[_Simon]

I'm sorry, but this is just "anti" for the sake of it. If you have a good enough relationship with friends and family, Facebook is just another medium to stay in touch. I'd agree that if it's the only medium, there may be issues, but your suggestions are merely alternatives, no better and in some instances slightly worse (no, the postal service is not a valid alternative). Yes, there are other options, but Facebook works well enough for a majority of folk. I'll come clean and say that I'm not a fan of Facebook, I find it too intrusive. That said most of my immediate friends and family use it and get an awful lot out of it. The psychological benefits of just feeling connected cannot be understated.

[biomechanica]

It is not "anti" at all. Like I wrote already, the point isn't to replace the convenience of facebook. It is to seek alternatives that will "do the job". Yes, the postal service is absolutely an alternative, whether you agree or not. It is a means of old communication. Yes, it's a bit "inconvenient" but it works.

Complacency is not a good argument: "the majority of people I know use it so it shouldn't be criticized for the sake of convenience". That's what I hear, maybe I'm deaf.

Jitsi or Ekiga or any other type of open technology can effectively replace facebook quite well. They also give you "the psychological benefits of just feeling connected". I would submit that the Internet fills that niche, not Facebook or others like it.

People can use it all they want. Fine, no problem. But to lean on the idea that it is somehow impossible to delete an account without becoming a hermit is, in my view, a complete asinine idea.

[_Simon]

Why 'open'? Is that the issue that you have with Facebook? If not, why not Skype? It's available on more platforms that the two specific examples that you mention. The thing that you are dismissing is the convenience. Like it or not, literally millions of people find it extremely convenient to stay in touch with friends and acquaintances easily.

[biomechanica]

I am dismissing the "convenience" factor simply to prove a point. I am under no illusion that there needs to be better alternatives out there that fill in the gaps. However, it is also important to note that while there is certainly a convenience factor that some people (or perhaps even most people) will gravitate to, there are also other factors to consider. Freedom, being one. Now, I'm not one to badger people about what Freedoms you can/will lose while using a centralized service such as Facebook or Google, but I do think it's important to recognize the serious problems those services pose.

I also think it's important to not get off track from my original point which is: It is not the end of your social life if you decide to delete your facebook account (or google or twitter etc.). That is my point.

I emphasize "open" because those technologies are open for review by thousands of eyes. If there are privacy issues it will be known and tended to. Using something like Skype does not ensure your privacy; especially since now it is more centralized and not p2p. There has been many articles released about the privacy concerns of using Skype (wiretapping, China, etc.). I, for one, do not ever want to put my privacy in the back seat for the sake of convenience and I think it's imperative to educate or at least mention the problems with closed technologies that are supposed to be "private".

Jitsi, as far as I can tell, runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. Those platforms are pretty much covered. I'm not sure if it runs on Android or iOS. Though, I'm sure there are people working on mobile solutions (I am, at least). I wouldn't dismiss it so easily. Skype runs like utter crap on Linux systems and while Jitsi may not run all that well compared to Skype, it is at least open sourced and free software so people can work on it.

Email is essentially a social network. A social network is simply, at its core, a system which allows friends/family/other to communicate and keep up to date with each other. In fact, I would go so far as to say the original social network is not Facebook or MySpace but the Internet itself.

Again, I'm not trying to suggest there are alternatives that can completely replace Facebook (or others) convenience factor. Not at all. I am simply saying, you don't need it.