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[Doink]

Well from the low number of people respoding to this thread I conclude that Social Networking is not as popular as the Media would have us Believe.

[Mighty Midget]

Either that, or people are too embarrassed to say they only go to Abandonia, or have a myspace account.

[Havell]

I've been a Facebook user ever since I've been at University, pretty much everyone I know is on it and the events system is the organisation system for pub crawls, socials and gigs for all the societies I'm involved in.

It's fairly endemic.

[BranjoHello]

I have profile at MySpace, but I don't go there often, once in two weeks maybe.

[Sturmrabe]

I have a myspace and a facebook, but only cause a friend that was out of state badgered me into getting myspace after I 'd made fun of it for years, then 2 weeks later he was all "myspace is for lewsers! Get Facebook!"...

Ugh

[Japo]

That's for fictional characters:

http://www.myspace.com/wonder311a
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9420315812

[The Fifth Horseman]

Abandonia is as far as it goes for me.

[Playbahnosh]

At first I signed up to a few of these sites, but I started to delete my registrations lately. These social networking sites are not called "the poor man's CIA" for no reason :notrust:

Last year, a girl called me on the phone, and asked for some notes for a class I took. We talked a few times in and after class, but I didn't really know her, and I most certainly didn't gave her my number. I asked her how on Earth did she get it (I'm pretty secretive about it), and she said "I didn't know your name, so I asked some guy if he knows who you are, and he did. So I went to IWIW (local Facebook), looked up your name, and saw you have a profile, but no contact info listed... so I looked at your friends list, and it turns out, one of your friends lives in the same dorm as me, so I went over, and asked for your number."

From that day on, I started to systematically disclude myself from such pages.

[Eagle of Fire]

Last year, a girl called me on the phone, and asked for some notes for a class I took. We talked a few times in and after class, but I didn't really know her, and I most certainly didn't gave her my number. I asked her how on Earth did she get it (I'm pretty secretive about it), and she said "I didn't know your name, so I asked some guy if he knows who you are, and he did. So I went to IWIW (local Facebook), looked up your name, and saw you have a profile, but no contact info listed... so I looked at your friends list, and it turns out, one of your friends lives in the same dorm as me, so I went over, and asked for your number."

From that day on, I started to systematically disclude myself from such pages.

Why, the problem come from your friends who give your number to people they don't know, not because you have accounts in those sites.

If the girl would have found that one of your friend were in the same dorm because someone else would have told her in the local library, would you stop going to that library in retaliation?

[Playbahnosh]

That's not the point. What matters is that, had I gave any personal information on that site (and most people do), anyone could find out virtually everything about me. How I look, what are my interests, what's my birthday, where I live what I like to do...etc, and all those informations, in the wrong hands, can cause me problems. Or the informations can be used for advertising. Think about it, these sites are the Canaan for advertising companies, because they can do all sorts of things with those informations, personal informations you gave out WILLINGLY. And I don't have to talk about the security issues. Most people are dumb enough to use some of the things related to them as passwords or account handles, such as a pet's name, favorite band, place of interest...that gathered into a dictionary hacker program can decipher your passwords in mere seconds.

Yes, I'm paranoid. But if you are paranoid, that doesn't mean they are not after you