A few years ago I unfriended all but three people on Facebook. I did not delete it entirely because I was a part of several quilting groups and to participate I had to maintain my Facebook account. I was able to participate in closed groups without being Facebook friends with the participants.
I slowly added quilting friends as “friends” on Facebook, and now I have 97 friends.
The recent revelations about Facebook aren’t that surprising. When I unfriended everyone, I also researched how to improve my privacy on Facebook. It was tedious, and afterward I felt it was not enough. Of course, it wasn’t.
Facebook founder Zuckerberg will say, “You agreed to this.” But it felt like a uneven exchange. I give you all my thoughts, interests and associations. You use that for your advertisers, who pay you. I’m the product. In exchange, I get my community.
Is it worth it?
I regret my agreement with you Facebook.
You own Instagram and I have a community there too.
If I leave, you still have all that data, but you won’t be able to target me. On the other hand, I will lose my easy access to my quilting community. It’s a difficult decision.
I’m interested in what you think.
Wanda
Wanda's Life Sampler 
Well Wanda you’ve certainly given me something to ponder. I hope you find an answer to your dilemma x
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Tough decision and I feel you on this. I had to lose my FB activity last fall after several hacks, but maintained my Instagram, which is still really FB.
I love my quilting community, so much inspiration and fun. It has added so much to my life, but at what cost? I, too, feel the security is poor at best and I tightened security changed a number of things, outside of FB to improve security overall from hackers and I don’t do any personal data like Birthdays, anniversaries, where I went to school and so on.
I wonder if private groups is the best way to go?
That’s my 2 cents . . .
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I agree with you that all of the news coming out about what has been going on behind the scenes with FB is disconcerting. And I’ve kicked around the idea of deleting it for a several months now. I came across this in January and that is when I really started questioning whether to stay on FB or not – http://www.salimvirani.com/facebook/. I’ve tried to get some of my contacts that are in the computer industry to give me their thoughts but so far I haven’t gleaned anything from their responses.
I know that if I delete it then I will miss out on contact with several friends and it seems that a lot of groups don’t keep their websites up to date like they do their FB pages so then I would miss out on any information there too.
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But we still have access to you here 🙂
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I have been ( pondering) the same thoughts. I too do not have that many ( true friends) but belong to quilting/ crafting closed groups. I spent time checking- changing privacy settings but know that really doesn’t make a difference.
Is it just ( the price we pay) for staying in touch, participating in groups we enjoy?
I feel like if it wasn’t Facebook it would just be another platform. Doesn’t matter. If we all left Facebook and Instagram- found a different platform to congregate, that one would be next.
The only real way to not be in this vulnerable state is to shut off our computers, cell phones, iPads, leave the internet. Cyberspace is a vital part of our existence now, but also a scary place.
For me- I’m going to stay ( for now)
I have a minimum amount of personal information on my profile. I don’t share personal things – I participate in my groups, and occasionally share jokes- things that catch me from someone else. I keep the personal content private. I think that’s all I can do for now.
I don’t think there will ever be a way to be ( totally secure) when it comes to living in our cyberspace world.
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You might find this article interesting. https://medium.com/@chrissaad/do-not-deletefacebook-because-of-cambridge-analytica-e8a2eec44730
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I’m struggling with this too. I actually find Facebook handy for touching base with the friends I know in the ‘real’ world. And I belong to a few closed groups that provide good shared help and support. So on the whole I’ll stick with it but I’ll be reluctant to ‘like’ posts that aren’t directly published by a known friend.
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I’ve been Facebook free for six years now – I don’t regret my decision to close down my account, and if I want to touch base with friends I use email. From my perspective I’ve not regretted this decision. I just don’t like the idea of having to trade some of my personal information to keep in contact with people.
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I am just careful what I put out there and I enjoy facebook to keep up with friends who live far away. I figure the moment I get involved in any social media my info is now out there, nothing is really private even though there are so called privacy settings. I did not realize Facebook owns Instagram too. I think the whole Facebook fiasco is just a reminder to use social media carefully as a tool to connect but don’t put your whole soul out there 🙂
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