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Goodbye Facebook

thetechblock.com

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11–19 of 19 posts

Re: Goodbye Facebook

#11

Post by MartinCron »

arahuja wrote: post #8
abdophoto wrote: post #2

I think more and more people will be leaving Facebook in the coming years. However, what it's the only company that ties in a bunch of services together. Sure, Twitter, I think is better for messaging, and Instagram (for now) is better for photos, but nobody is doing them all. And even though it's not GREAT on FB, it's going to be hard to take them down.

No problem if people want to leave FB, don't use it too much myself anymore. Just don't understand why everyone has to write a blog post like they are doing charting new ground when they leave.

The same reason people declare they are quitting smoking... Social pressure helps people break addictions.

Re: Goodbye Facebook

#12

Post by [deleted] »

jpxxx wrote: post #4

Facebook is the one your family is on, and your family's news and personality emissions are quite literally priceless for many, many, many people. Most, even. If you want to come for Facebook you'd better bring a bigger gun than "I'm an East Coast technopriest in my twenties who doesn't particularly care to know what browser game my great-auntie enjoys".

[deleted]

Re: Goodbye Facebook

#13

Post by cookiecaper »

jpxxx wrote: post #4

Facebook is the one your family is on, and your family's news and personality emissions are quite literally priceless for many, many, many people. Most, even. If you want to come for Facebook you'd better bring a bigger gun than "I'm an East Coast technopriest in my twenties who doesn't particularly care to know what browser game my great-auntie enjoys".

Yeah, I think once a tech product becomes entrenched enough that your grandma tries to use it on a fairly consistent basis, you've hit a "point of no return" for market share. Something eventually stabilizes as a long-term de-facto standard, and Facebook is that now for social networking. imo it's going to be difficult to break FB's grip on traditional social media uses. Before DOS/Windows became the king, there was a lot of flux in the OS/computing market, very analogous to the bi-yearly transition to a new dominating social platform.

Facebook is becoming less and less cool as more and more grandmas get accounts, but I think at the same time it's becoming harder and harder to obsolete.

Maybe I'm wrong and it will soon just be used mostly by persons of limited technical literacy while the more involved people switch to a shinier alternative. I often compare Facebook to Windows, but there's quite a different barrier to switching an OS and switching a social media site.

Re: Goodbye Facebook

#14

Post by erickhill »

"Now, six years since I created a real Facebook page, mine is deactivated and I couldn’t be happier."

"Deactivated" is very different from killing an account outright. If you ever accidentally sign into another app/site using Facebook, your account will instantly reactivate (whether you realize it or not - they don't warn you). Playing Words with Friends? You'll need to decouple your FB account entirely or your FB account will suddenly reawaken.

They make the addiction incredibly easy to slip back into as well. During the deactivation process, you'll be presented with pictures of 4 of your friends, each saying, "Chad will miss you" or "Mike will miss you." In my case I was actually presented with a friend's pitiful dog looking up at me, and another friend's child. I was sure they were algorithmically selected (I think from the top 10% of my active friends), but I was stunned by the presentation.

It was incredible.

My guilt and apprehension was flooding me with confusion when I pulled the trigger. I felt justified for not completely killing the account outright. And, for at least 2 days, I literally felt a bit of withdrawal. ("I should have posted this picture... Maybe I should reactivate, post, then deactivate again." etc.)

That wore off quickly, and when I tell folks of my departure they often ask me about it with eyes of wonder and disbelief. It's almost like an AA club, and I meet more people like me.

Re: Goodbye Facebook

#15

Post by onedev »

fatalerrorx3 wrote: post #3
abdophoto wrote: post #2

I think more and more people will be leaving Facebook in the coming years. However, what it's the only company that ties in a bunch of services together. Sure, Twitter, I think is better for messaging, and Instagram (for now) is better for photos, but nobody is doing them all. And even though it's not GREAT on FB, it's going to be hard to take them down.

With the right amount of willpower you can stop using these services... I haven't been on facebook in over 2 years, and it's increased my productivity drastically. I also avoid services that require me to sign up with Facebook, I hate lock-in and I won't be a part of it. Long live the open web!

all hail neckbeard fatalerrorx3

Re: Goodbye Facebook

#16

Post by [deleted] »

fatalerrorx3 wrote: post #3
abdophoto wrote: post #2

I think more and more people will be leaving Facebook in the coming years. However, what it's the only company that ties in a bunch of services together. Sure, Twitter, I think is better for messaging, and Instagram (for now) is better for photos, but nobody is doing them all. And even though it's not GREAT on FB, it's going to be hard to take them down.

With the right amount of willpower you can stop using these services... I haven't been on facebook in over 2 years, and it's increased my productivity drastically. I also avoid services that require me to sign up with Facebook, I hate lock-in and I won't be a part of it. Long live the open web!

[deleted]

Re: Goodbye Facebook

#17

Post by k3n »

erickhill wrote: post #14

"Now, six years since I created a real Facebook page, mine is deactivated and I couldn’t be happier." "Deactivated" is very different from killing an account outright. If you ever accidentally sign into another app/site using Facebook, your account will instantly reactivate (whether you realize it or not - they don't warn you). Playing Words with Friends? You'll need to decouple your FB account entirely or your FB ac…

Actually they do warn you after the fact -- you should get a "welcome back" email:

    Hey k3n,

    The Facebook account associated with facebook@example.org was recently reactivated.

    If you were not the one who reactivated this account, please visit our Help Center (http://www.facebook.com/help/?topic=security).

    Thanks,
    The Facebook Team

Re: Goodbye Facebook

#18

Post by sp332 »

bdcravens wrote: post #6

When I first heard of Facebook, I was in high school. Spoken like it was ages ago.. does this mean I'm old now? (to juxtapose, when I was in high school, I first heard of the WWW)

Facebook was restricted to colleges until 2005, so the story probably took place around that time.

Re: Goodbye Facebook

#19

Post by kyle_t »

neya wrote: post #7

On a side note, I'm a regular Facebook user who just stopped using the service completely. Trust me, you should quit Facebook, if you are- 1) Working on a product/idea/startup 2)Trying to be more productive 3)Wanting to spend some time with REAL people This advice is from a fellow HN member who fell for the addiction and would update an average of 1 status per day. BEFORE you quit Facebook, you need to find the point…

The attitude of needing to completely delete your facebook (or permanantly remove oneself from any frequently visited site) has always astounded me. It seems to come down to a problem of self-control and lack of other passionate things to fill one's day with.

Personally I find myself constantly loading facebook/reddit/HN when I'm bored and not interested in my current work. Simply deleting your presence seems to be treating the symptoms, not the cause.

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