In 2004, W. was re-elected President and Facebook was unleashed on an unsuspecting public. Both had a profound effect on the world and my mental health, but only one is still around.
I created my Facebook account in 2008, when Bush was leaving the stage. A young chap named Zuckerberg—Zuck for short—was on his way to making billions as Facebook succeeded in garnering eyeballs and clicks beyond his wildest dreams.
Over the last 17 years, I’ve spent some time most days looking at Facebook. At first, I added our offspring and other family as “Friends.” Then I started looking up friends and business connections from a previous life and inviting them to be “Friends.”
Unlike some, I wasn’t aggressive in expanding my Facebook network. I seem to have enough interaction with 382 friends and a few groups to keep me going.
Recently, Zuck, dressed in the geeky bling and garb we’ve come to expect, announced that he was ending what he calls “fact-checking” from his online empire. Some in the media think he’s pandering in advance to the new Billionaire administration in Washington, and I believe that’s true.
I never relied on the fact-checking social media does. Like political pronouncements and government press releases, my BS indicator keeps me from falling for “fake news” on Facebook or any of the others. I use a service called Feedly to get the news I want from sources I pick. Even 17 years ago, it was pretty clear to me that to use social media, it was best to focus on the social, not the journalism.
I have flirted, sometimes seriously, with Facebook’s competitors in social media. I was early in LinkedIn and use it today to get background for subjects of news stories. None could overcome my Facebook addiction.
The day after Zuck terminated the truth judges, I posted the following on the Book of Face:
“My older sister may have been right about never getting on the book of face. I’m trying to decide if I should leave it. I gave up on Twitter a couple years ago and dropped Threads not long after it started. What a disappointment Facebook has become. Comments welcomed.”
My plaintive whining produced over two dozen comments from friends far and near in less than 24 hours. Then, the artificial intelligence of Facebook, known as Meta AI, but let’s call it Big Brother Zuck, chimed in to sum things up for me. It wrote: “Most commenters encourage the poster to stay on Facebook for connections with family and friends, despite its drawbacks. They suggest ignoring or deleting unwanted content. One commenter humorously mentions using the platform for cat pictures and jokes while another appreciates local event updates and poetry sharing.”
I appreciate all the comments and the people who wrote them. Not just because some of them flattered me. Even I am susceptible to positive strokes.
The best part is sharing the online forum with people I know. On Facebook, I connected with my sixth-grade teacher, childhood friends, cousins I rarely see, and distant cousins who live across the Atlantic. Sometimes, people who read my ramblings here in the Northshore Journal even connect with me on Facebook.
A friend named Jason, not my nephew, wrote, “Uncle Steve don’t go!!”
An old guy named Jerry wrote, “Don’t go.!!!. It’s not perfect, BUT I would miss you and your comments/historical posts.”
Per, a distant relative who lives in Sweden and maintains an extensive family tree with both our names on it, wrote, “Please stay on Facebook because your wise words of wisdom and thoughts make us here in Sweden think and realize that our values are the same on both sides of the Atlantic. There is thus continued hope for improvements in the environment in this troubled and uncertain time.”
Our niece Alli lives in California and wrote, “I have it mainly for cat pictures and inappropriate jokes.”
I’ll stay on Facebook. I enjoy the pictures of our area and wildlife posted by local photographers and the updates from family and friends.
More than anything, I love to read all the comments when a Facebook post about one of the tempests that pop-up in our teakettle of a remote county gets people fired up. Those remind me of the Letters to the Editor we received in my publishing days which were always thought provoking, and some were downright funny.
I’m stuck with Zuck, for awhile at least.
