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Facebook Discussion - Do you use it or not? Why?

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Hey all, I wanted to start a discussion about Facebook. The main question is, do you use it? Why or why not? 

There's no doubt it's good for networking, and staying in contact with people. But, it's also a good source of high blood pressure and a time waster. 

I've considered getting rid of it, but I'm also worried it will hurt the networking side of things. Do any of you -not- use it? Do you find it hurts your career at all? Did you used to use it then quit? What were the major changes you saw in your life? Good or bad! Or just your two cents on it would be great! I want to hear everyone's opinions.

This video relates to it a bit as well. Well worth a watch, and the reason I'm bringing it up right now, actually. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER0Qp6QJNU 

Replies

  • stickadtroja
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    stickadtroja polycounter lvl 11
    uhh didnt really like that video. what he says about millenials feels people said about every generation.

    but no, i dont have facebook. never had it. never missed it really. the bad greatly out weighs the good.
    but im pretty sure it has affected my career. my last jobs, and interviews ive been to has been forwarded to me by a friend who is in many game related facebook groups. im considering making a account solely for job hunting.

    communication suffers a lot being put through texts and posts. and the freedom to put up this face facade is almost only hurting in my opinion. like sure you can make yourself look good by taking nice looking photos and writing witty posts. but eventually, its the real world that matters. and you cant fake that stuff there. if you are depressed, insecure or insincere, everyone can tell. as it should be.

  • slipsius
    Ya, a bunch of it does relate to every generation, really. I was thinking more about the always connected thing. Being out with friends but on your phones. Or on your phones in meetings. Stuff like that. 
  • RyanB
    I use Facebook to share videos of my family with distant family members almost exclusively.  Other than that, I post about once a month.  It's also good for arranging meetings/events with large groups of people.

    Linkedin is focused on work so I use that for work related stuff. 

    I use a flip phone.  $25 a month vs $90 a month.  $65 x 12 months = $780 a year saved plus it removes a huge amount of time wasting from my life.  I use company phones for testing our games.  I have an iPod for music and photos.  The only time I take pictures of food is when I catch it myself.

    The video is interesting.  Living in the city, I see a certain class of parents who do raise their children as "special snowflakes" (for example RIE parenting).  I have no idea how they will turn out later in life but I keep my kids far, far away from them. :)



  • Joebewon
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    Joebewon polycounter lvl 12
    I was wasting a good chunk of time scrolling through my news feed and seeing a lot of stuff I didn't really care about.   I ended up finding a chrome plug-in which removes your news feed entirely.  

    News feed Eradicator 
    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicator-for/fjcldmjmjhkklehbacihaiopjklihlgg?hl=en

    Now I just use the messenger and the groups which can be pretty useful when it comes to getting in touch with people.  I think Facebook can be a useful tool, but it can be very damaging if you're not careful with it.  
     
  • PyrZern
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    PyrZern polycounter lvl 12
    I use Facebook, and other social media platforms (like, Reddit, and others), quite a lot.

    1. I use it for arts related stuff. There are many good FB groups about arts. Ten Thousand Hours, Artists old N new, and more. Not mention products-related groups like Zbrush, Substance Designer, or Marmoset Toolbag 3 Beta Group. Or tutorials stuff like Cuberush, and etc.

    2. Many friends I don't meet quite often in person. But if they are cool people, I will keep in touch with them, and interact with them. 

