Me too. I hadn’t been on it since March of 2020 because it was getting out of control. I pulled the plug for good 2 months ago and that depressing trainwreck is gone.
Interesting article! Thanks for sharing all the great info. I loved Instagram at first but never use it anymore. It changed so much and I just don't like it much. Facebook has become a necessary evil for me over the years so I still actively use it. Part of that is my age. lol! I'm of the generation where most people I know use FB and not much else. Plus, I run a lot of my business on FB so to walk away would definitely affect my bottom line. So I keep using it but I definitely don't use it the same way I did way back in the day. I do wonder what will come next and if we can successfully move into a different platform or something. (We being my customers and all my friends that I engage with on there.)
Thanks for reading Donetta! Yeah we are of the generation mired in facebook and it’s really impossible to full extract yourself for all the reasons you name. Try (dont actually) to bring your audience over from FB to Substack. Nope, it’s sticky. People are creatures of habit. The network effect is hard to break. But minimizing your time on FB is nearly as effective as ditching it. They measure everything and time per session is a critical metric. Engagement!
Some things I noticed before ditching Meta (and X for that matter) completely…
I can't prove it, but it seems to me like Threads was flooded with bots upon its inception to make it appear like Zuck was stealing users away from X.
Ran a content experiment to discover books are not welcome on Meta (or X) unless you were established long before the implementation of the current algorithmic system. Why? My only conclusion is it's because the system was designed to keep users addicted and engaged—a book tears users away.
I landed here on Substack but I don't know how long for. Trying to restructure my relationship to the internet at this point.
Threads is another one I cannot abide. There’s a term “walled garden” where books or anything that take you off of the platform (like external links) are suppressed by the algorithm. Don’t leave!
Substack at least doesn’t do that and you can do a decent job cultivating your feed. My wife’s substack scroll is all wildflowers at this point 🌻
Walled garden…interesting. Thanks for that insight. First time hearing the term, but boy was it evident!
The moment I created an account on Threads just to see what it was like, I was faced with 3 to 4 different accounts with the same ver-batim posts. I hadn't begun working on curating anything yet for my feed. Then, I noticed the pattern repeating with other accounts and other posts.
I had a decent run on Twitter just before Elon swooped in with that oppressive algo and my engagement with my fresh readerbase absolutely went down the drain.
I stopped using Meta crap 5 years ago and have never looked back. The only person in my extended family who still uses it is my husband and only to keep in touch with his eldest sister who can’t figure out any of the new social media sites.
Deleted Facebooger back @ 2016… I’m astounded at the excuses rendered by folks as to why they’re keeping it. Hmmm… you managed to live without it before it was invented… now one complains because they hate the fascist piece of shit that owns it but yet “ where am I gonna go so I can post bullshit that my 3rd period crush from 1983 can see”? We could all do well by stopping being so pathetic.
3rd period 1983 .. I think I’m either a senior in HS or a Freshman in college and definitely had crushes both of those years. First year of college - I remember now, It didn’t go well. I was so &(@%ing awkward.
Chat bots, social media, internet… big deal. Got my first PhD before the internet, checked books out of the library, etc. Folks today are screwed and helplessly dependent on something big tech invented strictly for profit.
How many PHd’s do you have? I hear you can get those online now. FB offers courses ;)
When I was a senior in HS I took AP US History and one of the requirements was to go to a college library. It was a long bus ride and I would wander the stacks in UCLAs main library collecting books on WWII and if we shoulda dropped the bomb or not. What a trip that place was.
Like many many people I hate Facebook and yes, I wish it was done and gone and finished with too, but as you say it’s where many people are who I would lose touch with if I no longer used Facebook. It’s where my local town Council and community groups share information information about what’s happening happening in the world I live in. It would be wonderful if there was an alternative way of doing that so efficiently but frankly at the moment there isn’t. What to do.?
