Over the course of the last decade, various forms of social media have made a splash in the internet community. I remember registering for Friendster, and building a group of about two friends. MySpace was the first really positive experience I had with social media, allowing me to build a group of 30 or more friends, including reuniting with friends I hadn't seen in years. Finally, of course, as mentioned in my first major post, I came to facebook. facebook allowed me to build a group of friends that topped out somewhere around 200. More recently, I have pared that number down closer to 100. Again, it had allowed me to reconnect, or remain connected, with friends from college, high school, and even grade school. So, facebook has served a nice purpose for me for a number of years. Unfortunately, facebook has morphed into something else now; something in which I no longer see any utility.
As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, facebook's primary objective at this point is to know as much as it can about me in order to sell more advertising. The reality is that facebook's users have become their product. They are no longer striving to improve the user experience, they are tying to improve their methods of gathering your data so that they can put it to good financial use. Anything that is posted on facebook no longer belongs to that user, but is the property of facebook. They use that data to far greater benefit than what the user experiences in posting it. In and of itself, this really isn't reason enough to quit the service, as there are many other online services that do the same thing. Sadly, I have more reasons.
As I stated earlier, my main purpose in having facebook was to keep in contact with friends and family far and wide. What has been happening more recently, however, is that many of the people with whom I would like to keep in touch don't post very frequently. Those people that are posting regularly are primarily posting information about which, quite frankly, I care quite little. It's nice to hear about occasional vacations, engagements, new additions to families, and various other milestones. Those are not the things I see posted very often anymore.
Another significant reason that remaining on facebook doesn't make a lot of sense to me is that I really don't use it myself. I have posted photo albums of various occasions. I frequently make snide comments on the posts of others in what is probably rarely received in the joking manner in which it was intended. Other than that, I have never made a single post on facebook. I have never really felt the urge to post, nor have I ever felt I had any news significant enough to share in that fashion. If I'm not going to post, but rather just sit in the shadows, reading the posts of others, that seems more creepy than useful.
This next point is bound to be unpopular, and will undoubtedly even upset a number of people, but it has to be said. The majority of posts I see from others on facebook are completely unnecessary. If you are running a business, please don't post your business news on your personal facebook page. If you have anything to do with the cult that is Isagenix, Isadon't want to hear about it. If you are going to post pictures/memes with witty, but condescending quotes, I don't want to see it. That's what reddit is for. I think facebook should be a useful forum for political discussion, but, in my experience, it never ends well. These debates very rarely remain respectful, and almost never remain intelligent. All in all, very few of the posts I see on facebook seem worthwhile.
Finally, there are plenty of ways people can share information with me, and hear what is happening with me, if anyone is still interested after this. First and foremost, as noted in an earlier blog post, I can be reached on app.net. It is a service that I still like, despite the fact that it appears to have stagnated a bit. Anyone who wishes to use app.net to stay in touch with me, please see the button on the sidebar to the right. Another social network I use frequently is twitter. twitter has some of the same issues as facebook with regard to data mining, but I am still using at this point. If anyone wishes to register and follow me on twitter, there is also a button for that in the sidebar on the right. Another network I like to use for various purposes is Google+. I'm not a huge fan of Google in general, as, once again, they see users as products for mining data. The thing is, Google provides so many services, and is used by so many people, that it is almost worthwhile to sacrifice my data. Anyone who has a gmail account already has Google+, it's just a matter of taking advantage of it. Personally, my favorite use for Google+ is to share articles and other links for discussion. Again, there is a link on the sidebar to follow me there. Another idea I recently had that I really like, is the idea of shared Flickr albums. Anyone with a Yahoo! account has Flickr as well. They offer 1 TB of storage for photos, and allow a person to share albums with whomever they wish. I would love it if others took advantage of this service to share photos of family or events. Lastly, I can be contacted via just about any text messaging service available. app.net offers private messaging apps on their platform. Google has Hangouts, which is a solid texting app. Another option is BlackBerry Messenger, and my PIN can be found in the form of a QR code in the sidebar. Feel free to contact me to request my contact information for any of the following texting services as well: Skype, Kik, WhatsApp, Coco, WeChat, Instagram, Textie, LINE, ooVoo, Snapchat, or Viber. Granted, some of these services I have never even had the opportunity to use, but I am always willing to try new apps.
In conclusion, I have grown weary of what facebook has become. It no longer serves the purposes for which I originally used it. As a service, their interests lie in serving their advertisers more than their users. The content of my feed is now a great deal of information I care little about, sandwiched around the occasional worthwhile piece of information. There are other services I currently use, or am willing to use, with much more regularity for anyone that would like to keep in touch with me. My plan at this point is to delete my facebook account in seven days. If you would like to remain in contact with me, please feel free to use facebook or any other means to establish the means by which you plan to stay in contact. If you are offended by some of the things I've said and no longer wish to have any contact with me, I do not apologize, but I wish you good fortune in all your future endeavors. I hope there are some that are willing to contact me to stay in touch. If there are not, I am fortunate enough to have a small group of friends with whom I do already keep in touch somewhat regularly. Thanks to all who are, or have been, my facebook friend.
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