I have a need to connect with people on a couple of specific topics that I believe are very important, and unfortunately, Facebook is where most people are. So

I have a need to connect with people on a couple of specific topics that I believe are very important, and unfortunately, Facebook is where most people are. So I use (only) Facebook groups. All the forums and message boards of the past are not where many people are. I stay away from my timeline and the news feed. I believe that the timeline is a useless stream of junk with people always arguing and fighting one another. Recently I noticed that Facebook has prioritized video content, and now the news feed is an endless stream of useless videos that auto play. This is not the result of personalization, because I do not react to people's posts or comments (and give hints to Facebook). It's as if Facebook intends to create its own version of a future based on Idiocracy (the movie). [1] Facebook groups has some good features and has improved a lot for administrators over the last couple of years. But as dpau says in another comment here [2], search on Facebook and Facebook groups is terrible — it's worse than any bad web search engine one can think of. Most people end up posting the same posts and the same comments over and over again (this is not a Facebook-only issue, but the lack of good search makes enforcing "searching first as the norm" next to impossible). All the etiquette built around newsgroups and online forums over decades is nowhere to be seen on Facebook groups. Everybody seems to want to be spoonfed with answers, instantly. As dpau says [2], Facebook as a place to store useful information for posterity is a lost cause. If, either intentionally or unintentionally, Facebook were to delete all content older than a week from groups and timelines right now, nothing will be missed! Facebook _is the place_ where content goes to die! I tell people to put their content elsewhere on the web and share the link on Facebook, but many people are loathe to do it, not understanding that their effort, knowledge and time are wasted so pitifully by an incompetent and arrogant corporation that doesn't care much about anything on the human side (except showing more videos to show more video ads to make more money). I'm of the opinion that the sooner Facebook dies, the better off we'll be, even if there's no single alternative that fulfills all the features it offers. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18481458 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18481458