    3. Entertainment. Games, tv shows, movies, etc. Also mostly from Reddit.

    4. News. Mostly from Reddit.


  • Meloncov
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    Meloncov greentooth
    I'm pretty aggressive about hiding people who post uninteresting stuff, so ninety percent of what I see is either stuff from good friends/family I actually care about, or art stuff from Ten Thousand Hours or one of the other groups I'm a part of.
  • Add3r
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    Add3r polycounter lvl 11
    I think it really is what you make of it.  Like @Meloncov said, hiding those who you want to stay "friends" with but not necessarily see all of their baby pictures or pointless political statements that everyone is better off without... is a big way to shape the experience.  I see pretty much only what I am interested in by filtering those who pop up in my feed, and what groups I am apart of.  I use it regularly to keep in touch with developer friends around the world, the polycount FB chat, and a time waster when I am in the mood to procrastinate.  Most of the time, I end up lurking on Polycount though.  
  • Rockley Bonner
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    Rockley Bonner polycounter lvl 12
    I see it as a great way to network and keep informed on trends (Tech, art, politics etc.) Its easy to waist time though. Oh lokkie there, my Facebook profile is in my sig :3
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    no. It's blocked in China, comrade!
    I mostly use LinkedIn for professional contacts though and I even there I feel I end up wasting time getting distracted by LinkedIn's Facebook-ization.
  • Biomag
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    Biomag sublime tool
    I've avoided facebook up to a few weeks ago, when a course I am taking had a facebook group for feedback.

    I prefer linkedin for professional contacts and since the class has a forum now, I will probably delete my FB account soon. Not that I've been using it for anything except that group anyhow.
  • bounchfx
    I largely try to avoid it. I have bad internet habits of clicking my bookmarks to certain places over and over in succession. One of those bad habits was facebook. I didn't do much there, but scrolling the timeline can catch your eye easily and waste a lot of time without you even realizing it. So in addition to removing my bookmarks to sites like twitter and facebook, I also installed a chrome extension that removes the facebook timeline altogether. I still go there a few times a day, but really only to see if anyone sent me a message, otherwise I close it immediately. It has a lot of fantastic uses but holy fuck is it depressing how big of an impact it has on the world and how people digest information.


    edit: I use the same thing Joebewon linked
  • SpaceRogue
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    SpaceRogue polycounter lvl 3
    Made one a few years back but I hate it, I just have it too 'have it' as in some situations it has come in handy. Like for school about a year ago, sharing files and having to do a groupwork where 1 person was physically unable to talk witch made FB important for the project.

    I occasionally log in to 'like' some stuff, maybe repost something of 10K hours and then hop off again in a timespan of 10 minutes. The whole site just gives me the creeps. 
  • valuemeal
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    valuemeal polycounter lvl 6
    Well I made one when it came out because someone suggested it . I didn't use it for five years, but after college people stopped using AIM and skype frequently; so I started using it just to converse with people. I don't even actually visit the site that often; I just use a messenger ap that allows me to use it as though it was IM.
  • McGreed
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    McGreed polycounter lvl 15
    I got it after a while it came out, and then got sick of it about 2-3 years ago and removed my account. Then I moved to a new place and the roommates had a conversation group on facebook and I ended up creating  a new account again just for that, and have since then just used it for adding people from the company, no family or other people. I also using the messenger app after long pressure and I don't like it, it drains your battery from my experience, and I haven't had any luck finding an alternative.
  • Vertrucio
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    Vertrucio greentooth
    It's not good for lengthy detailed discussions, just because of how it's formatted and displayed. You end up losing posts and seeing things out of context, especially since you can't inline quote.

    But otherwise, nothing inherently wrong with using it. I view it as a platform meant for twitter length posts, you should link out to other places if you have any kind of detail.
  • Jonas Ronnegard
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    Jonas Ronnegard polycount sponsor
    Facebook have helped me a lot in spreading my art as well as hosting my page to stay connected to people without having to always be in direct contact.

    As a professional artist I think you only have something to gain by staying connected and sharing your art,
    all other things that might seem negative about it just doesn't matter in comparison.
  • slipsius
    bounchfx said:
    . . . I have bad internet habits of clicking my bookmarks to certain places over and over in succession. One of those bad habits was facebook. I didn't do much there, but scrolling the timeline can catch your eye easily and waste a lot of time without you even realizing it. . . . 
    Thanks for your thoughts, everyone! Some good views on it in here. 

    Bounchfx, this right here is exactly what I do. I could be surfing facebook, get bored, hit a new tab, then press my facebook bookmark. Sometimes I`ll have multiple tabs open for facebook at the same time. I also do it with polycount. 

