It has its uses (facebook.com)

Member Name: masterchef98

Product:	facebook.com
Date:	22/10/09 (13 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to share photos, getting back in touch with people

Disadvantages: Has lots of facilities to waste your time, people collect friends

I will not go into the details of what Facebook is as I'm sure that has been covered in other reviews. I am not a big fan of Facebook, although I do have an account, so this review is just what I feel is some useful basic information about the site.

I joined when my friend was going to China for 2 years so that I would be able to view the photos that she put on. I now have about 15 'friends' who are just my close friends and family and the only facilities I use are to message them and put my photos on as an easy way to share them.

When adding photos you have to be careful to choose the correct option for who can view them. There are 3 different options, one is so just your friends can see them, one includes friends of friends and one is everyone with a Facebook account - why on earth I would want everyone on facebook to be able to view my personal photos I don't know and I always choose the option of only friends.

There are two different ways to send messages to another Facebook member. One is by writing on their 'Wall' this message and any replies to it can be viewed by any of their friends who can reply to it if they want. There is also a facility to send a private message which is similar to email and can then only be viewed and replied to by the person you send it too.

Some things you have to be careful of:
Random friend requests - some girl in America asked to be my friend 3 times claiming I went to her school, I kept refusing but she didn't take the hint so I had to block her, which was easily done.
Not so random friend requests - Facebook is useful to get back in touch with people you have lost contact with, but it is quite common for people who you lost touch with a while ago to send you a friend request but then not send you a message, they seem to just want to add you to their list of friends as some people just collect friends to show how popular they are.
Friends of friends - it is very easy for friends of friends to find your Facebook profile (although if you've set it up right they won't be able to see this). For this reason I am not friends with my partner on Facebook as he joined long before me and lots of his old friends that he doesn't really want to be in touch with have found him and I don't want them finding me.

Summary: A usefull tool if used right.