Except for the fact that I can communicate with people who might not have their cell phone on them, or I can communicate with people in groups, or I can communicate with people who might be out of texts, or something.

Probably about 40% of my cell phone communication is  done through the Facebook medium.

I guess they are out of texts, don't have their cell phone on them and are sitting by a computer waiting for your facebook messages.

Haha, yep!

But, for example, right now I'm communicating with someone via Facebook. She's on a train with her cell phone, I'm at home on my computer. We are able to freely communicate without using up any texts, minutes, or anything else. What's more, if I go out, I'll be able to continue the same thread of communication straight away through my cell phone, with no syncing or what-have-you, likewise, she'll be able to jump onto a computer and pick up where she left off.

Or, during the summer, when I was in Florida, somebody asked me to get a photo of a school bus (don't ask why) (she asked via Facebook, btw - cheaper than international texts), I got that photo, uploaded it to Facebook and sent it to her whilst I was still on the go.

They may seem like trivial things, but it really does make communication easier, cheaper, and, most importantly, more accessible.

Your still relying on your cell phone. I am not saying facebook isn't great for comunicating, but if your simply trying to reach someone quickly cell phone trumps facebook.

... For now. :P Facebook's only been around for a handful of years, and look how much it has achieved. I mean, if they add voice communication, and include it in the mobile apps... what point would there be in the traditional, costlier voice calling on the phone?

What point? The point is that there still are people who value their privacy or for some other reason have no interest in using Facebook.

Also, unless you happen to have a data plan or something, using VOIP or anything similar on a cell phone is going to cost. A lot.

Wait, so if you're friends with someone they can add you to a group without you doing anything?

I would imagine that most people who use Facebook on their cell phone do have a data plan, anyway. I, for example, have unlimited data (subject to fair usage), whilst I have a 500 text - 600 minute cap. Facebook becomes very useful for me towards the end of the month.

And, I understand that people, for some reason, seem to put a lot of value into their privacy. Personally? I don't see the point, unless it's my financial details, or something. But, I do think the people who can't see the point in Facebook just don't realise what a great tool for communication it is, and they probably never will, unless they try it out for themselves.

I think my parents are great examples. My mum, who has now signed up to Facebook, has become much better friends with her co-workers, and she's also become reunited with friends from school, and as a result, she now goes out at least once or twice a week of an evening with her new-friends-co-workers, or old friends from school - something she never did before Facebook, and it's certainly noticeable when compared to my dad, who's part of the "too cool for Facebook" group, who probably only goes out (without my mum) once or twice a month.

I don't know... I can't seem to find a way to add people without just inviting them (granted, I only spent 3 minutes looking in response to this post... but that should typically be enough for a website designed for great unwashed).

1. I'm sure data plans are pretty common but there still are lots of people without data plan. Me? I love surfing the web with my cell phone but I only got a data plan pretty recently because there was a great offer.

2. I just don't want people to know everything about me. Personally I can't understand why so many people care so little about things in general, privacy being one of them. I've been very tempted to sign up to Facebook myself but the thing is, I'm not gonna need it and I'm not gonna get any advantage from Facebook either. Sure, it would be nice to be able to keep in touch with your friends more easily but in the end, I value my privacy more. It's not like there's nothing to hide, I just don't want the world to know everything about me. And I also don't like the way Facebook handles things. They don't seem to value privacy at all, and there's stuff like this happening. Oh no, I'm not buying that even if it's free.