Lately—probably because I’m on vacation and find myself with a little extra time to think (I know, not good)—I’ve found myself wondering why I haven’t been checking Facebook. I still post stuff there occasionally, but I haven’t really scrolled through my News Feed in months. If you’ve noticed my absence in your likes and comments, which seems unlikely since no one’s said anything, this is why. I’m just not drawn there anymore.
I’ve wrestled with Facebook in the past, and I’m still wrestling with it. Maybe that’s the answer right there: it’s not easy, there’s wrestling involved. I don’t trust that I’m seeing everything I think I should be, and the thought alone that there’s some fancy algorithm deciding what Facebook thinks I want to see is annoying. Yes, I can create lists and sort my feed by “Recent Posts,” but I’m still annoyed. Going public and doing more with advertising hasn’t helped either.
I still check Twitter and Google+, and actually enjoy those spaces. Since Twitter is kind of like a firehose of information, there’s no expectations for what you see there, and at 140 characters, the scanning is easy. Plus, on Twitter, people kind of know to tag you in tweets that they think you should see. This rarely happens on Facebook. I prefer Google+’s interface and simplicity to Facebook’s, and only a handful of my friends post there, so the content stream is manageable. But most of my friends and family still use Facebook, so I’m probably missing out on a lot—and lately, I’ve been okay with that. Sorry guys.
Maybe I’m on information overload so focusing on 2/3 social media outlets is just what I can do right now. Maybe I’m board with the old standby and prefer the “newer,” shinier stuff. Maybe I’m shifting towards the type and style of engagement on the other social networks. If I didn’t need to use Facebook for my job and if 99% of the people I care about weren’t still posting to Facebook, I’d cancel that Facebook account yesterday. It’s definitely a hate/sort-of-like relationship with Facebook and I’m not sure I can totally check out of it anytime soon.
Where are you at with it?