I know some people who apparently have little life outside Facebook, but I wonder how widespread that is? If I believe someone may have an interesting Facebook website, how do I go and look at it? Without receiving a specific invitation I don't believe that's possible, is it?

Also, if I know several people who may have interesting Facebook sites, do I have to go to each in turn to find out what's on them? Sounds very time-consuming.

And lastly, I suspect that Facebook use is actually far less widespread than some would give us to believe.

At the risk of offending friends who have invited me to "join" their Facebook site, I have decided to withstand that temptation. I have enough addictions already.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/08/zuc...cted-your-life/

There is a large contingent of AC-centric Facebook users.

I'm with you on that KC, but my trades journal suggested that the networking had a huge value. They suggested
http://www.linkedin.com over facebook , less BS and chat , more professional.
but of course i did both
http://www.facebook.com
and also the photo stream I use on the ambergris cay board to display my photos is really the same thing, just a different crowd. http://yobubba.livejournal.com/

A lot of the AC.com regulars are on Facebook.

My son just set me up a site on facebook. Anything to attract some business these days! He is loading up tons of Belize photos.

I have been using facebook for about a year now, its great for live chat with fam or friends. Also great for sharing photos.

Our Facebook site:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portofino-Beach-Resort-in-Belize/48116030910
________________________
Portofino Restaurant & Beach Resort
North Ambergris Caye
New Website: www.portofino.bz

As far as I can tell you do need to be invited to view somebody's facebook page - once you are networked you can then either choose to go to your friends' pages to see what they are up to, or there is a function you can click that sends comments to your home page whenever your friends' add something. I haven't really had time to fully investigate how it all works but I have been in touch with people that I had lost touch with over the decades - and it is a great way to have daily contact with a wide number of friends and share pix and special occasions.

Yes, well my nephew posts photos of his new baby on his site, but if he didn't send me the URLs there's no way I'd know they were there, or be able to find them. I have no idea whether he posts any other info, and I wouldn't know where or how to look for it.

Jan - other than people you've pointed towards it, does anyone else even know about your Facebook site?

It is really easy to start your own facebook page. You can invite people to be your friend from your own facebook, once they accept they can see your page and you can see them. It really is great to find old friends (and the ones you could care less about, you don't have to invite or accept). It is fairly simple even for the technically challenged like myself. There are many tools on it I don't use. Hope that helps you Peter.

Peter, we have a fansite and you don't need to be a member to see it. We notice that people find us on Facebook and then go to our website. When we update our website we will also link to our Facebook page .
Jan
________________________
Portofino Restaurant & Beach Resort
North Ambergris Caye
New Website: www.portofino.bz

Now look at what you guys have made me do.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/White-Sands-Dive-Shop/94350248602?ref=s
I'm goan hafta buy one of those gadgets so's i can walk n do email at thu same time.

elbert - next thing you know, Bubba will be tweeting on twitter

I have never been on Facebook, never have Twittered and don't text. Its going to stay that way too. TMI

when one of us becomes a 'fan' of a site, or a 'friend' of someone's, any 'friend' of theirs may get suggestions to also become friends or fans, based on the fact that a friend of yours is a friend or fan.

got it?

for example, simon & i have 30 common friends. say simon becomes a 'fan' of white sands dive shop. i (and the other 29 friends) may get a random suggestion that i may want to become a fan too, since my friend simon is. then, say i become friends with elbert - he may get a suggestion to add simon as a friend, and simon one to add elbert.

see?

depending on your settings, you see what your friends post, and get a notification showing all responses to that post. if you want, you can set fb to alert u by email that someone responded or posted photos of you.

when i post pics, my friends & their friends can see them.

understand? LOL!

what i like best is the IM function - i can (and do) have a quick hi or an hour long existential discussion with my friends around the country and in belize. in real time. THAT'S cool.

I've been getting a lot of friend requests on Facebook from people I haven't seen or heard from in years. I joined to read a blog of a former coworker working on assignment in Japan. Forgot I even had a profile until I started getting these requests. Too many websites/logons/passwords to remember.

