Tag: Facebook

It wasn’t difficult to quit X-witter years ago, and I really haven’t missed it.

It also wasn’t difficult to quit Threads, and I’ve never been interested in Instagram.

So far, Bluesky isn’t evil and I hope it stays this way. And Mastodon’s purely distributed and open nature prevents Mordor from claiming it.

But Facebook…

Zuckerberg has always been a smarmy self-serving asshole of the first degree. Now, with his Trump ass-kissing to a humiliating degree, I, like many of you,  are left having to make a decision about staying or going.

After some thought, I decided I’m both staying and going.

The ways I’m staying

I co-admin for a group, New Savannah Town Square. The good thing about being admin for this group is I and the other co-admin are boss.

Zuckerberg can let all sorts of MAGA crap into Facebook, but that doesn’t mean they can come into our group. As I posted recently:

• Lies will be blocked
• Misinformation will be deleted
• Bigots will be banned

Zuckerberg doesn’t care if he’s crawling in the dung heap but the rest of us do. I can’t control Facebook generally, but I can control what happens in this group.

In addition, I have friends I keep in contact with on Facebook. Currently, I’m trying to locate them in Mastodon and Bluesky and creating lists in both services so I can actually go out and see a feed with just my friends and not a lot else. It’s easier to keep in contact with folks using this approach than Facebook with all the ads and cruft.

BUT…not everyone is in Mastodon and Bluesky and I’m not willing to abandon my connections to them in Facebook. Yet.

The Ways I’m going

I’m keeping my posts private, no longer commenting on any posts other than those belonging to friends, and I will block with wild abandon and glee.

I won’t read the comments to posts of public officials. I learned this by reading the comments on Savannah Mayor Van Johnson’s posts (a lot of really nasty racists in this area). Frankly, I think every government and public official account should close comments to all their posts considering the filth coming their way. However, their choice. Mine is to not engage.

In addition, I will spend less time on Facebook, more time here at Burningbird. And for those folks who like posts in an email, I copy my Bb posts to Substack (which has its own issues but does provide rent-free commenting and email support).

However, just because I’m not closing down my Facebook account doesn’t mean I’m not keeping my bags packed, ready to bug out. There’s always that question in the back of my mind:

Should I stay or should I go?

Leave a comment at my Substack account

I received my second Facebook jail term this weekend. Why? Because I told the person who wrote a comment promoting horse deworner to cure COVID that I reported their comment for spreading misinformation.

Then I committed the crime: I said the comment was stupid.

For my crime I’m in Facebook jail, while the misinforming comment remains. What’s bitterly ironic is the misinforming comment was to an ABC news story about a young woman who died of COVID because she was misinformed about the ‘dangers’ of the COVID vaccination.

(Do you think Facebook appreciates the irony? Do you think ‘irony’ is among Facebook’s terms that automatically get you banned?)

Why do we continue with these social media companies? At one point in time, all we needed was a weblog like this one or one hosted at Blogger or Radio Userland, and an RSS reader. The conversations were smarter, and the bullshit ruthlessly and surgically removed.

We owned our spaces. We still own our spaces but they’re mighty quiet nowadays, because all the action is on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever is the ‘gee wiz’ site loaded with influencers most of us would have considered too vapid for words years ago.

The only reason I stay on Facebook is because it allows me to connect with people I really like. And I should limit my Facebook interactions solely to my friends, because the third time I respond to someone spreading misinformation about COVID (or a certain election), I’ll probably get banned for life.

I won’t refrain from giving my honest opinion about their comments. They’re stupid. Just like Facebook.

Update

Timing is everything.

Last night, 60 Minutes had an interview with Frances Haugen, Facebook whistleblower who provided several documents to the Wall Street Journal for a damning series on the company.

The following is particularly relevant…especially in light of the fact that, at the end of my Facebook jail term, the comment noted above and others I reported for spreading COVID misinformation still have not been removed.

Neither has the direct threat against my friend Dori’s life in a Facebook post. This, even though several of us have reported an obviously blatantly violent comment.

Facebook seems to have no problem with blatantly violent threats.