Why you can’t afford to quit Facebook (yet)
I don’t like Facebook. I’m not a Facebook power user by any means and I’m less than a casual user. Everyone’s talking about quitting Facebook due to privacy problems and other high profile woes, but I have no plans on leaving Facebook. Regardless what “I hate Facebook because…” camp you sit in, Facebook is where people are.
In the Facebook vs. Twitter battle, Twitter wins
One thing I find somewhat humorous about Facebook is how it now compares to Twitter. Whenever I ask someone if they’re on Twitter the always reference how stupid Twitter is because it’s just a bunch of people talking about what they had for lunch. I don’t why they always use eating, but hey, whatever. The point is, of course, that Twitter is nothing but a bunch of insignificant updates about nothing. Sure, Twitter is full of pointless updates from lots of people…but Facebook has more.
Facebook has FAR more pointless status updates than Twitter does. I admittedly don’t have many friends on Facebook but many of them are CONSTANTLY posting to Facebook about anything and everything, most of which few people would actually care about: eating updates, baby updates, loving Jesus updates, ambiguous life problem updates, I love my life updates…you name it and it’s on Facebook in more quantity than on Twitter. So Twitter and Facebook have become pretty much the same thing, only Facebook is worse. Jen put it best, “it’s all about moderation, nothing in excess.”
Friends vs. friends
But I think it’s due to the fact that Facebook is about friends and Twitter is about interests. Staying up with friends and family on Facebook is easy and Facebook’s greatest asset. Twitter lends itself more to meeting people that share similar interests as you, and for whatever reason, most of my FB friends don’t share my same interests (and vice versa). And because of that, I don’t find myself on Facebook all that often.
However, in that same stroke, your best supporters will often be your friends and family, so it’s important to expose them to your interests…and that’s the power of Facebook from where I sit. I’ll keep my Facebook because it’s a guaranteed way to get what few messages I share on Facebook in front of people that are paying attention. But what about those people that are on Facebook but don’t use it often (like me)? Well, if they are really interested in what you do, they’ll find out somehow, with or without Facebook.
Facebook is creating bad habits
One reason I would consider leaving Facebook is because of how’s it’s affecting people’s etiquette. Frankly, I’m a person that doesn’t follow much etiquette to begin with, but Facebook should not be seen as the end all, be all form of communication with friends and family. Facebook is not an e-mail replacement…or even a postal or phone replacement. People using Facebook to invite people to important events - I’m talking weddings, baby showers, graduations, etc - is never acceptable. Although, by doing so it probably has gotten me out of having to go to said events, which I probably won’t complain about. If you use Facebook as your main means of organizing events, prepare to fail to have everyone know about it. Bad idea.
If you want eyeballs, you can’t quit Facebook……..yet
So regardless how Facebook handles your data, in the end, Facebook is where all the people are. If you want your message to be seen, it’s a safe bet people on Facebook will do so. And that’s why I’m keeping my Facebook.
