Not too off-topic, I hope. I think I need to join Facebook

[Mopsy]

I've been resisting Facebook. Now it seems to be inevitable that I'll need to join. It's happening more often when I try to get information from a website, and I'm directed to visit them on FB. Then a banner pops up, asking me to sign in. When I say "not now", the banner just slides down and blocks part of the page, anyway. Some sites won't even let me visit (I'm referring to commercial/business pages, not personal ones).

I'm afraid of getting "sucked in" to the social aspects of it, so is there some sort of tutorial somewhere that will allow me to use it the most efficiently for my needs? I know eventually I'll be looking people up and socializing. I just want to know what I'm doing and not open myself up to all the nonsense.

I'm sorry for asking this here, but it's one of the few sites I visit, and I know many people here can help. Maybe if I post a picture of my cat it will be more on-topic?

[antbuko]

Hi Mopsy,

I don't know about a tutorial, but you can entirely control your feed by liking or blocking content you don't want to see. When you get those visit our FB page messages, why not try going directly to the website of the article you want to read? I find that Facebook links usually direct you to another website for content.

Facebook is a bit of a rabbit hole. If you can avoid joining, I think you are better off without it.

[PhyllisG]

I don't belong either and now am faced with the possibility I might be forced to.
Another of my favorite sites to visit is shutting down. Other member are now meeting on Facebook. It is a private group but even so I have so many doubts and questions. Guess it is going to be inevitable at some point.

[Mopsy]

The thing that bugs me is some business don't update their websites, just their FB pages. For example: The bike shop I use often has clinics or events that they used to post on their website. Not anymore. I missed a couple of events because the information was on their FB page. Another company I do business with occasionally runs promos, but you have to be on FB to take advantage of them (or even know about them). It's that sort of thing.

[bzar]

DH has an account and i just use his. i use it for VF Roost too - with the little footnote that describes who i am on VF so that people will be able to find me.

if you don't have that option, an inactive person on FB won't have all of the annoying pop-ups, feeds, etc. just don't friend anybody, or let anyone know you have an account. if they find you, you don't have to friend them. even better, you can put "ignore" on their initial request!

we have a couple of friends who are like this - one of them is a physician, and he uses it just for personal reasons, but even then, he barely has any posts. because he's rarely on there, there's no pictures, no posts, no likes, etc. it doesn't even have any affiliations except where he attended college so that people don't confuse him with anyone else with the same name.

therefore, if you're inactive, you will have way, way fewer ads, traffic, posts, etc. if you're active on FB, you will get the same proportion of ads and pop-ups automatically from anyone who might be aware that you have a presence on FB. so if you're looking at a particular product's website, they might track you by the very fact that you accessed their FB page. but you can block anything that comes by from popping up on your page.

on topic: you can join VF Roost and also have access to coupon deals that video instructors post on their page. this proved to be fruitful - i joined Ellen Barrett's private group and got her discount on her recent set. DH asked "who is Ellen Barrett?" it was worth it for the discount!

you can post a picture of your cat as your FB picture.

you can turn off email notifications as well - those get to be very annoying and congest your email.

[superfit41]

I have been seriously considering de-activating my account. There is way, way too much negativity. Just today I saw an ugly post making fun of people. It's just pure meanness. Ugh.
Sherry

[bee]

I just never go to fb anymore, for the most part. I was in a Facebook checkin for a Pilates by Lisa challenge, but usually I had an email message with a direct link to that group -- follow the link and I see only stuff from that group. The bummer is that sometimes people might send me a pm that I don't see for a long time - sometimes I get mail about them, sometimes I don't -- or at least it used to be that way. If I do want to go check on something in one of the groups I'm in, I just ignore my feed and go to my groups list and click on the one I want. It should be fairly easy for you to figure out, though until you join some groups you won't have any list of groups.

[IceQueen07]

I have an account that I only use for VF Roost and a couple workout related sites. Other than that, I don't use and really don't care to, no personal information, no pictures, nothing. It serves my purpose for when FB is the only way to get info. Not for everyone, but it works for me.

[muggle]

You can also try to create a fake account, right? A co-worker said she did it with made up name, date of birth etc. for all the stuff with businesses and none of the crap!

[Demeris]

Originally Posted by muggle

You can also try to create a fake account, right? A co-worker said she did it with made up name, date of birth etc. for all the stuff with businesses and none of the crap!

I might have to do this. I have an old FB account which I deactivated eons and eons ago. If I re activate it, then all of my friends will want to turn it into our social life. And I don't want a virtual social life. I much prefer seeing them in person.

I don't want FB for social reasons, only to get updates from the instructors I like.