Facebook... Argh....

[Ava]

So I finally joined Facebook;... and I don't like it at all.
I find it intrusive, annoying, and actually makes me feel bad.
I have been browsing through the profiles of people I know but haven't seen in a long time, like my first love, old friends from back home, etc. It makes me feel bad because I'm generally very discreet and respectful of other people's privacy. But it's so tempting looking at their profiles and see how they are doing. It just makes me feel a little dirty to do it. I hope they don't notice; it would be very embarrassing.

But the main reason I dislike Facebook is the people I have friend-ed.
I log into Facebook and see news from my friends, which should be great, but isn't.
There are three individuals who truly annoy me, and they are the people who post most often.
One of them is a good friend in real life who lives close-by and who helped me a lot when I arrived in U.S.
Two years ago she went from your typical Argentinian eating asado (a delicious meal made with first-rate meat) to a vegan. It's because of animals' suffering, she told me.
She publishes very disturbing photos of animals being mistreated DAILY. I just scroll them and don't really look but it upsets me.
Then another good friend publishes updates of everything she does. At what time she wakes up, what she had for lunch, if she's having a cold, etc. I don't really mind that one, just ignore the posts.
The last one is a co-worker from a previous job. Her constant posts asking you to pray and thank the Lord annoy me. I'm an atheist. I understand she's religious, but ALL her posts are something to do with religion.
Conclusion; the only reason I've decided to stay in Facebook is my nephew. He posts every day and we keep in touch. I used to send him e-mails but he doesn't check often and never answers. Now I feel closer to him and don't miss him so much until the next time I visit. I "like" his posts and we send each other messages.
What's your take on Facebook?

[swamp]

I love Facebook. I block annoying people. 

[chiver78]

my take on FB is that it allows me easy access to keep in touch with friends and family that aren't local. it's also more trouble than it's worth sometimes, with family that I'd rather not ever deal with (whose friend requests have been accepted, their rights to my content seriously limited, and they have been hidden from my news feed - easier than listening to my mom rail about why I hate that side of the fam ) and acquaintances that post shit that I really don't need to see.

my advice to you is to not take it too seriously, use it as the tool you already see it as - keeping in touch with your nephew. definitely hide those people you don't want to actively keep in touch with, and go about your business.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

You can hide people's posts from your feed. 

[chiver78]

Apr 7, 2014 18:56:58 GMT -5 swamp said:

I love Facebook. I block annoying people. 

I liked this at the same time as wondering if I'm one of those annoying people that you've got blocked.

[swamp]

Most of my kids activities have Facebook pages, so I get last minute updates on practice rescheduling or cancellations or other announcements. 

[swamp]

Apr 7, 2014 18:58:19 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Apr 7, 2014 18:56:58 GMT -5 swamp said:

I love Facebook. I block annoying people. 

I liked this at the same time as wondering if I'm one of those annoying people that you've got blocked.

No. You're not annoying.  My sorority sister who posts her daily affirmation about Jesus's love, and the chick who whines about drama but seems to cause an awful lot of it got blocked. 

[chiver78]

oh jeez. the last one I blocked was the cousin who was more broken up about her dog than she had been about our grandmother that had my dad and uncle (also from the US) not insisted that the nursing home call an ambulance, wouldn't have survived the night awhile back. said cousin never visited Memere the whole time she was in the ICU.

I chose to hide her, rather than say something I won't until Memere's no longer here. don't want to upset her.....the cousin? whatever.

[Ava]

Apr 7, 2014 18:57:30 GMT -5 Rocky Mtn Saver said:

You can hide people's posts from your feed. 

Cool! How do I do it?
I don't want them to know though; they are friends in real life and I don't want to hurt their feelings.

[Deleted]

Facebook is awesome when the posters are people you want updates from, and it is awful when you don't want those updates.

I don't block people exactly, but there is a way to filter who gets into your feed.  I can't tell you exactly how to do that, but that is what I did.  It works perfectly.  I gets posts from people I care about and can browse the others' posts when I "feel" like it.

It is the #1 way I get pictures of my son's kids.  They literally follow those kids with their phones and posts pictures and videos DAILY.  One was really funny today . . . the baby (less than a year old) had gone to bed, and the two-year-old was "playing with him" by tugging at his bedclothes under the door from the other side.  I don't entirely understand why the baby wasn't in a crib, but maybe that's for self-protection. 

[swamp]

Apr 7, 2014 19:05:02 GMT -5 Ava said:

Apr 7, 2014 18:57:30 GMT -5 Rocky Mtn Saver said:

You can hide people's posts from your feed. 

Cool! How do I do it?
I don't want them to know though; they are friends in real life and I don't want to hurt their feelings.

They don't know. 

