Leaving Facebook
Yesterday on the Facebook Fan Page I announced that the fan page will be closed by the end of the year. I know this upset some and I really want people to understand why I need to leave and what is going to occur over the next few months.
Firstly, I have hated Facebook since I joined. I used to do Myspace but Myspace bored the snot out of me and I didn’t visit often. All my peoples were heading over to Facebook and eventually I followed the masses. I had just begun blogging and wasn’t really using Facebook to connect with readers because I am fairly certain I didn’t have any then. I found family that I hadn’t seen in years and chatted with my friends that were there. I hated it. I hated the format. I hated having to constantly check my privacy settings every time an update rolled out. I hated how random people would want me to add them as friends and then got mad when I refused to accept them. I hated the message system. I hated logging in and rarely did it.
I begun to obtain readers and would painstakingly make sure I responded to every comment they left me on the blog. I still try to follow that rule to this day. I may not get all of them but I make an effort to get a majority! Three years ago I went to my first blog conference and I heard about these fan pages. How useful they were and how they would help you work with companies. I didn’t care so much about working with companies but I figured it would be a good way to connect. I built a page and then struggled to get conversations going. Honestly I didn’t put that big of an effort in right away because I still hated the format and still hated logging in. In the last 18 months I caught on to some things that were working. I connected to other pages. I chatted with more and more people every day. I still dreaded having to log in and deal with the format. I had contemplated shutting down the page numerous times. I just didn’t want to lose the contact so I hung in there. I finally broke down and got rid of my personal page. Actually it is still technically there but I have no friends and it’s set to where only friends of friends can request an add. Which pretty much means no one can send in a request. I had to do that in order to keep the page running. But then these changes rolled out yesterday, the biggie being the Top Stories. Whenever I used to log in the first thing I would do is click “newsfeed” so I could see what was going on recently. I have NEVER liked Top Stories because only the most popular of pages (or friends) get listed. Since I follow 700 pages on my fan page, I don’t want to see the coolest 15. The cool kids are cool for a reason and I love them for being so cool but a lot of what I end up sharing comes from the smaller pages. And you won’t see those in the Top Stories. With the changes, every time I close out the browser my Top Stories comes back and is right there taking up space. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could click “newsfeed” like I used to and see everything in real time. The fact that I have to spend 10 minutes to get my newsfeed the way I want it is beyond a minor annoyance. And I have tried all sorts of tricks to alleviate this problem.
There is a very big reason why I am self hosted. I like having control over content, privacy, and how everything looks. Yea Facebook might be free but you don’t provide an easy way to see what you want and then snatch it back and tell someone ‘NO’. Facebook has made something that was relatively easy into a real bitch because they feel pressure from other social networks. And they do it all the freaking time. If you think this latest update is a bitch, wait until the next few because they will never stop making things as difficult as possible. It’s the Facebook way.
So that is the why. What I am doing is looking for an alternative. Whether I find one or not, the page will be closed by Dec 31st. If I do find an alternative that I am happy with, then I will announce that and give it a couple weeks to get those who want to a chance to move. No one should feel like they have to join a new site to keep up with me. You can subscribe to this blog, there is a button on the upper left that lets you choose and there are quite a few choices. If you are enjoying Facebook and don’t want to join a new site, PLEASE DON’T! I understand that all the hard work I have put in will be undone but it’s okay. It’s all a journey and I know I won’t be completely left behind.
I am going to do a separate post in the next day or so with every site that I am on so that if you are already a member, you can come stalk me. I will log in once a day at the fan page to respond to comments and post updates. In the meantime, feel free to use the comments section to whine/praise Facebook or any other social sites 
Leaving FB is SO TEMPTING. I know people keep saying that until we’re paying for it, we have no right to complain about the format or any applicable changes, but the fact of the matter is that FB HAS made it harder for people to actually communicate, and has been doing so for a while – what they’re doing is purposefully irritating their fan base, but they know that they have so many users that the few thousand they might lose is irrelevant and won’t affect their business in the least. Shouldn’t the opinions and wants of the users drive ANY program’s development? Shouldn’t the loss of multiple users make ANY program, free or otherwise, want to optimize itself? Apparently not.
<3
I’m still sorry to see you go, but I understand 110% why. I know a friend who left FB after they changed their privacy settings and he realized that any content you post on Facebook remains theirs for eternity – and all personal information is stored on their databases. They have no reason to do this, and it must take up an enormous amount of space, but I suppose if you have the money you can do what you want. Just keep those things in mind when you go; nothing can be fully deleted and everything you’ve posted on there, even links to your blog, belongs to them. :/
I know how to keep in touch and will keep reading, so I’m cool – I know some will leave your readership, but honestly, I think that you wanting personally to have nothing to do with FB anymore is a pretty lame reason for someone to stop reading your blog. If that’s enough to stop them, they weren’t much of a “follower” or reader in the first place.
KAS´s last [type] ..On Birth Plans #1
More power to you honestly wish I could leave fb, but not enough of my friends are on twitter and my Google+ account still confuses me! lol
My views as of Facebook as a personal network and as a business network are two completely different things. I like it for myself and have always been fairly adept at the privacy features. As for promoting a business I like it much less. I’m new into the world of blogging and find it extremely difficult to get interaction on pages beyond likes. The format doesn’t foster conversation very well. I’m really anxious to see what Google is going to roll out with whatever their business pages will be.
Velody´s last [type] ..New Social Site Pagan-Playground.com
Thank you! As I have been researching fixes and alternatives I am really pleased to know that it’s not just me that has taken serious issue with the change. Facebook might not suffer right now but I fear they are ready for the downward spiral.
G+ can be so tricky and a bit overwhelming. Play with it when ya can, you might pick it up quicker than ya thought! I understand that feeling of not being able to leave. In time you might be able to
It is so hard to get those interactions going. It took me forever to get interaction on my page, well it felt like forever anyway LOL! I am hoping Google is taking notes and will improve things for biz pages.
I have an account at google+ but Star Foster on one of the other pagan blogs mentioned Diaspora, which is supposed to be even better. She talks about it here: http://www.patheos.com/community/paganportal/2011/09/21/facebook-its-not-me-its-you/
I’m going to take a look because I too hate the privacy issues.
Michele´s last [type] ..Field Trip! Produce Auction and more!
Have you thought about using an ad on like Better Facebook? It gives you a lot of control over the way facebook works for you. Its a browser add on. Just google it and it will come up. After the changes yesterday thats what I did. I have an older pc so I had to download google chrome for it to work right. With firefox it just got too slow. But I love all the options!
SalemWitchChild´s last [type] ..A picture of a witchy I-Want-It-Now!
They own your posts’ because the government tells them to keep it, they want to watch everyone here in case trouble starts… some will say this is not true…, then why do you say everything you post never goes away and they own it? Just sayin’.
No add ons are for people with a personal profile. And an add on is not going to take away that feeling of dread of having to log in.
Well I am going to tell you that it’s not true. If the gov’t had that sort of control there would be a lot more regulations and laws pertaining how we use. Furthermore gov’t wouldn’t allow for the ability to engage internationally. Look at China, that’s a country with gov’t control on the internet. The reason your posts never disappear is because of caches.
I have heard her talk about it. I have been recommending Diaspora to those who prefer not being extremely public.
I will continue to post your blog for you on FACEBOOK! I have your rss feed on my browser. I will get the notice that you have posted something new ever time that you do and I think that is great. Brightest blessings to you and good luck with finding something new! )O(
Thank you!