Not a part of it and never will be...

People have 700 fiends on a web programme.. They aint real friends, Sure go and ask them for a cup of sugar like they will lend it to you, If Face-book ever went down and all your friends data was lost how would you contact them? Or if you needed a kidney and you asked some random from Poland on your "Friends list"would they lend it NO so yeah, Its not real people why bother with it?

I suppose FB could be considered addictive, but for me it's been a great way to reconnect with people with whom I'd long lost touch.

I don't think the analogy with tobacco is particularly apt, as there are no benefits to smoking at all. Perhaps FB is more like drinking: used in moderation, with good friends, at the right time - its fun and essentially harmless.

FB use must be quite different depending on demographics. I'm late 30s, have lived in a few cities around the world and have a huge networks of friends and contacts from school, university, old work places and old social circles. Without FB most of those people would be consigned to the ether of memory. I believe FB (more so than Twitter that often people pick up and then leave after a brief and furious flirtation) is here to stay and has changed the social landscape to a considerable degree.

as a person who never joined facebook, but occasionally peers over my partner's shoulder to query if she'd like to talk to a real person sometime soonish, I think it's all a big yawn and a little lame.

Soundbites about yr bus ride to work from a friend of a friend of a friend who also recommends this really cool kooky site to go visit...

barf.

Sigh, I was addicted to Facebook - first thing in the morning, every study break, every free time I had. Then one day I'd had enough + just simply quit Facebook.

Now, I actually have a life - I get to read books, my studies are improving, I see my friends more instead of just writing on their walls, my general knowledge has sky-rocketed... I feel so damn better.

And no, I don't miss it at all. Loads of my friends constantly gossip based on rumours from Facebook but I'm not one of them. I'm now one of the classy ones who don't get involved in rubbish like that.

No drunken or silly photos can be tagged to my name... win.

I'm on Twitter now. Much better.

The problem with facebook is it makes people who, in reality, don't have a lot of friends feel like the most popular people on earth! (I can say this without malice because I am one of these few-friended people). Thats an addictive feeling. Especially if you're someone who has always craved social attention. Why is that a problem? Because no matter how much these relationships, although mostly with people you have actually met, seem real and fruitful, the fact is that there is no substitute for real human contact, or having the courage to face situations without being behind a safe computer screen. I'm quitting facebook, not because I'm worried about my privacy (as you said earlier - if you choose to throw in your lot with facebook, you're agreeing to their terms), but because I'm worried about sacrificing the real people in my life to fake facebook popularity. I am going to have to be better at keeping in touch the old-fashioned way, which actually requires some hard work!

I dont have a facebook and i get these shocked expressions when I tell people that. They always ask why I dont?

because I talk to my friends in real lifes yo and i dont realli care bout any of your lives...

also Patrick Swayze vs The Fonz ? In a dance battle. With penguins watching in a circle.

I just don't add people if I haven't ever met them. Chances are if I've met them, we'll probably talk.

Its Event feature is the most appealing part for me. It helps organise the chaos of invites. This way I can't triple-book to an event like I seem to enjoy doing..

And I like having the free-stream conversations on pages. Person A updates their status, and Persons A-Z can all comment and converse in that status. Brilliant.

I never understood why people threw such hissy fits about Facebook.

If you're worried about privacy, don't post private things, right?

I'd be sad without Facebook. Unless something better comes along.

I closed my facebook the other day, sick of people contacting me. I struggle to spend time real people, the last thing I need is old freinds who I have obviously stopped talking to for a reason contacting me.

Facebook can be a great way to stay in contact with friends and family who live a long way away. Instant messaging and posting on someone's wall is a lot cheaper than an international phonecall, and you can upload pictures. But when it's an addiction, that's not a good thing. It shouldn't take over your life.

And, of course, what you put on Facebook is out there for the whole world to see. If you didn't want everybody to see it, you shouldn't put it on Facebook. But that goes without saying, right?

I am constantly amused by people who think *insert random problem* is Facebook's fault. No, it's YOUR fault.

@ Tony#1 - I didn't realise the definition of "friend" was so narrow. Also I can't borrow a cup of sugar from my friends in london or australia anyway.

I also agree with everything #2 said.