[Ava]

Apr 7, 2014 19:05:44 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Facebook is awesome when the posters are people you want updates from, and it is awful when you don't want those updates.

I don't block people exactly, but there is a way to filter who gets into your feed.  I can't tell you exactly how to do that, but that is what I did.  It works perfectly.  I gets posts from people I care about and can browse the others' posts when I "feel" like it.

It is the #1 way I get pictures of my son's kids.  They literally follow those kids with their phones and posts pictures and videos DAILY.  One was really funny today . . . the baby (less than a year old) had gone to bed, and the two-year-old was "playing with him" by tugging at his bedclothes under the door from the other side.  I don't entirely understand why the baby wasn't in a crib, but maybe that's for self-protection. 

Exactly, it actually brings you closer to the people you want to be closer to. That is great and the reason why I'm staying in Facebook.
But sometimes you accept friends request from real friends without knowing they can be so annoying in Facebook. They look like normal people in the real world. 

[swamp]

To block them, hover you mouse over the top right corner of a post. A menu should drop down.  Click on "unfollow poster" 

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Apr 7, 2014 18:56:58 GMT -5 swamp said:

I love Facebook. I block annoying people. 

Same here - I like it and I can quickly see pics/videos posted by family or friends - and it saves me having to occasionally check my email - which I don't do enough.

I also play a few games there, so I get feeds for those.

Anyone I find annoying, or don't want to read, I just block/hide their posts. (Not much different than here).

[Ava]

Apr 7, 2014 19:09:50 GMT -5 swamp said:

To block them, hover you mouse over the top right corner of a post. A menu should drop down.  Click on "unfollow poster" 

Thanks, will do.

[Deleted]

Ah, Facebook.

My step-brother's daughter blocked me a while back. She posted railing against illegal immigrants and how horrible they are to our country, yada, yada, yada....

Her father owns a landscaping business and does everything he can to evade taxes and hire illegals.  I suggested she talk to the rest of the family before posting about illegals since some of their wealth was purchased on their backs. 

Oops.  Apparently it wasn't an acceptable comment and I got blocked.  LOL

[gooddecisions]

I guess I've been on facebook a good 9 years, since the migration from myspace. I like facebook and will be sad when it is gone. After jumping from one social media site to another starting with friendster back in the day, it gets exhausting starting over. I can't believe it has hung on this long. I only post a status maybe once a month, but I do share photo albums for anyone who might care. I don't even mind the annoying posts because if nobody posted, it would be pretty useless. Lately, I find it most useful for local buy, sell, trade pages. I've joined about 8 of them and have found great deals on clothes, furniture, toys, etc. This resell market seems much less shady than Craig's List.

[giramomma]

Apr 7, 2014 18:59:03 GMT -5 swamp said:

Most of my kids activities have Facebook pages, so I get last minute updates on practice rescheduling or cancellations or other announcements. 

Swamp-
How does this work? My DS's little league coaches are wanting (me) to set up a facebook page. I don't have facebook account.

Do you just post updates? Is there a way to push the info out via text or email.

[Deleted]

giramomma when you post the update it will be pushed to the coaches newsfeeds as long as they "like" the page. There is also a messaging feature if you feel the need. You can send group emails that way.

I don't want facebook to ever go away! It has become my own personal scrapbook!

[sarcasticgirl]

Apr 7, 2014 18:56:58 GMT -5 swamp said:

I love Facebook. I block annoying people. 

exactly this.

I live 1200+ miles away from my family and I have friends all over the globe. Facebook is great for keeping in touch, seeing everyone's photos and videos etc. I love travel photos and those photos of food that so many people hate. 

[gooddecisions]

Apr 7, 2014 20:27:12 GMT -5 giramomma said:

Apr 7, 2014 18:59:03 GMT -5 swamp said:

Most of my kids activities have Facebook pages, so I get last minute updates on practice rescheduling or cancellations or other announcements. 

Swamp-
How does this work? My DS's little league coaches are wanting (me) to set up a facebook page. I don't have facebook account.

Do you just post updates? Is there a way to push the info out via text or email.

You will need an account to set up a page. You create the page, send an invite to the people you want to join and they will "like"/join the group in order to get notifications and see the posting on the page in their newsfeed. If you don't want a bunch of random people joining your group, set it to private. Depending on how people who join have their account set up, they can see the notification via email or directly on facebook. You will not actually push notifications via text or email. Of course, everyone also has a facebook app on their phones and mobile devices, and can get live notifications depending on their profile. But, again, as the group owner, you would not be managing that.

Depending on what all you do with the page, you may want to have the minors on the team sign a consent form to allow pictures and such.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

I set up a page for a group. It was easy-peasy. That page is separate from my "standard" Facebook homepage. I just click the link on the sidebar menu, like I would for one of their game apps.

