What's the deal with Social Networking sites...?

Legend

Legend

Legend

Soldato
Joined
31 Dec 2006
Posts
7,224
This has been puzzling me for a while, but why is it that on sites like MySpace, Tagged, Bebo etc. all these kinds of Social Networking sites, you get hundreds of people trying to be your friend, sending you obviously copied and pasted messages that they've written to god knows how many other people, and yet you don't know these people, likely never will and they live thousands of miles away! Even just mundane messages, like 'how are you?', 'nice to meet you', 'will you be my friend' etc. I just don't get it!! Is there some kind of scam going on here? I mean WHY do they do it, and what IS the point? Am i just missing something? Is this a genuine thing? Call me paranoid, but I can't help but be suspicious about this and wonder if there is some ulterior motive behind it all!?

:confused:
 
Set profile to private.
Ignore notes from randoms.
Only add friends.

I use Facebook and have NONE of the problems you just mentioned. I use it because it's a great way for me to keep in contact with my friends and family who live abroad, also it's a good place to share pictures of holidays/night outs/whatever.
 
Right you sign up to a social NETWORKING site and you ponder as to why people are contacting you...

Why did you sign up in the first place? If it is just for private/personal friends then the post above will solve the problem.
 
Legend said:
This has been puzzling me for a while, but why is it that on sites like MySpace, Tagged, Bebo etc. all these kinds of Social Networking sites, you get hundreds of people trying to be your friend, sending you obviously copied and pasted messages that they've written to god knows how many other people, and yet you don't know these people, likely never will and they live thousands of miles away! Even just mundane messages, like 'how are you?', 'nice to meet you', 'will you be my friend' etc. I just don't get it!! Is there some kind of scam going on here? I mean WHY do they do it, and what IS the point? Am i just missing something? Is this a genuine thing? Call me paranoid, but I can't help but be suspicious about this and wonder if there is some ulterior motive behind it all!?

:confused:
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Sometimes people just like to have more friends on their list than other people, it makes them feel special ... :cool: (Particularly in Myspace!)
 
I'm on Facebook and have never had a random person try to add me :confused: Your problem is being on MySpace and Bebo, which are mainly populated by chavvy twelve-year-olds.
 
Actually, I've had a few randoms on Facebook try to add me, but literally only like 2 or so.

I look at them and go....buh? "Who da 'ell are you?" in my Arnie voice and click ignore request.

It's more for my friends, although I have a fair few people from my first school etc, who don't talk, so I may as well delete them.
 
Call me crazy, but i just get the sense that it's all a bit more sinister than people wanting friends for the sake of it, or "chavvy 12-year olds".

I have no idea what possible motive there could be, but on myspace for example i've had obvious fake people, sending me the same message, wanting to be my friend. I don't get it. But even the genuine ones... just all seems very very strange. I was just wondering if there was some kind of scam behind it all... maybe strike up friends with people, get their email, add it to a junk list, befriend someone and try to steal their identity, i don't know! Seems to be no GOOD reason to do this with someone in another country who you have nothing in common with and you will never meet!!
 
Legend said:
Call me crazy, but i just get the sense that it's all a bit more sinister than people wanting friends for the sake of it, or "chavvy 12-year olds".

I have no idea what possible motive there could be, but on myspace for example i've had obvious fake people, sending me the same message, wanting to be my friend.
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Have you clicked through to their profile? Half the time they're trying to get you to sign up to some porn site.
 
Mattus said:
Have you clicked through to their profile? Half the time they're trying to get you to sign up to some porn site.
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Yes, you're right, some do. But there are loads of others, just seemingly normal ones, and not always on my profile, but i see it on others and i just don't understand it all given the huge volume of randoms. And it's interesting about the girl thing, because I notice it on female profiles even worse. A friend of mine has her mailbox full everyday with people adding her as a friend etc. So probably just horny guys looking for action... but then most of them are in other countries so i just don't get the logic behind that either!! I must be out of touch with modern society...!!
 
Legend said:
Call me crazy, but i just get the sense that it's all a bit more sinister than people wanting friends for the sake of it, or "chavvy 12-year olds".

I have no idea what possible motive there could be, but on myspace for example i've had obvious fake people, sending me the same message, wanting to be my friend. I don't get it. But even the genuine ones... just all seems very very strange. I was just wondering if there was some kind of scam behind it all... maybe strike up friends with people, get their email, add it to a junk list, befriend someone and try to steal their identity, i don't know! Seems to be no GOOD reason to do this with someone in another country who you have nothing in common with and you will never meet!!
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Haha, I had one girl from Romania suddenly talking to me...Next week she kept dropping hints that she loved me, and she wanted a better life etc. And how she wanted to move away hint hint.

You look at her profile now, she has like random pictures up there =/...of some weird guy who blatantly isn't her boyfriend, and the pictures of her are SO random it's just funny...she must have had surgery once a year.

Amusing though.
 
shauncr91 said:
I use Facebook and have NONE of the problems you just mentioned. I use it because it's a great way for me to keep in contact with my friends and family who live abroad, also it's a good place to share pictures of holidays/night outs/whatever.
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This /\

If it bothers you that much... unsubscribe. :p
 
Its all about networking.....

most people will add you because you have something in common, so providing you actually communicate with the person it might be worth accepting the friend request, al be it on a limited basis.

if they are completely random, then just ignore and move on.
 
I find it annoying, a random person called wendel something or other tried adding me twice on facebook, no mutual friends, not even from a place i've lived.
 
I've had a random girl from Brazil try to add me on facebook cos she thought I was one of her cousins. Wish I had been, yearly trips to Brazil would be great!!

Wasn't it on TV not too long ago that people can commit identity theft just by the info you have on your Facebook page?
 
There is no need to point out the obvious that it's easy to ignore all this unwanted attention, friend requests etc. either by unsubscribing or making your profile private. Obviously that's easy to do. But that's not the point. I was more interested in WHY this happens in the first place, and the apparent (to me anyway) sinister motivations behind it, which to my mind do not seem altogether innocent... but perhaps i'm just paranoid and untrusting!! 'Networking' with random idiots you don't know, will never know and would probably never even like is obviously simply beyond my level of comprehension! :rolleyes:
 
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$loth said:
I find it annoying, a random person called wendel something or other tried adding me twice on facebook, no mutual friends, not even from a place i've lived.
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Same groups? if there is nothing in common then it could have been accidental, why not send a quick message asking?
 
Legend said:
There is no need to point out the obvious that it's easy to ignore all this unwanted attention, friend requests etc. either by unsubscribing or making your profile private. Obviously that's easy to do. But that's not the point. I was more interested in WHY this happens in the first place, and the motivations behind it, which to my mind do not seem altogether innocent... but perhaps i'm just paranoid and untrusting!! 'Networking' with random idiots you don't know, will never know and would probably never even like is obviously simply beyond my level of comprehension! :rolleyes:
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I think its generally because they either like having a million friends (makes them feel popular), or they're stalkers looking for the next victim!!
 
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