Why do some people opt out of using and registering for a Facebook/myspace or other social networking sites?

[megan.jones_march1990]

[JJ]

They have real friends.

[Eric]

I personally don't use MySpace and I rarely use Facebook. Sometimes I regret even having a Facebook because I worry about not checking it enough or if I have enough pictures etc. It's something you have to worry about.

Also, it's a little creepy how insidious Facebook is. You can hardly find an ad in the paper anymore that doesn't say "Check us out on Facebook and enter to win!"

People also seem to waste their intellect away on Facebook for the most part. Many of its games like Farmville could probably be operated by a chimpanzee with a touchscreen and lots of the conversations on it are petty.

When I first discovered Facebook and made a page I was turned off by the fact that people whom I didn't even know filled my wall with stuff like how they just got a haircut or they got back from walking their dog.

However, over the years I've become grateful for Facebook as it enabled old friends to find me. That aspect of it took several years to sink in for me. Considering that I am a programmer and a hardware technician, and even have several years of online RPGs under my belt, it's probably safe to say that my IT skills are above average. But despite that, my ignorance of the value of Facebook was profound until very recently. It should follow that people who have less IT immersion than would be even more prone to this ignorance.

[jesterson]

The reasons I hear most are

1. don't see the need for them
2. know who my friends are and I have phone and e-mail why do I need them
3. suspiscious of privacy policies of these kinds of sites.