Facebook - Your Opinions.

[james60059]

Hi Folks,

Coming into my third month of not being on the popular form of social media after deactivating my account, what are your opinions of Facebook?, assuming you're on there?.

To be honest, at the start, I found it a useful tool, get to make friends with similar interests, share photos and in general have a goo conversation. Over the last couple of years however I seen that it changed - or maybe it's just me? :

■ Attention Seekers
■ Bullying and Intimidation (they call it banter apparently....)
■ Spying for other individuals

and in general just attracting idiots and keyboard warriors, in the end I took the decision to leave in November last year and to be honest, I'm glad I did.

Does anyone think it's had it's time?, or, like me, have you got fed up with the moaning myrltes and whinging winnies and decided to leave?.

 

[Iskra]

I deactivated about 2 years ago. Empty vessels make most noise.

It was great when I was younger, but it's redundant now for me. It turned into mainly vacuous people trying to be funny or controversial, inane whining, posting pictures of babies, cats or their holidays, there's also a lot of fakeness and showing-off, with many folk projecting idealised (or fake) interpretations of their lives. It also went downhill when older family members started using it, it has caused family arguments which I just can't be bothered with. Also, I realised I was wasting a lot of time consuming aforementioned pointless information.

I've got snapchat and whatsapp only now, but I've realised quite simply that the people who are genuinely important to me, I'll keep in touch with anyway via other means.

However, recently I changed my phone contract, which came with free spotify. My spotify login was linked to my facebook account when I originally set it up, so I've had to reactivate my facebook to transfer my playlists over to my free spotify account. So, I'm now technically back on facebook but I've changed the picture to something random and still don't touch it.

 

[Lrd]

I deleted it about two years ago after realising that every time I unlocked my phone/turned on my computer I would instantly open Facebook and read nothing important and just get annoyed at all the bragging and showing off.

Before I deleted it, I went through a friend purge and removed everyone I either hadn't spoken to for a while or didn't intend to talk to and I wasn't left with many people after that, all of which had my number and I had theirs.

I've got Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp which is enough for me.

 

[Domh245]

I still have an account, but I use it almost exclusively for the "messenger" feature, and even then I'm using that far fewer compared to a few years ago. I can't really say what it was that changed that drove me away from it, but I think that it was a combination of starting to browse reddit (which is a far better way of aggregating content and having discussions, whilst retaining a degree of anonymity) as well as a seeming decrease in the quality of the content on facebook.

There was also an aspect of the "facebook is listening" thing, where supposedly their apps are always listening on the microphones of mobile devices, and then using that to deliver targeted ads - I didn't feel overly comfortable with facebook doing that (although I'm more than happy to let Google do much the same thing for some reason)

 

[gazthomas]

I use it to project my life as being more interesting than it really is. Am I the only one?

 

[EM2]

I have family and friends spread far and wide, so it's very useful for keeping in touch and seeing what everyone is up to.
The problems (for me) are when stuff you aren't interested in appears in your timeline because one of your friends liked it, or replied to it, or plays a game. It clogs up the timeline and makes it difficult to find what you actually want.

 

[roversfan2001]

I spend probably upwards of 8 hours a day on Facebook, it's an incredibly useful website/app. I use it mainly to talk about football on 'banter groups' so I might be guilty of the first 2 of the OP's points

 

[SS4]

I've got Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp which is enough for me.

Don't forget that the latter two are owned by Facebook. Might not be a problem if it's because of the content but anyone with privacy concerns should take note.

----

I dislike facebook because there are too many ads and it has a tendency of forcing Top Stories instead of most recent when the top stories are ones I've seen in most recent!

However, it's a necessary evil as (like other social networks esp. skype) the problem I have is that others don't want to move to a better (IMO) protocol - and since I only use it for messenger that would be XMPP

 

[takno]

I still have an account, but I use it almost exclusively for the "messenger" feature, and even then I'm using that far fewer compared to a few years ago. I can't really say what it was that changed that drove me away from it, but I think that it was a combination of starting to browse reddit (which is a far better way of aggregating content and having discussions, whilst retaining a degree of anonymity) as well as a seeming decrease in the quality of the content on facebook.

There was also an aspect of the "facebook is listening" thing, where supposedly their apps are always listening on the microphones of mobile devices, and then using that to deliver targeted ads - I didn't feel overly comfortable with facebook doing that (although I'm more than happy to let Google do much the same thing for some reason)

The listening thing isn't true, although their apps do do horrible things to the speed of a lot of phones. I've uninstalled the main app, and downloaded the lite version of messenger (which isn't in the UK app store).

I probably still check FB it about 20 times a day, but it's just a muscle memory thing - There are only about 30 things a day appear in my feed, and most of them are pictures that I look at for about 10 seconds. It got that way because automatically checked the "I don't want to see adverts from this publisher" against every single advert they put there, used adblocker to hide the trending box, and hid the 20 or so people who prolifically post rubbish. What's left is the odd funny thing, the odd interesting update on peoples' lives, maybe one news article a day I think is interesting enough to click on, and messenger.

Works for me, but I miss the days before the share button and the algorithm took over. I used to be able to genuinely keep up with what people were doing rather than what they were sharing, and I'd actually get updates from bands and clubs without them having to pay to boost the post at me. Probably more accurate though to say that I miss being in my 20s with a lot of time on my hands, and a lot of friends in the same position.

