who here has twitter/facebook etc type things................................?

I use both but for very different reasons.

If you're considering using either, I would suggest figuring out what benefits you feel you can get out of getting socially "plugged in" and also what it will cost you (usually your time but also, to a degree, a bit of your privacy). There are many reasons for both benefits and costs. Some productive and others simply time-consuming and fruitless.

I use Facebook because I see it as a powerful social network. Most of my friends and relatives--located all over the world--are on it, especially among the younger generations, and it means I can easily send messages if I need to drop a line or coordinate an event. Though I myself rarely post, I'm happy to see my friends and loved ones post things they feel are important to them (such as teaching their children to ride a bike, going on exotic vacations, reunions with mutual friends, milestones in their lives, etc). There are mentions by others of the posting of updates few would care for (for example, what they had for breakfast that morning). Friends and family who do that too often, I simply "turn off" updates from. I'm on FB probably less than 2 or 3 minutes a day and have no issues with it. Check your security settings though.

I also use Twitter although in several years of having an account, I've only actually made two posts, the last one being in September 2011 as I was training for my first half ironman distance triathlon. I use Twitter mostly to get a pulse on trending information and breaking news (following CNN Breaking News, for example) but also to follow professional athletes/entertainers who have down to earth personalities. It's very touching to read updates from a professional athlete with a busy professional athlete's life who can still make it a priority to live the family life with spouse and kids and doing simple, ordinary things.

How does it compare to Y!A? Completely different animal. Again, for Y!A you can figure out what benefits you feel you get from using it and what it costs you (typically your precious time) and by being able to express yourself through your questions and answers, you can get the most out of Y!A. I stepped away for years but apparently haven't missed much.

Good luck.

EDIT

Frou, are you comparing Facebook and Twitter and possibly adding only one (if any)? Again, I would say different animals. Really depends on what you plan to use it for or what you hope to get out of it. With Twitter, it's all about the speed of information flow. As of right now, Twitter is a central topic of Olympic proportions as the millions of viewers are letting their thoughts and criticism about the Olympic coverage in the United States and abroad--instantly. In May 2011, a Wall Street Journal article highlighted behind-the-scenes news about how a Twitter user who was in the area had unknowingly "live-Tweeted" the attack on Osama bin Laden as the overnight raid was happening. http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/05/02/from...

If things like that interest you, you might consider at least owning a Twitter account. It's not just about tweeting what you had for breakfast (if you see it that way, your choice)

well I do have a twitter account but have not looked at it I signed up to see what it was about and to be honest I have no reason to advertise to everyone what I eat or what I am doing I have facebook well 2 accounts which I occasionally check from time to time to get updates on family but mostly had the one account to play games. got tired of that game when they changed it and now rarely go to fb I have a Tagged account which I think is much cooler than fb or twitter I get nice messages called comments with cute pics and tags and it has games too. as well as dating and so-forth. But since the game I like is messed up now I spend more time on YA answering questions and yea for me its just answering and asking questions cuz a while back I kinda got hurt by some of the people here that I tried to be friends with. but I must say you have always been cool love ya hun

I got farce bloke page Sorry face book. I ain't got much time for it. I set it up after being invited and didn't use it for ages. used it a bit and then got fed up with it. I do not care who is buying new shoes or pictures of some ones breakfast or what ever as they say. I'm at the shop, I'm in the shop. Which beans should I but (i'll upload the picture) Oh here's a bargain ideal for ebay........yeah blah blah. I remember (old farce bloke here) when there were no mobiles, face book or anything and you knew exactly where everyone would be and who was up to what. Some times I do comment on the yahoo news feed thing, that a bit like answers sort of.

Hiya frou frou! You always make me laugh with your banter. You'd probably breath some life into fb not sure about twitter. I ended my short rehash with fb a few months ago in a weird way lol. I had a huge anxiety attack and posted a rant about how no one was talking, they were seemingly dead nodes whose purposes were to transmit poor, unexamined memes.

I can only liken it to the zombie trend...what if we're all preoccupied with zombies because we're turning into them....

Haha, it's funny now and seems like an overreaction but at the time it was griping and I'm never going back to fb.

I don't Twitter or Facebook. My kids do Facebook...my son is addicted to it, but he uses it for business. My daughter does Facebook to keep tabs on her niece and her brother but not much more. Neither of my kids Twitter either. I personally don't like Facebook. I'm not a fan of broadcasting my business. I'm a private person. I find FB a place for people to make their lives look better than they actually are. (Like House claims, Everyone Lies.) In short, I find it superficial.

On YA, our identity is not revealed, so we are not trying to impress anyone, nor are we broadcasting our personal business. Here we merely answer questions and try to help and that's as far as it goes. Honestly, I am not a small brown and white dog.

I'm on both twitter and Facebook. I hardly use twitter but I use Facebook all the time. I've met a lot of interesting people on Facebook, and most of the time people use their real names and identities hence being fake on FB can be almost impossible - at least the network that I'm in people are as real as I can get...

Yes, I'm on facebook. But for a Luddite like me, that's a big accomplishment. It's no big deal. It's like a giant phone book I can play games on; that's all. I appreciate it for the opportunity to contact a host of people I wouldn't normally see day to day; old school chums, relatives, former work colleagues, etc. But it does get old listening to people talk about nothing; what they had for lunch. I'm glad I got updated, I was starting to worry about your gastrointestinal habits!

But it's also sad that it's nothing like here. I try to talk about issues, ideas, solutions on there and get nothing but a lot of negativity back. I have to commend Y!A. It's worlds ahead of the juvenile level of fear and hatred and non-compliance I see on facebook. It's just unfortunate that the majority of my former classmates are staunch republicans. And I'm not. :] So I get to sit through endless posters of stupid things about gun laws not affecting criminals cause they don't follow laws, etc...blah, blah, blah. But try TALKING about it and all I get is fear and shutting down.

But they're my friends. So I just go back to playing games...and look for an opportunity to introduce discussion into the mix; gently as possible, of course.

I have both, but tend not to use them as often as I used to. I'm a little more active on Twitter.

Twitter is only good if you have enough friends on it to @reply and its great for promoting blogs, youtube channels etc. Yahoo Answers is better for sharing knowledge etc

i dont have interesting things to say on [ twit ]....seeing im not a twit

face book is for communication

globalprivacyonline ......is a good site but down for maintenance at the present time

http://globalprivacyonline.com/profile/fredheidric...

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should be good.