"Where else can I go and hang out with an unholy hodgepodge of friends from elementary school to my high school girlfriend to random people I used to work with?" --That is the point and you offer no solutions. What is "unholy" about it? After you have worked long enough, moved frequently enough, got to like/love enough people, realized that nobody writes letters anymore, nobody can possibly keep track of their friends (who moved just as often as you and changed jobs just as often), you will use whatever tool is out there to stay connected, at least a little bit, to those people...or I guess you won't.
Ian, I’m glad you found your people on FB! hold your friends close, however you can.
That was the original promise of social.
I cannot fix the enshittified state it’s now in with a substack post, nor solve the network affect of needing to be where your friends are. New solutions will come - keep an eye out.
When I left FB, I lost contact with a boatload of friends. None of us normal folks can be on multiple platforms regularly. I'm still on IG but as an artist outside of the big art centers, how can I see what being done in galleries? Not Bluesky, not Substack. The word people rule there.
Fuckerberg can kiss my ass. I dumped all things Meta with his f’ed up rebrand. Monopolization is not a good look for him - plus, he gives me the ick.
Haha ma man; yes zuck is the devil
you dont have to continue using it. i deleted mine 2 months ago and have never felt better
Hell yeah brother 🤘 you guys are making me happy
Me too. I hadn’t been on it since March of 2020 because it was getting out of control. I pulled the plug for good 2 months ago and that depressing trainwreck is gone.
Stopped using FB 10 years ago. Stopped using Insta 7 years ago.
Stopped using X and Reddit a month ago
Substack is the last hold out.
If it doesn't work out I will go back to posting on Willamette Week and restaurant reviews on Google maps.
Keep me posted; I'll follow you to Willamette Week
Shoutout to the Willamette valley!
We should never have moved on from bulletin boards
Usenet was glorious when the web was still weird
Those alt groups were crazy. It seemed as though half of them were created as a joke. Wild and weird.
iirc alt was created to break out of any prescribed heirarchy; those were my favorites. There is a smol element of that left in Reddit
I haven’t been on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, linked in, for so long now. Not worth a millisecond of my day.
If it wasn't for my aunties and my niece, I would close FB and IG.
Those platforms are unfortunately the only way to see what's happening with them in real time.
I wouldn't miss it if it were gone, though.
These fucking tech bros need to go away.
Long live people like Mira Murati...
Tx for reading Neela! Tech girl mafia rise up!
Start a group chat! Bug them on it! So much better and more personal that meta.
This is exactly why Meta will survive. There are hundreds of millions of people who “would get rid of Facebook but *insert reason here*”.
One year and two months Meta free and loving it.
It is like an addiction right? We should have milestone markers — 1mo, 6mos, 1year off the socials.
Badges! Yes, we need stinkin badges
Interesting article! Thanks for sharing all the great info. I loved Instagram at first but never use it anymore. It changed so much and I just don't like it much. Facebook has become a necessary evil for me over the years so I still actively use it. Part of that is my age. lol! I'm of the generation where most people I know use FB and not much else. Plus, I run a lot of my business on FB so to walk away would definitely affect my bottom line. So I keep using it but I definitely don't use it the same way I did way back in the day. I do wonder what will come next and if we can successfully move into a different platform or something. (We being my customers and all my friends that I engage with on there.)
Thanks for reading Donetta! Yeah we are of the generation mired in facebook and it’s really impossible to full extract yourself for all the reasons you name. Try (dont actually) to bring your audience over from FB to Substack. Nope, it’s sticky. People are creatures of habit. The network effect is hard to break. But minimizing your time on FB is nearly as effective as ditching it. They measure everything and time per session is a critical metric. Engagement!
Yep! Totally agree. And minimizing my time on there is what I do. I just engage in the areas where I need to and try to ignore a lot of the rest.
Some things I noticed before ditching Meta (and X for that matter) completely…
I can't prove it, but it seems to me like Threads was flooded with bots upon its inception to make it appear like Zuck was stealing users away from X.
