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I quit facebook for a couple years, but recently reactivated because the truth of the matter was that my family uses it and I missed finding out about so many t

by chias 5y ago

I quit facebook for a couple years, but recently reactivated because the truth of the matter was that my family uses it and I missed finding out about so many things, including some marriages and births. When I reactivated, I set out to do exactly that: every time I look at my feed, I unfollow everybody who is not immediate family. It has been tedious and slow-going, but the net result has been actually pretty great. One thing I struggle with is the tags. You unfollow someone and your feed won't include their posts anymore, but it _will_ include random posts that they're tagged in, and I haven't yet found a way to curtail this. I've used "Hide this post" repeatedly because the option text says "see fewer posts like this", but it hasn't really had an effect. Have you found a way to fix this?

3520 5y ago
You may be able to configure F.B. Purity [0] to your liking. I installed it last night after seeing it mentioned in another thread here and it's cut down on all of my newsfeed clutter. [0]https://www.fbpurity.com/ https://www.fbpurity.com/
sanjayparekh 5y ago
I did a Show HN a little while ago but you might want to check out TogetherLetters [0]. We made it to keep going with regular updates for groups of people (friends, family, coworkers, etc.) via email. Never shared on the web and it's consistent (bi-weekly, monthly, and quarterly in the free plan, weekly added in the paid plan). It might help solve some of your FOMO pain. [0] https://www.togetherletters.com https://www.togetherletters.com
- chias 5y ago
  That looks like a wonderful project! Unfortunately, in my situation, my family is so deeply steeped in Facebook that I have no choice. We already have group chats and the like, and some stuff gets posted there, especially if someone wants me in particular to know something. But if you try to go down that road, you're only going to get the newsworthy headlines: your grandma died, Matt had a kid, etc. But in a lot of cases, people just want to shout little things at the world, and when my family does that, it's on Facebook. It's unreasonable to expect everyone I care about to announce everything twice, once to everyone and a second time to just me, so I knew I was going to miss some things. But recently it came to my attention just how much I was missing, and it's just not worth it. You only get your family once. Keeping up with the little things means getting back on Facebook, so I'm back on Facebook.
  - sanjayparekh 5y ago
    Thanks. And I feel ya. I have the same hate/love relationship with WhatsApp (another FB property - can't get away from them) with family there posting good stuff sometimes but some individuals blindly forwarding and reposting garbage where a good 50% or more is easily disproved with one web search. Frustrating.

by chias 5y ago

3520 5y ago

You may be able to configure F.B. Purity [0] to your liking. I installed it last night after seeing it mentioned in another thread here and it's cut down on all of my newsfeed clutter. [0]https://www.fbpurity.com/ https://www.fbpurity.com/

sanjayparekh 5y ago

I did a Show HN a little while ago but you might want to check out TogetherLetters [0]. We made it to keep going with regular updates for groups of people (friends, family, coworkers, etc.) via email. Never shared on the web and it's consistent (bi-weekly, monthly, and quarterly in the free plan, weekly added in the paid plan). It might help solve some of your FOMO pain. [0] https://www.togetherletters.com https://www.togetherletters.com

chias 5y ago
That looks like a wonderful project! Unfortunately, in my situation, my family is so deeply steeped in Facebook that I have no choice. We already have group chats and the like, and some stuff gets posted there, especially if someone wants me in particular to know something. But if you try to go down that road, you're only going to get the newsworthy headlines: your grandma died, Matt had a kid, etc. But in a lot of cases, people just want to shout little things at the world, and when my family does that, it's on Facebook. It's unreasonable to expect everyone I care about to announce everything twice, once to everyone and a second time to just me, so I knew I was going to miss some things. But recently it came to my attention just how much I was missing, and it's just not worth it. You only get your family once. Keeping up with the little things means getting back on Facebook, so I'm back on Facebook.
- sanjayparekh 5y ago
  Thanks. And I feel ya. I have the same hate/love relationship with WhatsApp (another FB property - can't get away from them) with family there posting good stuff sometimes but some individuals blindly forwarding and reposting garbage where a good 50% or more is easily disproved with one web search. Frustrating.