What is the "point" of adding friends on MFP?

Geocitiesuser
Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
edited November 15 in Getting Started
Honest question, what does adding friends do? I see a lot of people asking for friends on the forum, and I have received a few requests, but I deny them. What actually happens?

(follow up question, are there any other apps that will import our data for advanced graphing/charting?)
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Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Activity and posts from your "friends" show up in your news feed.

    Some people like the community aspect of this feature, others are indifferent to it.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited February 2017
    See http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10483729/question-about-friends

    I'm the same. I just stopped bothering to decline them.

    On the pulling data, read this thread http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10487609/can-you-pull-monthly-data-out-of-mfp

    Or one I could never get to work
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Speaking as a fellow data geek, I think you might want to check this out:

    MFP Data Export Tool - The Overview

    It includes a link to a thread where the tool's discussed at length.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    Since I don't talk about my weight loss goals much IRL, having friends here gives me a venue to share my successes and struggles with people who are going through roughly the same thing. I really like the news feed feature you get with friends' status updates, posts, diaries, etc., in addition to the forum feature :smile: But as with anything else, your mileage may vary!
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
    I usually don't send invites to others but accept any requests that come to me. Friends make MFP more interesting. I often reply to many questions for the fun of it. I also rarely check to see if I helped or offended, not sure why, I guess I would need to search for them. I have several apps that sync to MFP like Runtastic, fitbit and my scale but have never needed to export from MFP so I can't help with that.
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
    I agree with wolfman, it was beneficial early on, not so much now. Some people like the social media like aspect of it.
  • mom22dogs
    mom22dogs Posts: 470 Member
    I really never saw the point either. I think I accepted a few friends in the beginning, but I've never seen anything or where you are supposed to interact with them anyway. It's really not motivating to me to have friends here.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    laceyslabaugh wrote: »
    When you friend someone, they can see your diary and you can "post" on your wall and they can see that and comment. It just gives some accountability and people to ask questions to and help celebrate with you and to pick you up when you 'fall'. I just started adding friends when requested and I love that they support me and encourage me everyday!

    This is only true if you have your diary set to only be viewed by friends. If you have it set to public, anybody can see it whether or not they're your friend, and if you have it set to completely private, or viewable only with a key, even your friends can't see it (unless you give them the key).

    As some others have said, everyone is different. I'm accountable to myself; I can't imagine feeling accountable to "friends" on a social media platform. I've added friends when I got requests if they included a message, or occasionally when they didn't include a message if I remembered having a conversation with them on the boards. It's nice to occasionally get a little booster comment, and it's nice to see other people's progress and offer them support, but most days I don't even look at my news feed, so it really doesn't affect me one way or the other.

    I'm happy to respond to questions from friends, but I hardly ever get any.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    When you/they complete your diary, add exercise, log your weight, add a blog post, etc it can show up on your/their newsfeed if you select that in your settings. You/they can see posts to your/their newsfeed/wall.
    The point is support, inspiration, communication with others you decide to be friends with here. It is not required.

    I found it inspiring when I was starting out but less as I went along.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited February 2017
    I don't send out friend requests, but i accept most of them (from women) because i feel guilty and rude if i don't! I decline requests from guys.

    I keep my diary public so people dont have to friend me to see it. I sometimes read the top few posts on my newsfeed, but other than that i dont interact, that's what i use the forum for.

    I've even written in my profile here that I'm a lousy mfp friend, so anyone who sends me a request is forwarned.

    The friend request thing/ friend collectors reminds me of Fackebook, which i ditched years ago.
  • traskin5918
    traskin5918 Posts: 14 Member
    I started on this site a few months ago and added some friends. Reading about their own challenges and feeling a sense of camaraderie when you're facing a menacing hell of new disciplines was quite important for me, at least. It was also important for me to find a friend who shares mental issues, reading about hers and the ways she copes was terribly encouraging ; I don't discuss these things in 'real' life with anyone, so yeah, the friendship, as electronic as it is, has been a blessing. I constantly feel a part of a collective effort. I've lost 61 pounds in a little over 3 months. In addition to my own self-discipline, switch to healthy foods, counting calories and exercising like a mad hatter, I have also a crazy cat lady (her own description), a young woman trying desperately to avoid cake, a bearded fireman who also has psychological challenges and a few others to thank.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    edited February 2017
    Geocitiesuser wrote: »
    Honest question, what does adding friends do?

    seems like it's been answered by now, but on the social front . . . i guess 'what happens' depends on the kind of person you are and the kinds of people you accept as your friends. personally, i really don't grok the thing of getting rah-rah-rah'd by total strangers. tell the truth it just made me kind of paranoid, when i'd log in and find a whole string of people clapping handsies for me along the roadside like it was something remarkable. i get that a lot of people do find that really motivating, but it demoralized me.

    but i'm not especially gregarious to begin with, so ymmv. i like the friends i do have though. they're goofballs, or they're introspective, or they just talk just enough about what's going on in their lives to be interesting, without making me feel like i'm getting an overdose of the overshare thing. and i picked most of them up via actual forum/group interaction, so we actually have common cause together.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    canadianlbs wrote: »
    Geocitiesuser wrote: »
    Honest question, what does adding friends do?

    seems like it's been answered by now, but on the social front . . . i guess 'what happens' depends on the kind of person you are and the kinds of people you accept as your friends. personally, i really don't grok the thing of getting rah-rah-rah'd by total strangers. tell the truth it just made me kind of paranoid, when i'd log in and find a whole string of people clapping handsies for me along the roadside like it was something remarkable. i get that a lot of people do find that really motivating, but it demoralized me.

    but i'm not especially gregarious to begin with, so ymmv. i like the friends i do have though. they're goofballs, or they're introspective, or they just talk just enough about what's going on in their lives to be interesting, without making me feel like i'm getting an overdose of the overshare thing. and i picked most of them up via actual forum/group interaction, so we actually have common cause together.