    I think it's time I start organizing my friends and what I see. What they see. etc. 

    Definitely going to give that plugin a try, though. Thanks for sharing, Joebewon! 
  • Jonas Ronnegard
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    Jonas Ronnegard polycount sponsor
    yeah getting stuck on the facebook timeline can be dangerous.

    starts with a cat video that takes you to youtube which later turns into Russian car crashes, dangerous circle.
  • Amsterdam Hilton Hotel
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    Amsterdam Hilton Hotel insane polycounter
    Facebook is a more visual platform than this very forum. 

    I post all my game art there. I find it much more lively and active to post on. You get more feedback. Networking is more natural, with real faces and realtime messages to connect people.

    Like any social platform you need self-control to not spend all day on it or get drawn into arguments about nothing, but it's very valuable as a way to spread your work.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    yeah getting stuck on the facebook timeline can be dangerous.

    starts with a cat video that takes you to youtube which later turns into Russian car crashes, dangerous circle.
    So it's like Wikipedia, but less educational?
  • kanga
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    kanga quad damage
    Yeah I see it as another platform to promote your work. One I am going to make more use of in the future.
  • CreativeSheep
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    CreativeSheep polycounter lvl 8
    Facebook is garbage, it's not used for taken seriously.
  • Synaesthesia
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    Synaesthesia polycounter
    I use Facebook for a lot of the work I do managing two Facebook groups for Quixel. For my personal contacts or networking, I make extensive use of the extension called FB Purity to filter posts containing certain keywords from my news feed and to clean up the site significantly. If you hate clutter and want to limit distractions but still find networking useful on Facebook, give FB Purity a shot. You can take out a lot of the stuff you don't like.

    The biggest issue with Facebook (and many other sites) for me is that they default to a white background with black text - it's like staring into a light bulb. If this hurts your eyes as well, try installing the Stylish extension and use a custom style for the site. The one I'm using below is Dusky Gray Facebook.


  • CreativeSheep
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    CreativeSheep polycounter lvl 8
    You work for Quixel; that is a different story.
  • Neox
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    Neox veteran polycounter
    Facebook is garbage, it's not used for taken seriously.
    Is it so hard to elaborate?

    Without it is just a totally random post? why is it garbage, what do you dislike, why cant you take it seriously?
  • Jonas Ronnegard
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    Jonas Ronnegard polycount sponsor
    It is what you make of it.
  • JamesMeader
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    JamesMeader polycounter lvl 9
    I do use Facebook and as my career has progressed the way I use Facebook or what I post has changed. I am constantly reminded from timehop and memories of the embarrassing stuff I used to post but that's what happens when you've been using it since you were 17. 

    Since getting my first games job and the heavy progression of my career I often think a lot more of what I post. Now my Facebook is mainly an ongoing timeline of my artwork and career of which family and friends can keep up to date with. I do get a lot of feedback mainly through ex-colleagues messaging me feedback when I need it.

    The first thing I always think now before posting is 'will anyone one care?' and then i take it from there. 

    I have experienced though I do get sick of Facebook with the constant onslaught of annoying as fuck memes and occasional offensive videos and shares. I do follow certain art groups, but I hid 10,000 hours as it was getting too annoying. 

    I guess ultimately it's a case of habit and the fact I can update everything so that close friends and family can know is a lot easier then sending multiple messages. 
  • Synaesthesia
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    Synaesthesia polycounter
    As a parent of two kids, I can unequivocally say that kids do indeed play outside just as much as they did when I was a kid in the 90s - perhaps even more so. My daughter enjoys her phone and uses it a lot. So do I, but for more than just gaming. The equivalent to her phone was my Sega Genesis and Playstation. I played my game consoles a lot and didn't forsake outdoor activities. I personally find it silly to reduce an entire generation down to "lazy" or whatever stereotype fits.

