Facebook: Crucial or Trivial?

[Heisenberg]

How important do you guys think facebook is, especially when it comes to girls?

I never had one. I'm pretty introverted and the concept just isn't interesting to me *( I do like people, and interacting with them in person)*. Now I'm giving it a shot, but I'm not really seeing the point so far... I don't really like spreading trivial details about myself online, so I keep my profile pretty brief. Then I gotta spend time searching through old highschool alumni/ friends of friends of friends, adding people I barely know just so I don't appear like the only one with no friends (which seems to equal any less than 100) Everyone who's a real friend or family member already knows how I'm doing and can call me anytime, but if I kept it to only people I see regularly, I'd have no more than 20 friends and the whole thing would be pointless as I have ways of contacting them IRL already...

I figured it could be cool for random girls I've met, but that seems pretty meh as you have to look through a bunch of people, remember last names, etc like a stalker.

Is it about filling your mind with details of people you hardly see so you can feel more connected? What happened to mystery and catching up with people in person?
Maybe I'm just super introverted/ slightly anti-social and don't "get" it.

Is it unhealthy if I don't care that a friend I haven't seen in 4 years from high-school who moved to Toronto went snowboarding with his girlfriend on Saturday... does that mean I'm just not a people person or hermit in the making? Is facebook more for people who try to stay super-informed and connected on everyone? Is it necessary to being a well rounded human being to have one? Should I put in the effort to market myself with cool pics and posts about what I do all the time; or just accept that I'm not that kind of guy and delete it?

I feel like not having one makes me a social outcast... but the thing doesn't interest me at all.

What do you guys think?

[Tim]

Helpful but not crucial. I've had one for a few years but I have it temporarily deactivated at the moment and I've realised how pointless it is. There's many things to be thankful for FB for, but overall I think it has been a negative on peoples' social lives.

Anyway, I think it's good to have if you're not wasting much time on there. You can add girls you met randomly, and as long as the initial encounter went well enough that should be fine with them. Then you can private message them or write on their wall which can have advantages over txting or calling. It's more of an advantage in social circle though, and not just for meeting girls. If you meet people you get along with at a party/school/work then adding them there can help strengthen that potential friendship, and give you a way to keep in contact.

It's really good when traveling. I've met heaps of people and been like oh don't bother with your number, I'll find you on facebook. And then stayed in touch through that or used it as a back up when I lost my phone/whatever.

Don't worry too much about putting a lot on your profile. Just enough so that the people you want to find you can, like having your school or work. And if you're not interested in the majority of what happens on there, don't worry either. Most people aren't. Until they get addicted...

[Mark]

I think it's neither. It never hurts. But it's not necessary either. It really depends how you use it. I'm a Facebook whore. But a large part of that is because my lifestyle involves so much travel, it's the only/best way for me to keep in touch with a lot of people. The chat function is great casual way to keep a girl interested as well.

[IdEngager]

Really depends on your lifestyle like Mark said. It's easy enough to ignore trivial updates that people you never really talk to put up. But if you travel a lot like Mark does, it's really the most practical way to keep track of people. Or in my case, I do some traveling myself, and play in a band (having some sort of social media presence is practically a necessity if you play music), and play sports and have old friends from college I occasionally want to contact. It's pretty much like a phone book to me... I don't think you need to spend a bunch of time on there playing games or updating your profile or posting a million status updates (though I do post the occasional absurd thought that comes to my head).

[Heisenberg]

Decent reasons. I see how social networking can have some utility, especially if you're a public figure (or organization) like Mark. I've decided it's definitely not for me though, I'll stick to phones, email and in-person meetings. Unless I ever need it for business, which I can see it being VERY useful for.

What pushed me over the edge: seeing my superficial sister post on her wall to her 400+ "friends":" 'ME MoZaIc' Anybody who wants to participate post pictures of ME!"

I almost threw up, and I know saying this makes me sound like a self righteous douche-bag, but I look down on my sister a bit more now (not that we are close anyhow). This kind of vanity disgusts me.

It has inspired me more solidly staying in contact with people though, so not all negative!

[EppsMJ]

I recently deactivated mine and set it up for deletion. I was wasting WAY too much time on it. While I did chat with a couple of
girls on it off-and-on, I just got tired of weeding through idiotic status updates.

[AdamAnt]

Not necessary at all. Don't overthink it, and just go with your gut instinct. It's exactly as you laid out, and no one will dismiss it as a dealbreaker.

If you do have a Facebook, just don't overload it with stupid status updates and/or 1000 pictures that you know no one cares about. At least be interesting..! If you went parasailing on a recent vacation, or if you did a running of the Santas, yeah that would be cool. It's not a make or break thing though.

[FirstAidKit]

My friends pretty much exclusively organise events / parties via facebook these days, but I don't use it much other than that besides keeping in touch with some friends from home and traveling. It's a nice stepping stone between aquaintances and friends though, and to get invited to new things.