Quit Facebook?

There have been several articles from people declaring their decision to quit and leave Facebook; One in my local paper the St.Pete Times Why I unfriended Facebook, By Arleen Spenceley, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, April 11, 2010 ; Another article Why I Quit Facebook; and another By SAM GUSTIN Posted 1:25 PM 05/14/10 and an older one Reasons to Quit Facebook by Chad Mumm.

While each of these articles bring up some good points, it is important to consider all that one would be giving up by turning their nose up to what has become an incredibly powerful medium. Sure you can quote privacy as a reason to not get involved, but you might as well use that same quote for becoming agoraphobic. The fact is that with technology’s consistent growth and development the only way to maintain that privacy is to live off the grid, almost everything else is “public” record. Consider this when you are out and about, what you do is witnessed by the world, act accordingly. The other thought is that Facebook has no $ cost associated with it, all they have in information and access to you, you would be very naive to think they got in the business because they are humanitarians.

I do have to say that I like Chad Mumm’s list and do agree on some of them (see summary below) so I thought I would share, however I also know how to tweak my custom security and privacy settings, as you should all learn.

Summary of Chad Mumm’s article (I put my thoughts in )

* Friend requests from your needy ex or crazy uncle… (never had this problem, but there is an ignore button)

* Embarrassing/rude messages on your ‘wall’ (Check regularly and delete if a problem, tell your friends what you expect of them if they wish to stay on your friend list)

* Invitations to things we don’t want to go to… (Ignore)

* Chain-letter-style apps (Ignore)

* Pokes (Ignore)

* The latest redesign… (part of life, voice your concern and deal with it, Like commercials on cable TV, it is just one of those things)

* Gifts (Sadly I use to do these, I think it is part of the training wheels for new users, humor them then teach them better)

* Pseudo game apps like ‘Ninjas Vs. Zombies’; what are we, like, six-years old? (Ok I was a Mafia Wars fan for a few years, guilty pleasure yes, but don’t post this crap to your wall, it will get you ignored or kept off peoples news feeds)

* Quizzes (again ignore)

* Embarrassing pictures from our pasts (that we can’t remove) (If someone tags you in a Pict you are unhappy with, un-tag yourself and think twice next time you are at a party with cameras)

* “___ Likes This” feature on ‘Status Updates’ (Sorry Chad, I “like” this as it lets me know my audience is nodding in agreement, I don’t need to hear comments from everyone, but a nod is good)

* Stupid group requests (I agree with this, but at the same time understand it is just for fun, ignore)

* Stupid notes (I like notes, but understand some like junk e-mail are annoying, remove yourself from them)

* Facebook apps taking over our news feeds (Block them)

* Too many people, too much information… (Digital life)

summarized from the article
Reasons to Quit Facebook
BY CHAD MUMM — APR 16TH 2009 AT 1:59PM

My personal pet peeve, people who respond to all on a message that was sent to several people, it is like responding to all on a group e-mail, annoying.

What are your thoughts on this?