Ran a content experiment to discover books are not welcome on Meta (or X) unless you were established long before the implementation of the current algorithmic system. Why? My only conclusion is it's because the system was designed to keep users addicted and engaged—a book tears users away.
I landed here on Substack but I don't know how long for. Trying to restructure my relationship to the internet at this point.
Threads is another one I cannot abide. There’s a term “walled garden” where books or anything that take you off of the platform (like external links) are suppressed by the algorithm. Don’t leave!
Substack at least doesn’t do that and you can do a decent job cultivating your feed. My wife’s substack scroll is all wildflowers at this point 🌻
Walled garden…interesting. Thanks for that insight. First time hearing the term, but boy was it evident!
The moment I created an account on Threads just to see what it was like, I was faced with 3 to 4 different accounts with the same ver-batim posts. I hadn't begun working on curating anything yet for my feed. Then, I noticed the pattern repeating with other accounts and other posts.
I had a decent run on Twitter just before Elon swooped in with that oppressive algo and my engagement with my fresh readerbase absolutely went down the drain.
Lordy Pete, I hope he is eventually mushed enough into the background that he dries up like a shriveled prune.
lol thats like double dried out. Once a juicy plum, now you’re all dried up and now you’re dust
I stopped using Meta crap 5 years ago and have never looked back. The only person in my extended family who still uses it is my husband and only to keep in touch with his eldest sister who can’t figure out any of the new social media sites.
You go girl!
Deleted Facebooger back @ 2016… I’m astounded at the excuses rendered by folks as to why they’re keeping it. Hmmm… you managed to live without it before it was invented… now one complains because they hate the fascist piece of shit that owns it but yet “ where am I gonna go so I can post bullshit that my 3rd period crush from 1983 can see”? We could all do well by stopping being so pathetic.
3rd period 1983 .. I think I’m either a senior in HS or a Freshman in college and definitely had crushes both of those years. First year of college - I remember now, It didn’t go well. I was so &(@%ing awkward.
Chat bots, social media, internet… big deal. Got my first PhD before the internet, checked books out of the library, etc. Folks today are screwed and helplessly dependent on something big tech invented strictly for profit.
How many PHd’s do you have? I hear you can get those online now. FB offers courses ;)
When I was a senior in HS I took AP US History and one of the requirements was to go to a college library. It was a long bus ride and I would wander the stacks in UCLAs main library collecting books on WWII and if we shoulda dropped the bomb or not. What a trip that place was.
Like many many people I hate Facebook and yes, I wish it was done and gone and finished with too, but as you say it’s where many people are who I would lose touch with if I no longer used Facebook. It’s where my local town Council and community groups share information information about what’s happening happening in the world I live in. It would be wonderful if there was an alternative way of doing that so efficiently but frankly at the moment there isn’t. What to do.?
Rage into the void, that’s what! Do your thing; get in, get out. Don’t stop for shorts, don’t scroll, don’t click on ads. no click, no views, no $$!
"Where else can I go and hang out with an unholy hodgepodge of friends from elementary school to my high school girlfriend to random people I used to work with?" --That is the point and you offer no solutions. What is "unholy" about it? After you have worked long enough, moved frequently enough, got to like/love enough people, realized that nobody writes letters anymore, nobody can possibly keep track of their friends (who moved just as often as you and changed jobs just as often), you will use whatever tool is out there to stay connected, at least a little bit, to those people...or I guess you won't.
Ian, I’m glad you found your people on FB! hold your friends close, however you can.
That was the original promise of social.
I cannot fix the enshittified state it’s now in with a substack post, nor solve the network affect of needing to be where your friends are. New solutions will come - keep an eye out.
Appreciate you reading
When I left FB, I lost contact with a boatload of friends. None of us normal folks can be on multiple platforms regularly. I'm still on IG but as an artist outside of the big art centers, how can I see what being done in galleries? Not Bluesky, not Substack. The word people rule there.