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Based on the other comments so far, it sounds like HN'ers mostly don't use facebook and don't miss it. Fair enough, but I'm in the same camp as the article's au

by Kluny 9y ago

Based on the other comments so far, it sounds like HN'ers mostly don't use facebook and don't miss it. Fair enough, but I'm in the same camp as the article's author, and looking for a way out. I might be unique, but I didn't really have much of a social life before facebook. That's not causal relationship - before 2007ish I was a very introverted kid who didn't know how to make friends or form strong relationships. All of my good friendships came into existence after about 2009, when I started to learn how to socialize better, and for the most part, facebook is my main contact point with all those people. That's only because facbook was the dominant communication method during that time. But there it is, and I'm stuck with it, and I can't seem to get unstuck. I want to hear about the new babies, jobs, city moves, projects, and parties that people have going on, and facebook is the best way to get that info. But 90% of what you get there is political garbage, pointless memes, MLMs, and facebook's own "manufactured content". It's frustrating and it's making me unhappy too.

skrebbel 9y ago
> I want to hear about the new babies, jobs, city moves, projects, and parties that people have going on This is the point. We non Facebook users decided we don't care enough about that stuff. Or at least not until someone tells us about it in person. There's no real problem with hearing half a year late that a friend of a friend, who is also a direct acquaintance of sorts, became a parent.
- jamesrcole 9y ago
  You're generalising a lot about the motivations of users and non-users.
  - skrebbel 9y ago
    Fair enough.
flohofwoe 9y ago
At least in Germany this role of keeping up to date about events among family and friends seems to have moved to WhatsApp. You still get all the baby- and vacation-pictures, but without the propaganda-, 'you might like'- and advertisement-postings Facebook is bombarding you with. Personally I have moved off Facebook since end 2016 and was one of the last holdouts, most of my family, and friends from the 'real world' don't have an Facebook account or have left their account idle since long before that. PS: the irony is of course that WhatsApp is owned by Facebook ;)
henrikschroder 9y ago
> Based on the other comments so far, it sounds like HN'ers mostly don't use facebook and don't miss it. Let's just say that the "sour grapes" crowd are much more likely to pile on to stories like this. Facebook provides me and my friends with immense value, I'm a very happy user, and as long as that value is higher than the annoyances of using Facebook, we will keep using it. The reality is that Facebook's DAU numbers and engagement metrics just keep on rising. A bunch of disillusioned users on this forum is not a negative trend. Facebook's biggest enemy is themselves, because the corporate machine pressures everyone there into change for change's sake, which fuels user fatigue, which in the end will lead to some sort of exodus.
- blfr 9y ago
  Sour about what? Using Signal instead of Messenger? Facebook's DAU numbers and engagement metrics just keep on rising and OP's *If Facebook makes people unhappy, and the more they use it the unhappier they are, why does usage continue to grow? Not only are more people using it, a higher proportion are checking Facebook at least once a day. are also true of heroin. And no, I'm not saying that Facebook is like an opioid but it just isn't a convincing argument about its value.
- xiaoma 9y ago
  Zynga also had great DAU numbers while frustrating more and more of its users. Blackhat engagement techniques are strong in the short to medium time horizon. There's so much opportunity for fb if they could just focus on slightly different goals.
- tpeo 9y ago
  It's not like having and using Facebook is necessarily unfeasible for people who aren't crazy about it, which makes that a bad metaphor. Having a case of "sour grapes" over Facebook makes as much sense as having a case of "sour grapes" over pie. Just go out and buy some if you want. But what makes it a really bad metaphor is that the likelihood of someone using Facebook or not on a daily basis depends on how much value they attach to it. But why would anyone resent others for doing stuff that they don't care about? Now, if you think Facebook provides with you with something of value, good for you. You're using a service and you're happy about it. But that says nothing about the preferences of others.
kevinbluer 9y ago
One technique could be to start unfollowing certain people. Note that this is different from unfriending them and afaik there's nothing that will notify them to the fact. Perhaps start by unfollowing those that post the "political garbage, pointless memes, etc". Quite quickly you should start to see your feed be a little more streamlined / less noisy. On a related note I went even further and unfollowed everyone so my feed is now completely empty. As such it proactively requires me to view profiles of connections that I care about or view my list of "close friends" which is a feed in itself. That said, I barely use it anymore (which was my original goal).
pritishc 9y ago
If what you want to maintain is contact with all those people, you can deactivate your Facebook but keep Messenger on. They're separate apps. It's worked wonders for me.
- wink 9y ago
  Confirmation bias aside, I've actually had people who neevr respond to email, don't use any standalone messengers, only read their private facebook messages weeks later... but are indeed replying to status posts and comments. So yes, you either stop communicating or adapt. And no, phone calls are not an option. These are people I've never talked to on the phone in my whole life, why would I start now?

