Just wondering if there is a way of using Facebook without giving Mr Z all your details (probably including your inside leg measurement) and spreading it all across the net?

 

I've avoided Facebook like the plague, and am very careful about what info i use on line. I always decline to show my name if full when reviewing things etc and look for outputs to mail shots and the like. So far i've managed to keep a reasonably low profile on social media. As you might guess I'm not the sort of person who wants the world to know what either myself or my family are doing very second of the day!

 

However a lager part of my family now live abroad and they use Facebook to share photos and especially now to plan events etc. I'm now a bit of a luddite being one of the only "oldies" that doesn't do Facebook, and have to rely on others to pass on info etc. Last year my niece largely planned her wedding on Facebook, and my nephew is doing the same this year, and with special babies due, it really is not reasonable for me to have to keep asking other members of my family to sort out things for me.

 

I there a way i can use face book and not display all my personal details to the world. I only need my family members to see i'm there, but I've read some horror stories about what Facebook can access from your browser/addressbook etc etc. My wife has also been pestered and bullied by previous acquaintances she's declined to "friend" and i really don't want that level of agro. 

 

Any pointers would be appreciated!

Just use a false name and profile photo and give that contact to your family to use.

Use Instagram, or why not use the old fashion e-mail to send/ receive photos from/ to friends and family..

If one person making friends etc uses your true identity within seconds the whole world knows your guts..

Be brave, be happy avoid Facebook like I do..

The main problem with social media is NOT what you put on it, but what others have. You may well already have images, videos and comments about you on fb due to what others have posted. Think old school photographs, family occasions et al. Depending on the access level they put on their profile, anyone can see it, and once it's out there it is nigh on impossible to totally remove.

As an example, a woman I worked with thought it funny to 'flash' a fb photograph of her teenage daughter wearing a rather revealing bikini to me, via her mobile. I merely typed her daughters name into Google and that image, plus several more my colleague was unaware of, came up on the search.

The main problem with social media is NOT what you put on it, but what others have. You may well already have images, videos and comments about you on fb due to what others have posted. Think old school photographs, family occasions et al. Depending on the access level they put on their profile, anyone can see it, and once it's out there it is nigh on impossible to totally remove.

As an example, a woman I worked with thought it funny to 'flash' a fb photograph of her teenage daughter wearing a rather revealing bikini to me, via her mobile. I merely typed her daughters name into Google and that image, plus several more my colleague was unaware of, came up on the search.

In addition because people allow Facebook to scan their contacts it has a huge amount of "connection data" about you already.

There used to be tools you could freely use to lookup Facebook details without a login and the amount of info was frankly creepy.

Just as bad is the fact other people can use your details without control. Someone used my email a while ago and Facebook didn't ask for authentication or even care when I contacted them. I ended up having to "take over" the account and then reject all the password resets.

LinkedIn is the only social media I have and its obsessed that me and SWMBO are connected even though we have no common links professionally, I can only assume she's allowed it to scan her phone book.

You can only do so much. Set all your privacy setting to "friends" or "only me" and that should keep some of the dross away. But it's cookies that are the problem - they know what you've looked at, what you bought at [Asda] and then can bombard you with stuff.

Cheers All,

 

The main benefit for me is that a lot of our family events are co-ordinated via Facebook. Photos are mainly shared via photo hosting apps/cloud drives etc. Last year all our family met up in Greece and the whole thing was co-ordinated via Facebook. It can clearly work for some things but i know that it has a negative side and theres hardly anyone in my family who hasn't had that happen to them too 

 

In addition because people allow Facebook to scan their contacts it has a huge amount of "connection data" about you already.

There used to be tools you could freely use to lookup Facebook details without a login and the amount of info was frankly creepy.

Just as bad is the fact other people can use your details without control. Someone used my email a while ago and Facebook didn't ask for authentication or even care when I contacted them. I ended up having to "take over" the account and then reject all the password resets.

LinkedIn is the only social media I have and its obsessed that me and SWMBO are connected even though we have no common links professionally, I can only assume she's allowed it to scan her phone book.

