Do you still use Facebook?

[CTyankee]

I ask as a casual user. It's not my go-to place for news. I depend mainly on the New York Times, MSNBC, and regular news show from my local station to national news and entertainment news. I also do research on various online places. I use youtube for segments of news shows that I have missed, if I can find it.

We also like old movies on our movie channels. We just saw "Exodus" last night, for instance. It's great to revisit movies after a lot of time has passed between the time you first saw it to present. For instance, we saw "Judgment at Nuremberg" a while back and found the experience to be profound and resonant with the themes it embraced.

[samnsara]

1. ... I post political and dog stuff thats all..

...i dont even know if i have followers. I never go back to read any comments and i dont accept any friend requests. Ive blocked ANY trump follower.

I quit watching cable news about a month ago after the Texas abortion law, I just cant submerge myself in horrid news. Its not healthy so I'm watching a LOT of PLUTO via my Roku. They have 24/7 Julia Child, Star Trek, Bob Ross etc. I love their Classic TV Channel.

My question is: I inherited some FB stock and its done well since I got it... my question is..with all the FB crap going on..do I sell?

[CTyankee]

4. Well, part of me wants to say "Take the money and run" from FB if what you really want is to have FB

out of your life. And it depends on whether you can live comfortably w/o the money it generates to keep you afloat.

But I am probably much older than you so my perspective is biased.

[3Hotdogs]

6. No. Don't sell.

I believe it will recover within 6 months

[luv2fly]

11. Depends on how you view FB

Imagine the most evil company you personally can think of, and you own stock in it. What would you do?

FB may not be YOUR most evil company, but many many people do not think highly of it. Whether or not you choose to profit from that is only up to you.

[HAB911]

24. Damn, just like AT&T

progenitor of OANN

[Yonnie3]

2. Yes

I keep track of some acquaintances. Often it is the way I find out that someone from my youth has passed away via my high school group.

I used to argue political things but realized it wasn't worth my time. Now, I unfriend and block with a hair trigger. I don't want to see news and have removed any such from my feed.

I notice that much of my time on FaceBook, which isn't much, is in heavily moderated groups.

[CTyankee]

7. Interesting. I guess Facebook is responsible for a new verb: unfriend

I don't know what exactly a "moderated" group is (to me personally).

[Sugarmaggie]

3. I don't use Facebook

If someone wants to update me or if I want an update I give family a call. Honestly I don’t want to know everyone’s granular detail of their day to day. That’s just me. Less stress.

[True Blue American]

5. My account was closed long ago but for some reason it is on my iPhone

I look at family pictures.

[CTyankee]

10. I'm not the first person to notice this use of Facebook for family updates, instead of calling them.

To me, the most boring thing I learn is what someone's dinner plate looks like. I wonder when did pics of plates of food become the "thing" to do.

I do like to see pics of family I haven't seen for a while. Those are nice.

[luvs2sing]

16. Guilty as charged.

I love to cook, and my friends enjoy seeing photos of what I make, especially when I include a link to the recipe so they can try it. A few months ago, I stopped posting these, and several friends messaged me to see if I was okay..and why wasn’t I cooking I don’t do videos, but for a lot of my friends, I’m their favorite cooking show.

[CTyankee]

18. I used to cook but not any more. But if I were to encounter you I would probably like hearing about

your food. To an extent. My daughter and her husband cook together as a team. I love being in their house when they get creative. Their taste is my taste.

[luvs2sing]

20. I basically lean toward..

comfort food but really like anything African, Middle Eastern, or Mediterranean. Cooking has always been a stress reliever for me. I love it, and it centers me. Of course, I’ve never had to feed a family or try to come up with things kids will like. I’ve always done it for the joy of it.

I would love to cook with Hubster, but our cooking styles don’t mesh. I’m very organized and meticulous, he has stuff flying everywhere. We don’t even come in the kitchen when the other is cooking.