by Kluny 9y ago

skrebbel 9y ago

> I want to hear about the new babies, jobs, city moves, projects, and parties that people have going on This is the point. We non Facebook users decided we don't care enough about that stuff. Or at least not until someone tells us about it in person. There's no real problem with hearing half a year late that a friend of a friend, who is also a direct acquaintance of sorts, became a parent.

jamesrcole 9y ago
You're generalising a lot about the motivations of users and non-users.
- skrebbel 9y ago
  Fair enough.

flohofwoe 9y ago

At least in Germany this role of keeping up to date about events among family and friends seems to have moved to WhatsApp. You still get all the baby- and vacation-pictures, but without the propaganda-, 'you might like'- and advertisement-postings Facebook is bombarding you with. Personally I have moved off Facebook since end 2016 and was one of the last holdouts, most of my family, and friends from the 'real world' don't have an Facebook account or have left their account idle since long before that. PS: the irony is of course that WhatsApp is owned by Facebook ;)

henrikschroder 9y ago

> Based on the other comments so far, it sounds like HN'ers mostly don't use facebook and don't miss it. Let's just say that the "sour grapes" crowd are much more likely to pile on to stories like this. Facebook provides me and my friends with immense value, I'm a very happy user, and as long as that value is higher than the annoyances of using Facebook, we will keep using it. The reality is that Facebook's DAU numbers and engagement metrics just keep on rising. A bunch of disillusioned users on this forum is not a negative trend. Facebook's biggest enemy is themselves, because the corporate machine pressures everyone there into change for change's sake, which fuels user fatigue, which in the end will lead to some sort of exodus.

blfr 9y ago
Sour about what? Using Signal instead of Messenger? Facebook's DAU numbers and engagement metrics just keep on rising and OP's *If Facebook makes people unhappy, and the more they use it the unhappier they are, why does usage continue to grow? Not only are more people using it, a higher proportion are checking Facebook at least once a day. are also true of heroin. And no, I'm not saying that Facebook is like an opioid but it just isn't a convincing argument about its value.
xiaoma 9y ago
Zynga also had great DAU numbers while frustrating more and more of its users. Blackhat engagement techniques are strong in the short to medium time horizon. There's so much opportunity for fb if they could just focus on slightly different goals.
tpeo 9y ago
It's not like having and using Facebook is necessarily unfeasible for people who aren't crazy about it, which makes that a bad metaphor. Having a case of "sour grapes" over Facebook makes as much sense as having a case of "sour grapes" over pie. Just go out and buy some if you want. But what makes it a really bad metaphor is that the likelihood of someone using Facebook or not on a daily basis depends on how much value they attach to it. But why would anyone resent others for doing stuff that they don't care about? Now, if you think Facebook provides with you with something of value, good for you. You're using a service and you're happy about it. But that says nothing about the preferences of others.

kevinbluer 9y ago

One technique could be to start unfollowing certain people. Note that this is different from unfriending them and afaik there's nothing that will notify them to the fact. Perhaps start by unfollowing those that post the "political garbage, pointless memes, etc". Quite quickly you should start to see your feed be a little more streamlined / less noisy. On a related note I went even further and unfollowed everyone so my feed is now completely empty. As such it proactively requires me to view profiles of connections that I care about or view my list of "close friends" which is a feed in itself. That said, I barely use it anymore (which was my original goal).

pritishc 9y ago

If what you want to maintain is contact with all those people, you can deactivate your Facebook but keep Messenger on. They're separate apps. It's worked wonders for me.

wink 9y ago
Confirmation bias aside, I've actually had people who neevr respond to email, don't use any standalone messengers, only read their private facebook messages weeks later... but are indeed replying to status posts and comments. So yes, you either stop communicating or adapt. And no, phone calls are not an option. These are people I've never talked to on the phone in my whole life, why would I start now?