    I can totally relate to this. I ended up turning off the option to post "weight loss", "days logged" etc etc on my newsfeed, and I never close my diary, because i hate the attention it directed toward me, if that make sense? Simply, i was embarrassed by the the rah rah rah's, even though they were all being nice and supportive, I just don't like the spotlight on me.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    edited February 2017
    Christine_72 wrote: »

    I can totally relate to this. I ended up turning off the option to post "weight loss", "days logged" etc etc on my newsfeed, and I never close my diary, because i hate the attention it directed toward me, if that make sense? Simply, i was embarrassed by the the rah rah rah's, even though they were all being nice and supportive, I just don't like the spotlight on me.

    I didn't even realize you could turn those off.. the weight loss one is annoying (I weigh everyday- so the numbers it posts are nonsense fluctuations).
  • UltimateTrashBae
    UltimateTrashBae Posts: 175 Member
    I love having a lot of likes and comments on my progress. It makes me feel like my hard work is noticed. It also feels nice to be supportive of others' progress. It's all very uplifting for me. Makes me want to keep kicking butt.
  • JennyRATL
    JennyRATL Posts: 199 Member
    When I first started on MFP, my only friends were people I was friends with IRL, like 3 of them. Didn't stay on track very well.This time around, I've built a nice friend base and feel it has helped me a lot. I am motivated (and slightly competitive) by seeing others' workouts and diaries! And I like the social aspect, since I don't do much FB or other SM platform. I like seeing my friends here cheer me on! It doesn't feel as personal since they are strangers when they cheer or hold me accountable.

    I like that I can always talk about what I'm doing here without getting bothersome, since everyone here is working on their fitness! And accountability by strangers feels less thorny than when my husband tells me to go workout! :/

    And the knowledge base is great.
    I accept and request. Mostly to and from women who are in the same boat/age range/stage of life, but I have a few friends that are young whippersnappers. They're fun and cute! I rarely accept male requests, unless they seem on the up and up and not just horndogs. If a guy has like 100 friends and they are all hot females, bye. Although I guess I should feel slightly validated? :D
  • RunningMom1038
    RunningMom1038 Posts: 144 Member
    I love having MFP friends! Of course....my friends are awesome. Who wouldn't love them?

    The point for me is I love the chit-chat, giving and receiving virtual high fives and pats on the back, and the inspiration I get from some of them. They care about my successes when no one else does. They get it when I'm stoked about reaching a new personal best running time or reaching a weight-loss goal. Some people prefer to get all that from "real life" friends, but I don't have any who understand the concept of weight-loss by eating less. They actually balk at the idea when they find out that's how I'm losing weight. So, that's the "point" for me.
  • _MotherSuperior_
    _MotherSuperior_ Posts: 158 Member
    MeganAM89 wrote: »
    Sometimes nudes happen

    This gif illustrates what's about to happen to you. Each hotdog represents over 9000 unique FRs.
    SYGkVEBAhm0g0.gif
  • _BrewingAZ_
    _BrewingAZ_ Posts: 252 Member
    MeganAM89 wrote: »
    Sometimes nudes happen

    So that's why I never get friend requests! :D
  • ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken
    ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken Posts: 1,530 Member
    edited February 2017
    It's nice to have support. Now, not every single one of my friends are constantly commenting and cheering me on, and I don't always get to comment and cheer everyone else on as much as I would like. But I do have a lot of great people here who have helped me through some rough patches. I hope I have been the same to them when they needed it. I don't want to get too many friends though. I think once I had 30, 50, 100 or more friends I would fail to be a friend because that is a lot of people to lend support to. Who has several hours a day to comment and conversate with that many people? So I keep mine to 20 max give or take maybe 2-3.

    The quality of friends matters also. If I see people in the forums being A wholes to others on a regular basis I would definitely not add those people. If I am not sure about a friend request I message the person and ask who they are and where they saw me. Typically my requests tend to come from friends I see in comments on other friends posts so I kind of have a circle of people who are all mostly friends with one another.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,140 Member
    I have to concur with the support/motivation part. I've previously used MFP with no friends but don't think I've ever got past 10-14 days, since adding MFP friends from the community I'm currently at 46 days of logging in, logging properly and have lost around 8kg.

    My offline friends couldn't give a *kitten* if I lose weight (for their sins they like me whether I am fat or skinny :lol:), I tried to get a few of them who wanted to lose weight to add the app to help motivate them and me, they either haven't bothered or haven't stuck it out. It's nice to have some people for accountability and to offer the same for them. I don't comment constantly but if I see someone is having a rough day/not sure of something on their status I am happy to try and cheer them up or offer some advice.

    This time around I need to do it for my health so that has helped motivate me more than before and I am taking it seriously. Both the friends and the community are helping me stick at it.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,189 Member
    I had a small hand full few years back but I am now flying solo and I like it. What I eat and how much I exercise are my doing and decision, and I don't want to be interacting all the time or reading what ever is posted on my wall; too much time spent on this website. I never send friend's request and I don't accept them either. I belong to one of the groups here in MFP and that's all I need and want.

    People have different needs and goals and it seems that social media is the "thing' now. I personally would love if this site had a feature that would allow me to only complete my diaries and kept away from forums.

    Time to go.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    The point is to make MFP more addicting. I mean... to help you to want to keep using it and succeed... :smirk:
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