Billg quits Facebook

Bill Gates is deleting, or at least disabling, the Facebook account he set up before investing in the company. Gates, who retires from Microsoft in July this year, was apparently spending up to half an hour a day poking his mates and playing Scrabulous. But it is not evidence of the fading attraction of social networking - in …

[Alan Davies]

I can relate to that

I know how Bill feels. I get about 30 friend requests a day.

Sid Little

[micheal]

So we now know

He really will be "Billy-no-mates"

I hear paris is looking for friends, as is Britney.....

[triky]

nuff said

and i quote "according to the Sun"...

[matt]

I wonder...

if they will actually delete his data unlike the rest of us

[Ian]

@ micheal

"I hear paris is looking for friends, as is Britney....."

Really? Where do I apply, I'd like to see if they're looking for a "special" friend.

[Anonymous Coward]

fake friends

Just goes to show how daft the 'friends' concept is on social networking sites. People collect them as badges of honour to validate their pitiful existence and give meaning to their empty, howling souls.

[Sarah Bee]

Re: fake friends

"Just goes to show how daft the 'friends' concept is on social networking sites. People collect them as badges of honour to validate their pitiful existence and give meaning to their empty, howling souls."

Ah, come on, we've all got to do something to 'give meaning to our empty, howling souls'. Some of us knit, some of us engage in charity work, some of us rack up a healthy number of postings on website comment threads complaining about stuff. Diff'rent strokes.

[theotherone]

30 minutes a day?

30 minutes a day, that's about 500,000 dollars BillG time.....

[Geoff Mackenzie]

Never really got into social networking

My empty, howling soul doesn't play nice with others...

[Dam]

Re: fake friends

"Ah, come on, we've all got to do something to 'give meaning to our empty, howling souls'. Some of us knit, some of us engage in charity work, some of us rack up a healthy number of postings on website comment threads complaining about stuff. Diff'rent strokes."

While the *really* (re)productive people in this world browse porn.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Chris

"...Just goes to show how daft the 'friends' concept is on social networking sites. People collect them as badges of honour to validate their pitiful existence and give meaning to their empty, howling souls..."

Not got many friends on facebook then, Chris?

Me, I've got a shitload ;)

[Tom Austin]

@Chris

I wish I had an empty, howling soul. Mine's a bit full. The howling bit is OK though.

But then I've got bugger-all "friends" on Facebook. Inverse relational type-thing, perhaps?

PH because, well, should I REALLY elaborate?

[Anonymous Coward]

@Geoff Mackenzie

Actually, I think empty howling souls make up a good share of Facebook users, based on the tone of many discussions in forums and groups. Certainly playing nice with others in no requirement at all.

[Wellard]

Thats IF Facebook removed his account

Title says it all. Although Facebook claim that my profile has been deleted, I very much doubt that it is, and I doubt somebody's like Billy's has been removed either.

PH: Because she loves social networking

[oxo]

@Dam

" ... the *really* (re)productive people in this world browse porn."

Sorry to break this to you, but w*nk*ng isn't reproduction.

[Joseph Zygnerski]

Really fake friends

With so many TV shows and the like getting into social networking, I can actually say that a couple of my online friends aren't fake, they're fictional. The fake ones I always reject (as they're usually spammers).

[Glenn Alexander]

Friends

The only facebook friends I have are also people in my email address book. To be honest, I would prefer they email me direct, but they insist...

[Steen Hive]

Are Friends Electric

The fact that people can even use the word "friends" in this context is flabbergasting.

I will not have a facebook - nor anything like it, period. You can stuff this "social contact lite" up your arse, thanks very much - it creates more empty howling souls than it could ever heal. I can't see my "friend" Billg helping me out with the rent if I'm a bit short this month.

From long before the Interweb:

"You know I hate to ask, But Are Friends Electric? Only - mine's broke down, and now I've no-one to love"

Paris - an empty, howling soul with more "friends" than you can shake a stick at.

[John Stirling]

empty howling souls

I am going to start a group on facebook called 'we have empty howling souls' - if it doesn't already exist, I'll see you there - new friends are of course welcome, as that nay help fill the gaping void within.

[Matthew Stoltenberg]

Friends

Facebook makes it a bit too easy it be someone's "friend". You only have to know someone's name to send a friend request. Bill Gates icon ftw!

