I’ve been on Facebook for years and I must say, it’s definitely a mixed bag when it comes to enjoyment. Here are a few of the types of posts that get my proverbial goat:
How to write a book in a weekend and turn it into an Amazon bestseller – oh come on! Give me a break, Facebook Sponsored Ad. Why not just reach through my computer and slap me in the face.
Invitations to play Candy Crush – leave me alone, please. I am not a fan of that deep, nightmare voice that says, “Yummy” all the time.
Anything to do with anyone’s sexual desires – especially if it involves firefighters. People, people – think! Social media is not the same as that chunky diary you used to have with the little lock and key that you hid under your mattress.
Cheesecake photos of any guy without his shirt off – unless of course you know this guy personally and let’s face it, most of those guys we wouldn’t even ask to take their shirts off let alone put their pic up on Facebook.
You’re on top of the moon happy one day and angrier, sadder, or madder than you’ve ever been in your life the next – and all over the same person or event. Unless of course you are newly fallen in love, planning a wedding or any other major event, pregnant, a new mom or dad, nursing, experiencing a major life transition, the partner of a recently retired person, on holidays, starting a new job, in school of any kind, decreasing your food intake for some reason, just starting an exercise regime, having to clean your room, house, car, motorhome, or clearly diagnosed with a mental illness of some sort.
I’ll take in stride all the pictures of your cat (or dog) doing cute (or at least you thought so at the time!) things, the monthly shots of your extending pregnant stomach, pictures of what you ate for lunch, endless inspirational quotes, links to so-so YouTube videos and a whole lot more of the minutia of everyday life.
And you know why? Because here are the things I love about Facebook:
Photos of you and your family or friends doing interesting things. (Oh, heck – even not so interesting things.) Happy Birthday, Matt! (Don’t get me wrong, I loved this one!)
Photos of beautiful places and things – I know, I know . . . beauty is in the eye of the beholder but still . . .
Updates that tell me something neat about you, your family, friends or events.
Announcements about cool things happening in your community.
Links to articles, blogs and videos that you found valuable for whatever reason.
Funny cartoons.
Great recipes. I found one the other day for watermelon and feta cheese salad. Delicious.
I’m off now to post a photo of our old cat, Leonardo. He’s gone now but was cute in the day. That counts, right? Please let me know how you define the good, the bad and the ugly of Facebook.
disappearinginplainsight 
I use Facebook to check my sister abroad. Other than that, I try to visit as seldom as possible. 🙂
That is certainly one way to deal with the bad and the ugly – stay away from it – and then simply zero in on the good. I find it hard to sift through everything. But maybe I just have a morbid curiosity about what some people are going to say next. Thanks for taking the time to comment, Belsbror. Always appreciated.
We exchange ideas. 🙂
I learned a lot from reading other blogs especially about writing. I may be silent in the background but I do follow tips that could help me. That’s why most of my time is in WordPress.
I have to agree that WordPress is the best place of all my social media sites when it comes to picking up on valuable information, ideas, and tips. I love you silent in the background types 🙂
We do our best not to be detected. 😀
Hear hear, enough with the Candy Crush already. I’ll never have time for that. 🙂
Glad I’m not alone in my dislike of invitations to play games like Candy Crush on Facebook. One time I tried to see if I could disallow invitations for this game but clicking anywhere just dropped me into this maze that threatened to suck me into the game right there and then. EeeGads – help.
Sometimes I’m a little slow on the uptake, so it took me a while, but I finally learned that it is possible to organize friends into lists. So, I have a Family list and friends organized by other criteria. Sometimes I only check certain lists. It depends on my mood and what I feel like reading. It has cut down on a lot of the junk I read.
The list thing is something I have been trying to use on Twitter. I hadn’t thought of using it on Facebook, too. Good idea. Then again, that morbid curiosity starts to creep in and I fear I will miss something super ugly. Crazy, right?
Write a book over the weekend? I can’t imagine what kind of book that would be. I don’t play games, so why do I keep getting requests? Like you, I enjoy the family photos, the beautiful pictures, the good jokes, and the occasional viral video–if it’s worth seeing and it’s not too long.
Leonardo was definitely cute in his day.
Ya, Leonardo was a nice looking cat. Lazy as all get out and go. He was the type of cat who would let a mouse walk right past him without bothering to get up and do anything. Oh well. I think it was the whole, write a book in a weekend and make it an Amazon bestseller, that motivated me to do this post. I was outraged. But, hey, it’s not much different than any scam out there. Buyer beware, right?
My Facebook is dull by comparison. 😦 What am I doing wrong?
This comment really gave me a chuckle 🙂 No steamy dream posts mentioning firemen, no shirtless men in cheesecake poses, no drama? I hear you. As I’ve read these comments, I started to think that maybe I’m sort of attracted to the ugly and the bad.
I love the videos my friends post of their kids. Since I don’t have grandchildren yet I can live vicariously through them. But I do need to group my news feed better. Great post!
Thanks, P.C. Facebook is still, for me, what I signed up for in the first place. The photos of family and friends – especially grandkids! The recipes, funny cartoons, and the occasional video have turned out to be a bonus. Grouping the news feed might be an idea worth considering.
Nice reading about you
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thank you so much dear 🙂
I was hooked with the Nietzsche quote.
Oh thank you dear 🙂
I’m with you on ALL the good, bad, ugly. Sounds like we are thinking alike. As for the Candy Crush and other game invitations, I kept rejecting them and then finally asked a friend to cease and desist on such invitations only to find out that she hadn’t sent me them. I guess it acts like I’ve found LinkedIn sometimes does – takes our friend list or email list and just sends out invitations as if they were from us. What gall! I searched in my FB settings and was able to find a way to block any game invitations and that has solved that problem. Now to see what I can do about LinkedIn. Like you, I love keeping up with family and friends on FB, especially through pictures. It is also another way to promote our books as I use my business page for my writer husband, Ian, who doesn’t blog or write on FB. I post on that page (Ian Moore-Morrans, Author) and have it linked to our blog so any new post on there will automatically link in with his author ‘s page on FB. Thanks for this thoughtful post, Fran.
Gayle Moore-Morrans
Thanks, Gayle. I’m off to search all my FB settings to see if I can block Candy Crush invites, too. I do love FB for the connection with family and friends and grandkid pics. Glad you could drop by.
It’s really amazing, isn’t it? Facebook can connect us beautifully across time and distance…or it can be a total time-suck filled with frivolity and negativity. It’s all about what you take from it.
Exactly! And I find I need to constantly reassess my Facebook time and use. I started on Facebook having only close family as friends. Then that changed. Now, I am far more open to accepting friend requests from around the globe. So – reassessment time, for sure. And on it goes.