Social media controls the world

Call me a luddite but we have:

Email
WhatsApp
Skype
Viber

And many more I’m sure, for “communicating online.”

We also still have phones.

Phone someone. Hard?

(If I sound angry it’s because I am, not at you, personal stuff, don’t respond in kind! :p)

Meh, none of those fill all the use cases I have for FB, even close.

I mean I understand that I’m a World’s End Class Extrovert Supernova, but still.

Yeah @ArmandoPenblade I suspect I’m very guilty here of projecting.

Everything I could possibly want to do on Facebook I can do with something else.

except have an online wall I use to try and convince other people my life is somehow amazing.

That doesn’t interest me.

I suspect that’s the real use of Facebook.

This is worth listening to with regards to Facebook and happiness. I’m not sure the insidious nature of it is obvious enough to consciously understand.

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/20/595123557/men-dealing-with-social-isolation-have-a-harder-time-confiding-in-others

So these days I primarily use FB for the following:

  • Organizing my monthly “Friendship Lunches” to which I invite 80-odd friends and acquaintances from the area to local restaurants to hang out and meet new people while enjoying tasty food. Something like Meetup or EventBrite could work for that, but a significant upside to FB is that it smooths the “get enough contact info to invite someone to this stuff” barrier around new acquaintances that it’s very easy to transition from meeting someone new to inviting them to the lunches to becoming closer with them in time (not entirely through the lunches, but they help).
  • Discussing the state of RPGs and our group in general with the local Raleigh Tabletop RPGs gang via their Group page, as well as recruiting for the games and events I run as a part of that (and staying informed about others’ games and events). While there’s certainly been some interpersonal drama here and there amongst the membership, the FB page is very pleasant and filled with good and rich conversations.
  • Organizing other events in general - e.g., birthday parties, trips to local concerts/protest marches/cultural events, boardgame days with friends, movie nights, etc. These activities tend to be with closer friends, so email might have sufficed, but some, like the concert/march/event invites, are also just blast-message opportunities for me to evangelize something local I’m passionate about to my friendquaintance circle and hopefully bring more folks into it.
  • Keeping up with friends near and far in a generalized sense. This one is also uniquely satisfied by FB at the moment because of its ubiquity. Two people I strive to keep in regular touch with don’t use FB; everyone else I do, does. Some, not much, but they’re on there and available via wall posts and tags and Messenger. I’ve developed very disparate friend groups between my high school gang in TN, my college group in MA, my camp pals from KY, and my newest friends in NC, plus the few family members I find tolerable and random other friends from elsewhere (including right here on Qt3!). While I mgiht have ways of getting in touch with all of these folks somehow, someway (or at least could have found them when we were in close touch–e.g., exchanging emails or telling each other when we updated phone #s), nowadays, having everyone in one social network, accessible simultaneously, is a huge boon for me, and reduces “bookkeeping” noticeably.

Oh, plus sometimes posting pictures of my wildly-out-of-my-league gf and I having dinner or the foods that I cook to show off my amazing life on my wall, but that’s a given, right? ;-)

@Clay

Post Brexit various people I considered friends had it out with me on Facebook, and the arguments got intense.

And I woke up one day realising I was posting stuff and preaching to the converted and was fully engaged in an echo chamber.

Then I had to meet certain people in real life, and as twee (I hope I’m using this word correctly) as it sounds I realised I was just as bad and just as guilty of various things as the people I was arguing against.

I have no love for Facebook but I do think the current backlash is more about scapegoating than getting a solution.

I don’t know what panera (from the word and the context I deduce it is a smarter, better run competitor?) is but I have quite enjoyed subway on occasion, even though the information I have now indicates their food is far from healthy.

@armando

Nothing you have said is bad. Quite the opposite.

You sound like you actually know what you’re doing wih fb.

More power to you!

Panera is a trendy sandwich/salad place I think. I have never been there but my 20 something daughters love it. :)

I prefer old fashioned deli’s.

It’s not to convince other people. It’s to convince themselves. That’s what the “likes” are for. “That thing I posted yesterday got 50 likes, I’m cool and important”

#NOT-AD
https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html

They try to sell a healthy image but the food is not healthy at all. Sandwiches with 1000 kCal, etc

That is so depressing. …

Sad thing is, I was on FB for a long time. And I played mafia wars…and the farm game…

As you should–Panera is just as evil as Subway, it just puts on a granola face.

Old-school delis rock!

Used to work in one.

Pleasant memories.

I am lucky to have an old fashioned Italian deli not too far from my office. It is not a great area of town but the deli has been there for years and the family owns the corner and is determined to stay there. In another part of town they would probably be more expensive and do more business, but even people from the “good areas” come there for lunch.

Delete Facebook. …😦😯

Back to delis, we used to make our own hams, sold out within 2 days.

Delicious.

I learned so much there. Was very lucky to have a chef /boss who was very hands off and let me just do stuff, like sort out the pricing or use my discretion to give people discounts.

We had people come in and spend £100 plus in 10 minutes. I’d give them “free” stuff as a thank you.

They were happy.

Free stuff was unusable by the deli anyway. 😁😁😁😁

I use FB to talk about new restaurants, movies, games… television shows… share my interests oh and listen to my younger family and friends livejournal themselves in the public eye.

I always considered anything I posted there as something someone would see and use to sell me stuff. The political thought manipulation… well I guess if you treat news and facts as the same as anything else someone pays to put in front of your face, that’s a problem… and that’s FB.

Hey, let’s all move to Google+!

Guys? Anybody?

Friendster is coming back, I can feel it!

brb joining Facebook

But seriously, the main objection is that Facebook becomes the default “place where everyone is”, and sucks all the oxygen out of the room for any competing service. What kind of world have we created where every man, woman, and child on earth is expected to have an account?

I personally don’t find it that unreasonable to expect that people have multiple accounts on multiple “major” online services, better reflecting who they are and what their interests happen to be.