 

Yes I gave up on Linkedin even though i have to be on there for work, for a similar reason. Even though i have only ever accesed it from a works machine with "no personal contacts on it" it still managed to find family members, some of who i've had no contact with for 30 years!!!!! Or who'd i'd want contact with for at least another 30!!!!

 

 

Use Instagram, or why not use the old fashion e-mail to send/ receive photos from/ to friends and family..

If one person making friends etc uses your true identity within seconds the whole world knows your guts..

Be brave, be happy avoid Facebook like I do..

 

The more i think about it the more i think i'll put off until it's no longer a viable option to not have an account..... 

The only personal information Facebook will have is what you give them? If your family is posting pictures of your meet-ups then they will already be on there whether or not you have an account for them to link it to?

 

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to avoid? The point of Social Media is to have an online presence. Use Facebook's privacy settings to withhold any information you don't want public and use it as a tool to communicate with those you want to speak to?

 

Any cookie tracking etc. that Facebook uses is data that already exists (probably in Google's hands) from your web browsing history anyway - and the tracking they will do of your use of Facebook is only going to be available to Facebook, not any users, and will be mostly moot if you intend to only use it to communicate with a very small circle of 'friends'.

 

The most 'out-of-my-way' I've gone with my profile is to create a separate email to use as a contact address so I know what spam has originated from Facebook. Which has been pretty much nil so far.

 

If you avoid linking your Facebook account to the 1000s of 'apps' out there and/or avoiding the Facebook Single Sign On when using other websites then Facebook's biggest crime is trying to sell you crap you're not interested in (I often get adverts for Bugatti Servicing show up) and if you're worried about being advertised to then I'd get down to Costco and buy a few industrial sized catering wraps to make hats with, because that's not going away this century - online or not.

I have 5 different facebook personas which I use depending on what I need to use facebook for. None of them are really me.

To be fair, I only set up one of them. The other four were all set up by someone else who used my email address either in error or as a means of avoiding any spam which could be generated from it. I just used that email as a means of stealing their account.

 

I also have a pinterest account I got in the same way.

 

https://www.pinterest.com/greene3274/

Tight privacy settings mean very few people see my Facebook or what I post on there. If you dont like adverts aimed at you then use incognito browsing. 

As you might guess I'm not the sort of person who wants the world to know what either myself or my family are doing very second of the day!

Aren't you out on Wimbledon Common every day picking up rubbish??

 

Not specifically for Facebook, but try downloading and installing Ghostry. It lets you know what trackers each site you visit are using and you can turn them off, so less of what you do on-line gets monitored.

Aren't you out on Wimbledon Common every day picking up rubbish??

 

Only under the cover of darkness 

 

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to avoid? The point of Social Media is to have an online presence. Use Facebook's privacy settings to withhold any information you don't want public and use it as a tool to communicate with those you want to speak to?

 

 

This the crux of it, i don't want an online presence; just a method of communicating between some member of my family without without certain members joining in  

 

like many families ours has it's share of dysfunction   

This the crux of it, i don't want an online presence; just a method of communicating between some member of my family without without certain members joining in

like many families ours has it's share of dysfunction

You can block these relatives and you'll be invisible to them.

As has already been said, if others you know use Facebook then it already knows a lots about you.

Create an account and almost immediately without sharing anything with them they'll have a whole list of people you know.

Just set up an account and make everything private (pictures, contacts etc) unless a friend of yours. You can even block friends of friends for most things. Then just ensure that you put people into groups and only share posts with selected groups.

Mother in law has just taken the plunge, and has blocked a great deal of her extended family (brothers, sisters and their chav kids).

If your not registered personally to Facebook, you won't receive unwanted stupid and hurtful remarks from the some of the crackheads ,that are on Facebook..

Different strokes for different folks..

I have wonder what people do now to waste their lives with school yard chatting now that 'Facebook' is here...LOL

 

What's wrong with the good not-so-old fashioned e-mail correspondence..?

Edited 15 March, 201610 yr by giandougl