The one thing I like about Facebook is that I've been able to hook up with a lot of old friends from grade school, high school and companies that I've worked for. The other big plus is hooking up with relatives around the world to the point that we even have our own Facebook page (not a common last name). As Jane notes we have a lot of friends in common and it's nice to keep up on what everyone is up to wherever they are or to have a quick chat.

Lagniappe also has it's own page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lagniappe-Provisioning-San-Pedro-Belize/45594923523?

simon look at what was in my facebook this morning.

these tuff guys on the right and i used to fist fight after school.
ah the wonderful memories ;-0

I guess I need to figure out how to use it now. Been getting lots of friend requests. What the difference between a "friend" and a "fan"? I want mine mostly for business purposes - I spend too much of my time on the computer as it is! And I don't want all my business colleagues or clients to necessarily see my "friends." Can I do that somehow?

"friends" have access to your home page where you are making personal comments about life in general. Your friends must be invited by you in order to see your page - you would have personal photos etc in this area. If you want to have a business type home page you can have fans - these folks don't need to be personally invited to your home page. This is a public page and therefore you would treat it as such.

If you have such a "marketing" page how do people, complete strangers, get to see it?

On "personal" pages - you say people have to be invited to view them, to become "friends". What if a complete stranger gets hold of (or just guesses) the correct URL? Can they see it then?

I'm still struggling to see how it works, and indeed the point of it.

barb, i friend-ed you yesterday, and sent friend suggestions to some of MY friends to friend you, which were the requests you got. i was then notified each time someone i suggested became your friend.

if you wanted a fan site, your son set it up a just a lil bit wrong. show him this link, and create a "page" rather than a "profile"

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/advertising/?pages

add info, photos & links. here's ours (not great, but serviceable):

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=hom...ewas=1659489552

there is a page on facebook called god bless the reef...dedicated to ambergris caye ..... and the reef of course....

Thanks Jane. I'll get my "I.T." department on it right away!;-) Yes, I got your friend request and OK'd it. Lots of you other "friends" too! Thanks.

Thats really good and valuable information Amanda.
this is a very informative thread.
this is my profile or 'friends page' and I'm not sure it can be seen if your not on an invited list ,....maby so.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=703484524&ref=profile
Below is my business page and postings are sent to Fans.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/White-Sands-Dive-Shop/94350248602?ref=s

Both of those URLs just took me to my own Facebook page. Looking at what they say, that's hardly surprising. But MY page, not yours.

oops clumsy me. i edited it ...try now

I see those both in their complete splendour. Should access to one of them have been restricted?

I'm afraid I still don't really see how Facebook works. Not how to set up your own page, because I did that for myself at a very basic level and I think I can see how to develop it if I ever feel sufficiently bothered. Just like setting up any other "blog", not that I've ever done it. But my problem is how those pages once created are used. I've tried to find Facebook pages for people I was pretty sure had them but in every case failed. For example, I would before now have looked at Jan's page had I even knew that it existed and known how to find it. My own page seems to be fixed on input from one particular person, and I don't see how to expand it to include others. And I don't see how to get an overview of lots of Facebook pages in one place at one time, which surely would be the most useful view.

But before I bother with "how", "where" and "when", I'm looking for an answer to "why".

thru your settings, you can set who sees your stuff (friends only, friends and their friends, whole network [ex - belize, Houston, etc], or everyone).

not sure anyone really uses the pages. i only look at them when i first friend someone. from there, its more a communications tool, with status, photo posting, PM, and IM functions. the news feed tells you all your friends' statuses. the more friends, the more feed. refresh it every so often.

so, for example, today an expat posted a funny pic, and many of us posted funny comments over the day, which we could all see. later, i posted a status, and elbert commented. then he cracked a joke & i responded. i also IM'd with a friend in tx, then one in belize, and left barb a message.

you couldnt find jan cuz he doesnt have a page of his own. if you had, it would say something like 'jan only shares some info. send jan a request to view his entire profile'. (paraphrase)

like any tool, it only works if you use it.

elbert - was that Class of '68"?