[OnDoutside]

21. I have lots of family outside of where I live, around the world, so

Facebook has allowed me stay in touch with them in a way I would never be able to do otherwise.

[Ms. Toad]

34. I've never posted a picture of my dinner plate -

But when I'm preparing food for a party I've posted progress pics to entice friends to show up to eat. (I also post pictures of my annual pie-baking fest - ~40 pies/year for the law school I work at and a local homeless shelter.)

[CTyankee]

35. That's different. I would love to see posts of pies. I love desserts. I practically drool in the

bakery section of the supermarket. And for a good cause, YES!

[Ms. Toad]

40. Here are some from prior years -

Pre-pie pumpkins (and the quality inspection crew):



Partway through the process (4 pies):



First 4 crusts (2019):



In the car headed to either the school for the Thanksgiving feast or to the local homeless shelter. (Based on the # of pies, likely heading to the school)



I had to take a break last year due to COVID. I had actually delayed my initial sarcoma surgery for a week so that I would be able to use my right arm to roll out the pie crusts, then my daughter decided to hang out with her not-so-isolated bubble and got herself thoroughly exposed to COVID. Since the peak infection time would have been the days I was baking, I decided beter safe than sorry.

But - my arm is fully functional again so I'm planning on baking this year (barring very poor kitchen remodeling timing that will replace my 1960s oven that no lognger cooks very evenly).

[DinahMoeHum]

8. I've never had an account with FB. . .

. . .I don't swim in dirty water.

[jimfields33]

26. I have one and will until Twitter and tic Tok also get their

deserved criticsm. I think Twitter is a cesspool and tic Tok is dangerous literally. But both are given free pass while Facebook is criticized. I don’t like that. All three should be treated equally.

[malthaussen]

9. Yes. n/t

[QED]

12. We use Messenger for a family group chat.

One of my close relatives has a young child and seeing videos and pics of her just makes my day.

I'm in a group for my content area that has been very helpful.

And dogs....never enough dog pics!

I avoid politics because of the RWers in the family, one member I fear is falling into the MAGA cult.

[CTyankee]

17. I did a family zoom call a couple of times and was bored stiff. My daughter taught me how. She

is pretty hard-ass sometimes. I hated it. I had to see my ex-husband and his wife but he died soon after. I realized he was out of it when he was there.

I think my daughter feels that Facebook and family zooms are great. I don't.

[luvs2sing]

13. I do.

I have 444 friends, mostly current and former musical connections of mine and Hubster’s, family (the few who aren’t vocal Trumpers), childhood and old work friends and current and former neighbors. I don’t tolerate any political shenanigans. Trumpers get blocked. I have one friend who is a rabid, obnoxious Bernie bro. He will still get on his high horse from time to time. I give him a 30-day unfollow to give him time to cool down because most of the time, he’s a joy.

Facebook is my source for social action events. It is my source for volunteer opportunities and ways I can give back to the community as well as just fun things to do. It is not my source for news. In fact, I don’t think I follow any news pages except for our neighborhood page. It is all about connection with those I love.

I get news from my local paper, which I read online, and DU. I indirectly get it from CNN because Hubster goes to their app and reads stuff to me.

I like YouTube for music and instructional videos.

I don’t use Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok or whatever other social media app is cool at any given moment.

[Historic NY]

14. Two history/photo accounts...

I have 2 managers besides myself for legacy.

[Sherman A1]

15. Yes

and will continue to do so.

[bamagal62]

19. Yes.

But, I don’t use it as a news source. I use it for 2 things:
1. Keeping in touch with family and friends who are all over the globe.
2. Private groups for certain art classes or art sharing groups.

[multigraincracker]

22. I stopped using it a year ago.

Do not miss it, but my friends think I died. I never said goodbye.

[KentuckyWoman]

23. Out of town family only.

I am "friends" with 34 people on Facebook. Mostly family.

Quite a few with smaller kids live in other states and we use it to keep touch. It has also helped our group of friends during covid. We use messenger as well. If they moved to another platform I'll figure it out but so far this is working.

