Facebook Quality over Quantity - Technology Evangelist

One of the things that separates Facebook from the zillions of other social networking sites on the web today is the honesty. Not that everyone is completely honest in their personal profiles, but at least they use their real names and real photos of themselves rather than handles and cartoons.

That is, for the most part. There are still plenty of people who play by their own rules and prefer to use fake names or not load a photo of themselves.

I don't have a problem with that, but I've decided that the way I want to use Facebook is to interact with real humans who present themselves as real humans within Facebook.

Because of this, I'm plan to unfriend Facebook friends of mine who either don't use their real names or don't have a personal photo loaded (or a real photo). I'll take care of this on April 1st, and no, this isn't an April Fool's joke.

It's become clear to me how I'd like to use Facebook. This doesn't mean that anyone else will use the service the same way I do, which is fine with me. However, I would like to see Facebook hold onto its position as a place where people really are who they say they are.

Wow! I think I'm liking that idea. What made you decide to shift towards complete transparency?

This is an important conversation to have with the Internet community and I definitely applaud the move. Maybe it's time for application that rewards those that have made the shift towards "transparency".

In my opinion, if you're not willing to stand behind what you put online with your real name, you probably shouldn't have a Facebook account anyway... for your benefit.

Wow I have to say that I disagree with you wholeheartedly. By doing this you are essentially limiting yourself to the same circles that you already play in. For me social media is about discovery...I don't really use it to keep in touch with people I know, that gets handled offline via direct human interaction and the ole ma bell and online via instantaneous interaction such as IM, TxtM's, twitters and email.

A main reason for handles is the fact that many users access facebook when they should be working. You have to remember that not everybody works in tech and can "expense" facebook as a social marketing initiative. By excommunicating these folks you are essentially walling off your exposure potential. Turning facebook into another blogerati in which you interact and pontificate on things that you already know with people who share your interests.

Now thats not inherently a bad thing but I feel that by doing such you are closing your digital "gates" I for one go to the facebooks, myspaces, nings, and such to open my gates.

I guess y'all aren't gonna friend my
"bringbackthecougar" page dedicated to a simpler time when people lived in little pink houses and Mellencamp actually rocked?

ryan- I totally agree that social networking can be about discovery and I've used it in that way many, many times... but I'm only willing to discover real people. By limiting myself to real people, I'm not limiting myself to the same circle I already play in at all. I'm limiting myself to people that are willing to be honest about who they are publicly.

Facebook's policy doesn't even allow fake names. Facebook is an online extension of real relationships with real people. I'm willing to play within these confines if it means the service is more realistic in that regard.

If you're using Facebook at work and need to use a fake name because of it, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

My guess is that if you removed people accessing facebook or any social network on the clock your removing 25-50% of the daily pageviews.

So authors penning under pseudonyms are out too?
how about actors with stagenames?

Transparency is good but its not the be all end all. There will always be people who don't feel comfortable without some "cover" I am not willing to dismiss them just because they aren't confident enough to expose themselves.

I realize that the internet and social networks are becoming increasingly crowded with noise.

Unfortunately I think that this is an unavoidable side effect of the digital revolution.

Today more than ever the "Digital literacy" is tied to your ability to separate the wheat from the chaff or filter the noise. I understand that most think that this detritus is abominable and must be filtered out by machines or humans in the case of Maholo/Wikipedia....I take the opposite stance and feel that it is this flotsam jetsam that makes the internet what it is. I think removing and homogenizing social networks and the internet at large runs contrary to the foundation that they were built upon.

jules, I just see Facebook as a place where I'd like to interact with real people who are acting like real people. Not including a photo or real name is like coming to a party at my house while wearing a mask. Some may be fine with that, but this is my personal preference within Facebook. I think that's one of the things that sets Facebook apart from MySpace in a very good way.

different strokes for different strokes...I see facebook more as a voyeuristic endeavor akin to people watching at the mall or sitting at a bar. Most people simply whiz by me talking about this or that...but if I observe something that intrigues me I might tap them on the shoulder or "poke" them to strike up a convo.

ryan, you've made some great points, and my responses would largely echo what Aaron has already contributed in response.

Facebook offers a ton of privacy controls for people who aren't ready, willing, or interested in exposing themselves on the web beyond their circle of friends, but within my circle I'd like people to be real people.

i can dig that...facebook is different things to different people. Make of it what you will.

Everybody seems to be jumping on the Face book band wagon but doesn't commercial advertising go against the idea of social networking?

Chris, I think the trend toward free ad-supported services is here to stay. Building a network within a paid platform would be pretty difficult, although that still does happen in some cases.

It's my personal policy not to put pictures of myself on the Internet. My Facebook profile includes my custom avatar and real name. Sorry we can't be friends! Our policies won't allow it. -G.

if you get some real friends you will realise its not all its cracked up to be...

i will roll with jack nickelson and gandhi ...and we will laugh and joke and feel we are having real fun ...which we are.

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