Facebook Privacy Settings

To start, I am not a Facebook fan.  I am cringing at the thought of using it later in this class.  But I did get a chuckle as I read the article by Nick O'Neill about privacy settings and Facebook.  I concur with Lisa Jeffries, Kris, and HalTred: for ultimate privacy: avoid facebook all together!

Seriously, when reading the 10 ways, I could find a similarity with using a regular email account:
1) use your friend lists:  what is the difference between this and your email contact list? And, you can form group email lists with email.
2)  remove yourself from facebook results: if you aren't on facebook, you don't have to remove yourself and your personal information will stay that - personal.
3) remove yourself from Google: if you do this, why would you sign up to begin with?  As far as photos, I know Verizon now has the capabilities of adding pictures as your image. 
4) Photo mistake: again, if it's not put on the site, it's not published and shown to the world.  There's always someone who knows how to hack into computers - just don't post it!
5) protect your albums - seriously?  I have mine protected nicely in an album for all family and other visitors to the house can view. 
6) prevent stories from showing up on your friends' news: again, for important matters, word can spread around just as easily via telephone, email or other verbal conversation.
7) published application stories: I agree with Nick: "I'm a bit confused about that ["Have Sex!"] application."  Aren't there other avenues to seek relationships online without worrying who in your contact list will find out?
8) make your contact information private: why put it in your profile if you want it private? 
9) avoid embarrassing wall posts: why add someone as a friend if you are then going to control who can and cannot post on your site?
10) keep your friendships private: this is the best one .... all I did was put my hometown and graduation year and I have just under 100 "friends" that want to be "friends" and I only know about 5 of them ..... 3 of which I would never "friend" them if they were the last people on earth.  Again, Facebook is used to reach out to those that you haven't seen or heard from in ages.  Why join at all if you want to keep everything private?

In conclusion, I'm usually open to new avenues.  And, I did create an account for this class.  I just don't see the relevancy of using Facebook.  If I want someone to know anything about me, I'll use my email list or telephone.  I have occasionally written letters to older friends to keep them up to date.  It just seems like a lot of work when there are other avenues to keep in contact with people. 

But, I will try to keep an open mind and will update if something changes my mind .....