    Back to Facebook: I personally would prefer using a forum because I like the control over the discourse that forum moderating gives, but I also find myself really enjoying that I can network with a lot of artists who I'd never have met had it not been for Facebook's relatively open discussions. The trouble I have with it is that my ~500 friends have a lot to say in my news feed, so I find myself using the unfollow option for things I find distasteful - like non-stop politics. FB Purity will remove most of the junk on the site, so that certainly improves the non-work experience for me, but it doesn't catch everything - which is why I spend most of my time on Facebook within art groups.
  • Synaesthesia
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    Synaesthesia polycounter
    I mean, it's really no different than newspapers or books:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNIHBEBsoKg

    We might want to consider splitting this discussion off into a new thread so we don't derail this one though. :)
  • gsokol
    Social networking applications are only as useful/useless as what you choose to do with it, and who your friends are.  If you have 5000 friends and barely know them, its a lot of noise.  If its a lot of badass artists, then you are talking to a lot of badass artists, seeing their work, etc.  

    Same with twitter, or anything else, really.  Its merely a platform, it comes down to how you choose to use it.
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    gsokol said:
    If you have 5000 friends and barely know them, its a lot of noise.  If its a lot of badass artists, then you are talking to a lot of badass artists, seeing their work, etc. 

    I know this might sound a bit odd or even subversive, but there is some value in isolation - even isolation from seemingly positive influences. Being part of a tribe is great, but many people seem to follow hundreds of things/artists, join self-improvement groups ... but this can all end up as one massive echo chamber with not much original stuff coming out of it.

    Producing and fostering fresh ideas/concepts/designs sometimes takes a little bit of boredom (or focus, whatever one wants to calls it :D).
  • Melazee
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    Melazee polycounter lvl 11
    I wanted to get rid of my Facebook, but then I started using groups like 10k and Level Up which is a lot more busy than forums I think. But even now, I still kind of want to get rid of it because I don't really get anything out of those groups. They're meant for feedback, but I see far too much bashing on new artists, and I hate seeing comments like that filling my feed. They're meant for improvement, but people seem to forget that some people are still in hour one of their 10k journey. In fact, I think those groups are all about self promotion and nothing at all to do with improvement.

    If anyone can suggest some smaller, nicer groups then I'm all ears! :) 

    PS: For the record, I'm not a new artist, nor have I experienced this kind of bashing to my own work but I have seen it happen so many times to other people that the jokes have just worn very thin.
  • slipsius
    I mean, it's really no different than newspapers or books:
    That's where I disagree. I do, to some extent, agree with the video. But not fully. Like, this isn't about whether we`re spending too little time outside, or not communicating or anything. Books and Newspapers also don't come with comment sections. Online versions do, and that's usually where things take a turn for the worse. 

    Part of the downfall of Facebook is the comment sections. If you try and have a discussion, people seem to just get offended or start name calling when you don't have the same opinion as them. Or, if you`re having a thoughtful conversation with a few people, then someone else, who you don't know and cant control through extensions, joins in and starts name calling. It adds a certain level of negativity to your life that can really add up over time. That's kind of where I`m at, personally. It's a mix of the time sink, and the negativity that's got me on edge. It goes with what @Melazee said with the groups bashing new artists. Even with real names attached (for the most part), people still spew hate from behind their screens. Manners seem to go completely out the window.  

    One thing I just learned about though is that you can now decide who's stuff you see first. Before it was all done on the back end. The more you liked or commented on someone's stuff, the more you would see of their posts, and less of other peoples who you don't comment on. Now, you can go in and select who has priority. I did that a few weeks ago. Spent the time and went through the list, really only selected my close friends, and it's helped a decent amount. Though, I was also on vacation, so I was hardly on Facebook. No computer for 2 weeks. 

    Another thought on it is, if we use all those apps, and the feature I just mentioned, we`re essentially creating a safe space for ourselves. I'm not sure if that's the best thing, either. 

    It will be interesting to see what kind of research comes out in the next 10-20 years on the effects of social media.
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