The white socks are a give away :-)

The answer to your "why?" question is - to keep in touch with friends and colleagues. It's a way to chitty chat with a hundred pals all at the same time.

And it expands like a virus, I'm up 300 friends in just a few days.

Are you sure they're friends?

To me Facebook is the adult version of Hi5 and MySpace. The only function of those sites seemed to be who could get the most friends even if you had no idea who the hell they were. Most people (most) seem to use Facebook for real friends, acquaintances and family.

Networking Simon, lot of fun and laughs , meeting interesting people and see their photographs.
today i got to see inside your refrigerator and found out Collete swallowed a watermelon seed.

That's the bit I don't see.

You need friends to make it work

If I post on my Facebook Wall "Peter just doesn't see it" all of my friends will get notified (unless they choose to hide my posts).

Speaking of Peter, and friends...Peter, where is your sweet dog Max these days?

Ouch!

SAGA decided he was a nuisance being on the roads/beach where he's happiest and "repossessed" him. Without even telling me, even though they knew I was looking for him. They obviously think he's much better off locked up in a cage in Fort Dog. Never mind the other dogs that roam at will, Marley for instance. I'm afraid I don't see it, and the goodwill I had for them has vanished.

Back on topic, I decided to accept some of the "friend" invitations I had on Facebook just to see how it worked. I discovered I had 105, but I accepted just a few. I still don't see how it works, or rather I still don't see any benefit I can get from it. I had one invitation a few months ago from a dive operation in Playa del Carmen that I know well and have worked with, but when I accepted that one I just went to my own page with whatever it had on it. I have no idea how to find theirs. Nor, with maybe 15 "friends" on the network, can I see how to access each one in any controlled fashion.

Another point that if I understand it correctly I greatly dislike. I am allowed only one "group" of friends, so that anyone I accept can see all the others. But this isn't how real friendship works. I have various circles I belong to that have nothing to do with each other and I am the only common link. They aren't interested in knowing about other people with whom they have nothing in common. But (unless I misunderstand the system) I can't do anything about it. How do I remove people from my circle of "friends", or is it irrevocable?

That great dog was neglected not a nuisance. They dont take dogs off noone for no reason. If you aint looking after a dog you shouldnt have one. You didnt look after that dog and you know it and so does everyone else. Marley aint negelcted or theid pick her up to. The Saga deserves a rewards for doing the right thing.

Is "Marley" the same as "Mutley"?

Mutley doesn't roam, has a home and is VERY well cared for.

Yes, now, but once was the dog version of
Paisano here on the island

Very true.

"Marley" is Bob Marley, a hound of some description. Lovely dog, (now) belongs to Sharon and daughter at Limes. Often comes home with me for a feed. Amazing my cats immediately accepted him with no hissing or arched backs.

Skyking - please justify your remarks. By PM if you like. He had several sorts of dry and canned food available to him, had Frontline and all jabs as they fell due, was de-ticked daily, even though he was a magnet for them. Had a new tick collar every 6 weeks (twice as often as stipulated). Quite often slept on my bed. And walked every day, except when I couldn't find him. Not washed very often as I was advised by the previous vet that his sensitive skin wouldn't take it, but swam in the sea most days. What else should I do?

Justify nuthin. I got friends enough there that have been telling me how peoples have had to save that great dog so many times. The Saga dont take dogs back for no reason. Im not gonna spread the details I know. People can call the Saga to find the truth. When you coulnt find him. That sais enough. The Saga deserves rewards for doing what they done. The dog will get a home like he deserves now and that wont be letting him wander the streets for days.

No need to spread the details - tell me. And while you're at it, why don't you say who you are?

Marley and Mutley are different, Marley is a skinny Hound and is Sushi Sharon's dog. Paisano knew how to get by, but Mutley was in a different league. He had about four owners for years stringing each along until he decided where he was best off.

Opps bit slow didn't refresh page before posting........