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10 reasons why you can't quit Facebook

10 simple enough reasons why you will not be able to quit the world's largest social networking site, Facebok.
By Zack Whittaker, Contributor
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1 of 10 Zack Whittaker/ZDNET

Sending and sharing photos in the 'good old days' used to mean sending via email. And even with sites like Flickr and other photo sharing websites, it still remains as Facebook as the higher power when it comes to sharing photos amongst your friends. The fact of the matter is, is that your network of friends are all there - and with Facebook, you throw your photos out there instead of selecting them manually to see. 

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Read more by Zack Whittaker on quitting Facebook here, and why quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking here, and the ZDNet Friending Facebook column by Emil Protalinski.

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2 of 10 Zack Whittaker/ZDNET

With only 140 characters to use in each tweet, it isn't enough to sustain a full conversation over a short or long period of time. By the time you get past the introduction or the simple 'hello', you find that you've already churned up more characters than you have access to. 

Though Facebook has a character limit in each status, it's easy to tag people in - like Twitter. But Twitter is incredibly public, whereas Facebook can at least be limited to a smaller group of friends using extensive set of privacy controls.

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Read more by Zack Whittaker on quitting Facebook here, and why quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking here, and the ZDNet Friending Facebook column by Emil Protalinski.

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3 of 10 Zack Whittaker/ZDNET

Forget your friends and your network. It's not these you're interested in - it's the gaming culture that Facebook has generated over the past few years. With FarmVIlle and CityVIlle, to all time favourite relics of the past in Bejeweled and Tetris, the range of applications and games to play on Facebook are burgeoning by the day. 

But if you were to give up Facebook, you'd have to let your virtual crops wither and your virtual town turn to virtual violence and bloodshed. It's inevitable in the very virtual world.

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Read more by Zack Whittaker on quitting Facebook here, and why quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking here, and the ZDNet Friending Facebook column by Emil Protalinski.

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Prince William's stag night should be in the next few weeks, and though it clearly hasn't been publicised on Facebook officially (though, unofficially it's given hundreds of thousands a damn good laugh), what about the other events going on in your social group?

Facebook is the center of all groups and events, and are more likely to be instigated on the social network than by any other means. If you go without the site, how will you know about all the groups and events you've been invited to? You'll be a social hand grenade, just sitting and waiting for your phone to ring.

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Read more by Zack Whittaker on quitting Facebook here, and why quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking here, and the ZDNet Friending Facebook column by Emil Protalinski.

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5 of 10 Zack Whittaker/ZDNET

Facebook, cleverly, has a list of all upcoming birthdays. Without a diary, or Outlook - as a thought - how else would you be able to keep track with the vast birthdays you need to remember? 

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Read more by Zack Whittaker on quitting Facebook here, and why quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking here, and the ZDNet Friending Facebook column by Emil Protalinski.

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6 of 10 Zack Whittaker/ZDNET

Facebook allows you to sign into a whole load of other websites and services, by using the Facebook Connect routine. Simply click the magic button and if you're already logged in, it'll port a few of your details across to the new service and log you in, without the need to fill out vast forms of details. You can do this with Twitter and your Google account too.

But without Facebook, you'll be plagued with dozens of forms and boxes to fill out each time you sign up to a new service, which subscribes to Facebook Connect. It'll bore you half to death, and you'll wish you kept your account after all!

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Read more by Zack Whittaker on quitting Facebook here, and why quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking here, and the ZDNet Friending Facebook column by Emil Protalinski.

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7 of 10 Zack Whittaker/ZDNET

Seeing as Facebook is a relatively private area to communicate with your friends, unlike Twitter which other users can see anything and everything you tweet, where else can you go to share meme's and politically incorrect jokes, without fear of being judged? Facebook has hundreds of groups with distasteful humour and low-brow jokes, and the sharing power is immense. So, though for many of the older generations, the jokes go well over their heads or are 'far too offensive', where else could yo go to share?

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Read more by Zack Whittaker on quitting Facebook here, and why quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking here, and the ZDNet Friending Facebook column by Emil Protalinski.

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8 of 10 Zack Whittaker/ZDNET

Facebook Chat could well be the world's largest chat protocol, as the number of available users surpass that of ICQ and Windows Live Messenger. And considering it is so widely available as an open protocol, anyone with a smartphone can download an application to contact their friends on the go.

So if you jacked in other instant messengers to keep all of your social activity all in one place, then you will be missing out. Then again, so many people 'turn off' Facebook chat anyway, so they cannot be bothered, one might question whether it is as popular as one might think.

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Read more by Zack Whittaker on quitting Facebook here, and why quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking here, and the ZDNet Friending Facebook column by Emil Protalinski.

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9 of 10 Zack Whittaker/ZDNET

We're all a little bit paranoid. What happens when you fall out with someone in real life, and you can't turn to Facebook to see if they're badmouthing you. A wave of paranoia begins, and you could well be facing a huge storm and barrage of evil on the site without your knowledge. At least if you're on the site you can defend your honour.

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Read more by Zack Whittaker on quitting Facebook here, and why quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking here, and the ZDNet Friending Facebook column by Emil Protalinski.

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10 of 10 Zack Whittaker/ZDNET

But arguably, the biggest thing to face is social exclusion. Just because you might want to throw in the towel and give up on Facebook doesn't mean that the rest of your following or friends will. It's a symbiotic relationship; Facebook only really works if you have your connections there. If they're not, and your friends are more into texting or phoning each other, then you can do without. But seeing as nearly 1 in 11 people in the world are on the social network, it's quite likely that they are.

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Read more by Zack Whittaker on quitting Facebook here, and why quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking here, and the ZDNet Friending Facebook column by Emil Protalinski.

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