I have succumbed. Just a few short weeks ago I was slagging off Rob and Jim for doing the Facebook thing, but as of two days ago I have my own profile.
Partly, this is because of a very clever move on Facebook’s part: you can’t look at anything on the site unless you have your own profile. I can decide that I can’t be bothered with micebass just by looking at the ugly world of anti-design hell that it is (and I can’t see the appeal of using it to pretend to be friends with famous people, and don’t have a band to promote), but I can’t draw any conclusions about Facebook unless I join.
Now that I have, I see that it’s a bit like myspace, but without all the ugly background colours and the unsigned bands. And while there’s definitely something addictive about trying to find and add as many of your friends as possible, I’m fairly sure that the novelty of that must wear off after a while.
So what exactly is the point of Facebook?
If you wanted a blog, why not just get a proper one? If you want to upload your photos, why not just do it on Flickr (or one of the many alternative photo sharing sites out there)?
And why do they keep trying to get me to give them my email password? They claim that they will use this to log into my email account and download my address book, so that they can tell me if anyone I’ve ever emailed is also on Facebook, and maybe that is all that they will do with it. But that’s not the point. There’s no way in the world I’m going to give up my email password to anyone other than my email provider.
Are people really that lax about security that they will give up this sort of information to anyone who asks?
Perhaps they’d like my bank details as well so that they can login and check my balance and link me up with people on similar incomes… They already have my date of birth, and there’s space in your profile to complete your address. Maybe I should add my mother’s maiden name too?
Anyway. I’m signed up: why not add me as your “friend” (if I don’t add you first…)