To FB or not to FB

“I can believe anything provided that it is quite incredible.”  Oscar Wilde

So I’m been amusing myself with all the Facebook postings that start “Better safe than sorry. As of September blah, blah , 2015 at blah, blah a.m. or p.m. blah, blah standard time, I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, or posts, both past and future.  Blah, blah, blah…”

It took me about 30 seconds to ascertain that this is just one more in a series of internet hoaxes that are designed to….well…uh…I guess I don’t know what they’re designed to do.

I wrote in a previous post Yer Outta Here that I continue to debate as to what to do about Facebook as part of cleaning up a lot of useless junk in my life.

I originally got on Facebook because it was the easiest method of keeping up with my family and close friends.  And it remains my primary reason for using it.

Like many over time I’ve accumulated more and more “friends”.  All in all it’s been good because I’ve been able to reconnect with people.  Having lived in many parts of the country this has been a nice benefit. 

But more and more people are using Facebook as their personal pulpit.  Political rants, social rants, economic rants, pro-this, anti-that, it just wears me out.  And with yet another presidential campaign season upon us I’m not sure I can take what’s coming.

It’s why I have gravitated more and more to LinkedIn since most everyone treats it as a professional networking site not a “you can't believe what happens next” sponsored site that sucks the life out of your machine.

Then there the whole privacy issue with using Facebook.  To some degree I’m comfortable with the entire Big Brother thing.  These days everyone can pretty much know anything and everything about you anyway.  But, my life is so boring that I pity the fool who spends any time watching me.

Now, the logical reaction is to say “So Greg, just unfriend those that annoy you”.  That’s easy for some and I have in fact started doing that.  The problem is with those that for the most part post events and pictures that genuinely interest me but occasionally go off on a hate binge about something.  Do you banish someone for an occasional rant?

And finally there’s the whole business side of it.  I believe that social marketing is essential.  I also believe that the power of social media can really get the attention of businesses more than phone calls and letters/emails ever can.  I’ve had this work for me when I had a beef with a company (insert airline name here) and I’ve had it work against me.  Either way I think it can be very effective.  Here’s my tip, if your company uses Facebook for business you’d better be monitoring it every day and have a consistent plan for how to properly handle negative posts.

So, no decision yet but if FB really does implement policies that I object with I'll permanently log off knowing I didn't put anything out there that I didn't want to share in the first place.

Oh, and the last post just before I hit the kill switch is going to be a ranting, raving socio-political post of a madman.  And I will enjoy knowing that I will never see any of the responses…..