahara... I have pics up of events I have attended or dinners with friends. Some of my younger friends (mostly female, sorry) really like to slut it up. And the kissy faces they do... Hey idiots... you look like ducks!!

The worst are the mid thirty people who can't bare the fact they are no longer in their 20s and go the extra mile to prove it by showing vodka being guzzled or them simulating a sex act for the camera. Ot the comments... "Well Johnny invited me to Catalina and I was there last month, but Joey wants to go to Vegas; and we all know what that means!"... Yes we know Sally Slut-Sack... Catalina means you get fed with vodka and Johnny abuses you like he pictured he would after seeing your pics on FB. Joey will have 5 buddies with him and an engineer to run the train!!! Decisions... Decisions!!

Privacy settings on FB only keep the public or "non-friends" from seeing your personal information. The question everyone should ask themselves is how well do you know your FB friends list, and what kind of information do you share with your so-called friends?

Should Bratty Lil Ben from 2nd grade really know your email address, telephone number, home address? Do you use your pets' names as passwords to your gmail account or any other online accounts (i.e. credit cards, banks, etc.)? If yes, these "friends" may be able to hack your personal accounts online.

Security questions that are usually asked on a secure website (What's your mother's maiden name? Pet's name? High school?) have answers that can be readily found on your FB account by "friends" who are patient enough to look for them.

Cliff's Notes to my tl;dr --> In FB, sometimes it's people on your friends list that you should worry about, not the general public.

So far, I have managed to avoid the Facebook abyss, Twitter too. Unfortunately my oldest child will probably force me to finally sign up. I have to keep an eye on her. ALL OF HER FRIENDS ARE ON AND IT'S JUST SO UNFAIR THAT SHE ISN'T, OMG THE WORLD ID GOING TO END!!!!!