[dameatball]

25. I got booted a while back when I tried to change my information. The account still exists apparently

but I can't access it. I had one friend, my next door neighbor. Only because he sent me a request. He's a crackpot anyway. The only real use I got out of Facebook was when I moved from Virginia to Florida and didn't know anyone locally. There really is a lot of helpful info available as far as advice, contractors, etc. I also used FB Marketplace to both buy and sell a boat. Facebook has its uses but it is certainly not essential.

[The Wizard]

27. FB has become a bad joke

I got a 30 day suspension for posting "Hitler was a Red Sox fan." and subsequently banned for life for reasons they never explained.

[CTyankee]

29. Gee, no idea how anybody could be offended with "Hitler was a Red Sox fan." How odd.

You make a wonderful point.

My next door neighbor is a wonderful guy, so helpful always. Yet he posts crazy stuff on FB. He "personally saw" a video proving that voter fraud was prevalent in the 2020 election. He go several responses asking if he was OK, and one friend saying "We really have to talk, Steve." And recently how awful Biden was with the "desertion of friends who helped us in Afghanistan."

I feel sorry for him. His family experienced a home invasion by a couple of young guys several months ago. It was harrowing. My husband was so concerned he had ADT come over and arm our house.

So I have compassion for the guy and his family. I know he and his wife suffered the loss of a baby born to early to live but finally succumbed. It was a tragedy but they have two wonderful kids now and all is well.

[The Wizard]

32. Any mention of Hitler or Nazis

draws a rebuke. Their decisions are arbitrary. Methinks Zuckerberg leans right.

[sakabatou]

38. They never really explain their suspensions/bans

[Pobeka]

28. The Cambridge Analytica fiasco was the end of it for me.

Facebook acting all "how could we know our data was stolen?", when data is the only thing they have that is of value. It was like a bank saying, "gosh, I didn't see those crooks taking the gold out of the vault (after we gave them the map to the vault)".

It may seem like a conspiracy theory, but I think FB looked away and allowed the use of that data just to prove a new and powerful way it could be used, thus increasing the value of the data for future potential buyers of the data.

Getting Trump elected as a side effect was of no concern to them apparently.

[CTyankee]

30. that's a good analogy.

[CTyankee]

33. This is "unregulated greed" in my book.

Surely, there is a pithy Karl Marx statement that can be of service here...

[Bev54]

31. Yes, I use it to keep in touch with friends all over the world.

I do not get my news from FB and anybody who posts misinformation about covid, I report. Lately I have noticed they keep putting on rw shit as "something they think I would like". I hide everyone of these posts and I am not sure why they keep showing up, it is like someone is just trying to piss me off. Someone said it has to do with what some of my friends are reading, so probably my brother, if that is the case.

[madville]

36. Yes, but just for Marketplace

It has taken over in my location as far as the place to buy and sell stuff.

[sakabatou]

37. I'm casual too. I help run two fan pages for an animated tv show.

[dumbcat]

39. Yes, I check in several times a day

I use it to keep up with family and friends scattered around the world. Part of that is because my wife is from Taiwan, and I spent 40 years with the military. My wife still has a lot of family in Taiwan, and they are all VERY active on FB sharing pics and stuff. My military friends are literally scattered around the world, so we have a little larger geographical sphere of communications interest than most.

I also use FB to keep up with 4 or 5 different hobby groups, and also our local community has a very active "hot topics" group.

I very rarely post or even see much political stuff. And I can't even conceive of using FB for "news".

So, yeah, I find it a valuable resource and plan to continue to use it.

[CozyMystery]

41. I deleted my account years ago. nt

[GoneOffShore]

42. Yes. For posting Instagram pics and checking various expat/immigration forums.

As well as keeping up with friends.

News? Not so much, though stories for NYT, the New Yorker, TV5Monde, and BBC show up on my feed.