[Jamie Davis]

@John

And I joined... do you have any cool applications available? I would like to found out the percentage of chocolate my pet is made of or how many personalities by vase had.

[Anonymous Coward]

Real friends are much healthier

I'm not saying that there's no place for a social groups staying in touch via the 'net. I'm saying that with Facebook, there exists a large number of people who collect 'friends' meaninglessly and obsessively, driven by some strange urge to just get the counter up.

Hence the likes of "billg" being paged to death by people, who he has never, ever met in his entire life, trying to be his 'friend' so they can display him in their trophy list, proudly moving him to the top as their greatest conquest to date. It should be called "obsessive random stranger list collecting" but I s'pose "friends" is a bit snappier, if somewhat outrageously untrue.

It's similar to the cult of celebrity, where people are held in regard for who they happen to be, not what they've done, and on Facebook it's the 'cult of friends', where it doesn't ever matter who they are as long as you've got 'em! The howling emptiness of a Facebook user's soul is proportional to the number of complete strangers on their friends list.

[John Stirling]

@Jamie

I feel better already.

Up to 4 members already - come on everyone, let's see if we can make it to 10. Then we should be able to really feel the magic.

the magic of our souls leaking.

Mind you - that's a lot more successful than the other group I started when I first discovered groups on facebook - 'Don't join my group, it's only for me'. It was sort of a cross between a sociology experiment, and poor comedy. Turned out everyone I know is too sensible by far.

[R]

Privacy Settings

Why didnt he just make his page unsearchable? Privacy settings are your friend!

[Steve Evans]

@Chris

"Just goes to show how daft the 'friends' concept is on social networking sites. People collect them as badges of honour to validate their pitiful existence and give meaning to their empty, howling souls."

I concur. I have a golden rule on Facebook, call me old fashioned, but If I've never met someone in the flesh (oooh errr), then they don't go on my friends list.

My brother on the other hand is the kind of "friend whore" you describe, and spends most of his time buried under application invites from his "friends". Me I'm brutal with the delete button even on real friends if they forward stupid things, this even extended to my sister in-law when she was the 3rd person to send the "Facebook need you to forward this message to prove your profile is active" message a few months back. I still haven't reinstated her!

As for Bill spending up to half an hour a day... Blimee, his PC must be running faster than mine! I wonder what version of Linux he's running?

[Scott]

I'll be your friend

My name is Freddi Staur and I'll be your friend, just look me up

@Jamie: I can only give what your pets favourite food in a past life was. You only seend to send a request to 15 people and enter you mobile phone number.

[Tim Lane]

Friends

All my facebook friends bart one are people I know in real life, allthough some I have not met in real life for years. It is handy for keeping in touch with my UK friends since I moved to Germany.

The one is an astonishingly attractive Australian girl I got chatting to on Texas Hold'em.

I am still inundated wioth pointless requests, most of which I ignore.

Paris because my Ausie "friend" is better looking.

[pctechxp]

facebook and empty howling souls

All my friends are people I have met in real life.

The only reason I embarked on using FB was because I gained a rather hot looking temporary work colleague and one of her first questions was whether I had an FB account and when I said I didn't she seemed rather disappointed, so what's a guy to do?

Bill chosen because I cant stand Paris and at least the guy shows some sort of intelligence, I mean, you'd have to be intelligent to set up that alleged monopoly.

[Samantha Clinton]

I'm 10th...

...feel the magic ;)

And for the record all my friends are actually people I know!!

There's something quite romantic about having an empty howling soul...puts me in mind of Wuthering Heights...

[Anonymous Coward]

@Tim Lane

"All my facebook friends bart one are people I know in real life, ...

The one is an astonishingly attractive Australian girl I got chatting to on Texas Hold'em"

You knew she was astonishingly attractive from her profile pic of course backed up by the fact she said so? ;o)

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Rhys]

I only have 2 on facebook

And thats merely to make them shut the fuck up and stop sending reminders to all their Email list every other day.

I haven't been to facebook since I first signed up and I've long since lost the password.

On the plus sign I no longer get "XXX wants to be your friend on facebook, why not sign up now" type messages almost daily from them.

Can Facebook really be called Information Technology when theres bugger all information involved? it's just empty egos.