Friday, November 5, 2010

The Beginning of the End

It's finally here. The beginning of the end of my time on Facebook. Well, actually the beginning of the end passed by unnoticed (by most of you) some time ago, when I mentioned on Facebook that I was thinking about downsizing my list of friends. I was feeling just a little overwhelmed at the time, but I didn't actually do it then because I didn't want to hurt any feelings.

A few weeks ago, I read a news article that claimed that any of your Facebook friends could add you, without your knowledge or consent, to any group they wanted to, unless you changed your privacy settings so that they couldn't. I couldn't believe it, but it turns out it was true, so I changed my settings and started to think.

How well did I actually know some of my "friends", or the people looking over their shoulders? Um. So I bit the bullet and without announcing anything, deleted over half of my friends. I felt much better.

Until today.

Today I got an email (from a source that shall remain anonymous) about that little feature on Facebook that tracks and maps when and where you log in. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I changed my settings again, and finally made the decision.

I am done with Facebook.

It may take me a few days to collect and catalogue all the email addresses of people I'd actually like to stay in touch with, but once I'm done with that, I. Am. SO. Done with Facebook.

This blog is going to see a lot more action. It's happy about that. I am too.

And shoot, if you really care about what's happening in our lives, you can read all about it on this blog. It'll be just like Facebook, with status updates and a comment section, but way less complicated.

Yep, read my blog; stay updated! (I promise not to sign you up for the Underwater Basket-Weavers Association of America Group without your permission, and I won't cyber-stalk you, either. You're welcome.)

5 comments:

Admin said...

I'll be reading your blog! :)

C.G. Koens said...

We'll be here - waiting to hear what's going in in your life. :-)

Amy said...

how do you make it so friends can't add you to a group? I've had that done to me twice lately, so annoying - I have most of my privacy settings customized, but can't seem to find that one.

and yay for more blogging :)

Jamie said...

After re-reading the article, it appears that you can still be added to groups without your consent, which means you will still have to go to the group and "opt out". However, if you follow these steps, it will not appear on your wall that you were added to the group.

Click on Account (top right), select Application Settings, click on the Groups app, choose Edit Settings, then click the "Additional Permissions" tab and uncheck the box that says "publish content to my wall."

Or just get off Facebook like I'm doing. :)

Jamie said...

I've added a link to the news article, so you can read it for yourself if you're interested.