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I hate those notifications. I use Facebook pretty much exclusively as a way to discover and congratulate people on major life events (birthdays, weddings, babi

I hate those notifications. I use Facebook pretty much exclusively as a way to discover and congratulate people on major life events (birthdays, weddings, babies, etc.). I use it maybe once a week, but I actually really do appreciate being notified about e.g. someone's birthday - it's a gentle reminder to catch up with that person. The first time I got one of those generic "Jane commented on her status" notifications, I assumed something major had happened: Someone had passed away, had a major life change, etc. Of course, it wasn't that - it was something much more trivial. The birthday notifications/etc. are useful enough that I keep the app on my phone, but the incredibly vague "so-and-so updated their status" notifications are pushing me towards finding alternatives.

zodPod 8y ago
Right? It ended up being a bigger decision because I like getting notifications when someone does something related to me but I can't stand getting those generic notifications about other people's activities with other people. So I blocked the notifications by revoking the app's notification permissions. Sucks but they did it to themselves.
lev99 8y ago
I am really annoyed by services that do not let me control which events give me notifications, and how those notifications reach me (in app, push, email).
ModernMech 8y ago
> but I actually really do appreciate being notified about e.g. someone's birthday - it's a gentle reminder to catch up with that person. Just put their birthday in a calendar app. You'll be reminded every year, and you won't have to rely on Facebook. Best part is, their birthday doesn't change, so you only have to do it once!
- distances 8y ago
  Or even better, to their contact details in your phonebook, and get an app that reminds you of them. I now get notifications for the birthdays I care about, and can disregard Facebook reminding me about some vague acquaintancies.
toomuchtodo 8y ago
I moved all of my friend's Facebook data into MonicaApp [1] [2] (open source friends crm, you can self-host if you want, I pay to support the dev). I get reminders for any events per-relationship, and there's a reminders API [3]. [1] https://www.monicahq.com/ https://www.monicahq.com/ [2] https://github.com/monicahq/monica/ https://github.com/monicahq/monica/ [3] https://www.monicahq.com/api/reminders https://www.monicahq.com/api/reminders

zodPod 8y ago

Right? It ended up being a bigger decision because I like getting notifications when someone does something related to me but I can't stand getting those generic notifications about other people's activities with other people. So I blocked the notifications by revoking the app's notification permissions. Sucks but they did it to themselves.

lev99 8y ago

I am really annoyed by services that do not let me control which events give me notifications, and how those notifications reach me (in app, push, email).

ModernMech 8y ago

> but I actually really do appreciate being notified about e.g. someone's birthday - it's a gentle reminder to catch up with that person. Just put their birthday in a calendar app. You'll be reminded every year, and you won't have to rely on Facebook. Best part is, their birthday doesn't change, so you only have to do it once!

distances 8y ago
Or even better, to their contact details in your phonebook, and get an app that reminds you of them. I now get notifications for the birthdays I care about, and can disregard Facebook reminding me about some vague acquaintancies.

toomuchtodo 8y ago

I moved all of my friend's Facebook data into MonicaApp [1] [2] (open source friends crm, you can self-host if you want, I pay to support the dev). I get reminders for any events per-relationship, and there's a reminders API [3]. [1] https://www.monicahq.com/ https://www.monicahq.com/ [2] https://github.com/monicahq/monica/ https://github.com/monicahq/monica/ [3] https://www.monicahq.com/api/reminders https://www.monicahq.com/api/reminders