 

[birchesgreen]

I did deactivate my original account and created a new one thats just family focussed and mainly for my mum to know what i'm doing (she gets worried as i'm only 46 ) and to chat to my ex-college friend who now lives in the US.

A word about deactivation though, it isn't really. A few months ago Facebook informed me that someone had tried to access my supposedly deactivated and deleted account. Of course to change the password meant i had to reactivate it again... then deactivate it.

 

[507021]

I recently set up an account to keep in touch with family, close friends in the UK and some friends who live on the Isle of Man. I don't play any of the games, although I am a member of a couple of rail enthusiast groups on there.

Facebook is convenient, that's the only thing I have to say about it really.

 

[DarloRich]

i only allow people who are actual friends to be my friends on Facebook. I am a member of a couple of sensible groups about areas of interest. Nothing else. Seems to solve lots of the problems.

 

[TheNewNo2]

I don't use Facebook. It's not good for my mental health.

 

[Hornet]

It's a pile of sh*te.

 

[AlterEgo]

I haven’t been on Facebook for about seven years. It is a ghastly place.

 

[EssexGonzo]

It's not good for many people's mental health. I hate it and retain it only as a means of keeping up with individuals using the messenger feature. It's a competitive, narcissistic, status anxiety-ridden platform.

 

[DarloRich]

It's not good for many people's mental health. I hate it and retain it only as a means of keeping up with individuals using the messenger feature. It's a competitive, narcissistic, status anxiety-ridden platform.

Only if you allow it to be. I don't so it isnt. It is up to you what lands on your feed thingy.

 

[ooo]

Personally I mainly use it to find out about sports that I'm interested in as well as for messenger as it's the easiest way to contact people. It seems like quite a lot of complaints people have about it could be easily solved if they just chose their friends a bit more carefully or made use of the ignore options

 

[fowler9]

Personally I find it very useful for staying in touch with a lot of friends and family across the planet. Anyone who finds it a source of narcissism and bullying should perhaps think about who they are friends with. They will probably find the rest of their life is the same outside social media.

 

[Harbornite]

I use it to project my life as being more interesting than it really is. Am I the only one?

Clearly not.

 

[Cowley]

I’ve got an account and I used it for about a year before I got fed up with it. I haven’t got rid of it yet but keep meaning to and I haven’t been on it for 5 years now.
I’ve seen many people get themselves into trouble with things they’ve blabbed out on Facebook publicly without thinking it through.
One day my lodger posted a picture to everyone of a turd in the toilet that he was really proud of.
That was the final straw for me.

 

[fowler9]

I’ve got an account and I used it for about a year before I got fed up with it. I haven’t got rid of it yet but keep meaning to and I haven’t been on it for 5 years now.
I’ve seen many people get themselves into trouble with things they’ve blabbed out on Facebook publicly without thinking it through.
One day my lodger posted a picture to everyone of a turd in the toilet that he was really proud of.
That was the final straw for me.

I think the lesson is don't put anything on Facebook that you wouldn't be happy to show your family, friends and your boss.

 

[Cowley]

I think the lesson is don't put anything on Facebook that you wouldn't be happy to show your family, friends and your boss.

Definitely. Save that for here!

 

[507021]

I think the lesson is don't put anything on Facebook that you wouldn't be happy to show your family, friends and your boss.

This is exactly what I do mate. I do have one person I work with on there, but he is a close friend of over a decade.

 

[james60059]

Some interesting replies there , love the one about posting a log in the toilet

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I have never had a Facebook account, and I do not ever intend to.

 

[fowler9]

I have never had a Facebook account, and I do not ever intend to.

Can I ask why?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Can I ask why?

Firstly, because not only do they have the privacy settings the opposite way round from most - meaning you have to opt out rather than opt in to displaying things to all and sundry - they are seemingly in the press more often than other sites for poor content control, illogical behaviour and constantly re-setting the defaults meaning everyone who opted for the more private options have to do it again fairly regularly.

Secondly, I find their presentation absolutely awful; not helped by the difficulty of re-locating anything later unless you know the exact specific words used in order to search for it quickly. A forum is far easier to use and keep track of everything. ( Having said that I am annoyed with Twitter over their inability to have a properly chronological timeline... ). However, I have to say that a far worse site for untidy presentation is Yammer where it also virtually impossible to turn off notifications - you have to uncheck things in at least four different places to stop the constant bombardment, and even then it still sends something a couple of times a week.

That's the main reasons.

 

[fowler9]

Firstly, because not only do they have the privacy settings the opposite way round from most - meaning you have to opt out rather than opt in to displaying things to all and sundry - they are seemingly in the press more often than other sites for poor content control, illogical behaviour and constantly re-setting the defaults meaning everyone who opted for the more private options have to do it again fairly regularly.

Secondly, I find their presentation absolutely awful; not helped by the difficulty of re-locating anything later unless you know the exact specific words used in order to search for it quickly. A forum is far easier to use and keep track of everything. ( Having said that I am annoyed with Twitter over their inability to have a properly chronological timeline... ). However, I have to say that a far worse site for untidy presentation is Yammer where it also virtually impossible to turn off notifications - you have to uncheck things in at least four different places to stop the constant bombardment, and even then it still sends something a couple of times a week.

That's the main reasons.

That was pretty succinct. Ha ha. I find it works fine for me.

 

[Bevan Price]

I have never had a Facebook account, and I do not ever intend to.

Likewise. Apart from any other reasons, "social nitwork" sites ask for too much personal information, and potentially make it available (deliberately or accidentally) to "undesirables"