[zibazinski]

I just blocked DFs aunt and cousin due to their behavior at his uncles funeral. Eventually they figure it out. I will have no issue telling them why I did it, either. You can unfollow people who post annoying things constantly or just the things they list about that you aren't interested in. Eventually FB only posts stuff you want to see like photos but not their constant whining about cancer or whatever. My aunt's cancer is back after getting a scare and an all clear last year. Not all clear after all.   But you don't see her posting every little freaking detail inviting pity every time she farts. My girlfriend just went through it as well. Her FB page was nothing about it. She did have an update blog that you could read so you knew what was going on but you had to ask her for it. On her FB, there's no clue she had cancer.
But I love seeing my Florida friends and what they're up to and how their kids a doing.

[sheilaincali]

I block annoying people so I don't have to see the same political rhetoric every time I log in to FB.  I hide all game updates and crap like that. 

My cousins and I are pretty close but we all have spouses, kids, jobs, etc. all over the place. FB lets me see what is happening in their lives.  DH is from the South and his frat brothers are spread out all over the country.  We have amazing friends from our time in the military that live all over the world.  Friends from when we lived in CA and Alaska.  My exchange student is on there so while he was with us we could share pics of our adventures with his folks.  His mom and I message back and forth every week.  Thanks to google translate we can communicate with each other long distance and in German.

I'm a Minnesotan and in case you don't know we are a VERY passive aggressive people here in the tundra.  So anytime someone posts something super church-y or preachy I share a post from Richard Dawkins or some other atheist site to even it all out. 

Mostly I post updates and pics of my kid because he is way more interesting than I am. 

[Otto the Orange]

When did FB start having pirates?

Argh......

:-)

[movingforward]

Ava - I am SO glad to see I am not the only one who doesn't care about FB.  I thought it was okay when I first joined but the novelty wore off VERY quick.  I still have a FB account but I probably only check it about once a month.  I know I am in the minority but I just don't see the appeal...

ETA:  I do like to see vacation photos and those pics of people's kids dressed up for Halloween are pretty darn cute but I don't understand the "I am going to document every moment of my life photos."  I don't need a play by play of where someone is and what they are doing every minute of the day.  Personally, I don't want people knowing that much info about me but to each their own...

[Deleted]

I try to use FB on my own terms as much as possible; of course that isn't easy when they keep changing things.

I click "Like" on very few things. I share (repost) very few things.
I TRY not to post while on vacation (everybody says it's an invitation for people to break into your house) but sometimes I do anyway.
I have blocked the message feed of people who can't seem to post anything but recipes full of fat and chemicals.
I try to restrain myself but when a very conservative Christian friend from HS posts stuff that just isn't logical, I call her on it. She responds with more illogic. Once one of her friends (whom I don't know) got just plain mean in the name of religion and I posted back "You brood of vipers" in the original koine Greek. He not only referred to it as gibberish; he misspelled "gibberish". Oops.

In general, though, I really enjoy keeping up with family and friends from all over. I sure hope DS lightens up on his stance that he does NOT want pictures of his (future) kids on FB. DDIL was a bit surprised to hear that; I encouraged them to have a discussion and we'd go with whatever ground rules they set.

[midjd]

In general, though, I really enjoy keeping up with family and friends from all over. I sure hope DS lightens up on his stance that he does NOT want pictures of his (future) kids on FB. DDIL was a bit surprised to hear that; I encouraged them to have a discussion and we'd go with whatever ground rules they set.

I think that's reasonable... although I put pics of DD on Facebook, their licensing/reuse policies are pretty draconian. Basically, whatever you upload there becomes fair game - to be used, sold to advertisers, etc., for eternity.

[Deleted]

Apr 8, 2014 10:14:47 GMT -5 midjd said:

I think that's reasonable... although I put pics of DD on Facebook, their licensing/reuse policies are pretty draconian. Basically, whatever you upload there becomes fair game - to be used, sold to advertisers, etc., for eternity.

Yeah, I know- the conservative classmate I mentioned earlier posted a picture of her 2-year old GD wearing only panties after the little girl had colored all over herself with felt markers. I was a little uncomfortable about that, and told her so. I'm sure she thought I was crazy.

What I'm hoping DS will agree to is (in the beginning) pictures of me holding the baby (so the baby's face isn't a big part of the picture) and maybe later pictures of me with the kid(s) but with no last names or locations. DS and I have different last names, so that's a bit of protection. Anything that would embarrass them if they saw it later (toilet training stories, bathtub pics) would be permenantly forbidden.

[justme]

If you do it on a computer, when you click the little drop down menu there's also an option to "hide posts from x" right after hide posts for users. So my cousin that shares an ungodly amount of religious sayings/photos a day from certain pages, I can just hide posts from whoever it is she's sharing but still see her posts about her and her kid.