Social Media Usage

[Red Badger]

Just here @ ER (too much, I suppose).

Rebelled against the antisocial media about three years ago. Never looked back. I text or email family, friends, and colleagues. They can do same.

I've been perp-walked off of here a few times, but it's been a while. I guess I'm still trainable.

 

[JoeWras]

6) nextdoor I have to use in moderation... I like the sharing of cool stuff (library sale, free concert in the park, group forming to do morning walks etc.) I avoid the judgmental, nimby, name calling, threads... which seem to happen a lot in my neighborhood.

I forgot about Nextdoor.

It has good highs, and bad lows. There is a lot of complaining. But sometimes some really good stories of neighbors making nice connections.

I spend a minute or two per day on it, typically.

 

[Calico]

FaceTwitSnapAgram is not among my daily habits and I intend to keep it that way.

You should trademark that!

 

[Aerides]

speaking of SM, Verizon (yahoo's new parent) sold Tumblr today. Yahoo had bought it for 1.1B in 2013. While Tumblr is not profitable, it's a big blog hoster, and has millions of users...though many were reduced and/or perturbed by the ban on anything nekkid earlier that was imposed last year. (ultimately it was a porn ban, but pretty much anything PG or higher was no longer allowed).

Tumblr's sale price today? No doubt many of ER's members coulda bought it: $3M

Yes, with an M.

ok maybe a small m is more appropriate lol.

 

[gerntz]

Have never been on FB or Twit. I'm surviving, or at least I think so.

 

[JAGOTI]

Believe it or not, the only "social media" I follow is this place. I have never had a Facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube, myspace, or linkedin account.

I prefer to socialize in person with actual people. I only read the posts here for a few minutes once or twice a week and I comment very little. You're doing fine without me. Carry on.


LOL

 

[Scuba]

i was posting too much. So i put myself on ignore. Problem solved!

 

[Osprey]

I don’t post much on social media and am often dismayed by the lack of civility, the inability of people to disagree without being disagreeable. In spite of this I find that I learn an incredible amount and that some of my local community Facebook groups are helping to build a stronger community. A Buy Nothing Group was recently started, limited to residents of my town, that lets people offer up items or services for free and lets people post requests for items they need. I guess for me the good outweighs the bad, though I do try to limit the amount of time I spend on line.

 

[Scuba]

I didn’t join FB until after ER, but I love it. I ignore all political posts but use it to reconnect with old friends. Just today, I reconnected with a guy who used to work on my team 25+ years ago. He was in Turkey in vacation and we had a nice chat using WhatsApp. Very cool!

I used LinkedIn a lot when working, but use it less and less now. I use Instagram mainly to keep up with posts from my 83-year-old MIL who loves IG. I’ve never used Twitter and don’t intend to start.

Bottom line, if you control social media rather than allowing it to control your emotions, it’s pretty useful. The key for me is just to scroll past stuff that doesn’t interest me.

 

[Bir48die]

I am a tech fan but not a social media fan. Had FB account for less than a year and have not Twitterededed ever. I feel like I'm a better person for it.

 

[ivinsfan]

I am a tech fan but not a social media fan. Had FB account for less than a year and have not Twitterededed ever. I feel like I'm a better person for it.

Do not get this comment,a better person..? What were you trying to say. I'm the same person whether I read my families content on FB or not.

 

[Bir48die]

Do not get this comment,a better person..? What were you trying to say. I'm the same person whether I read my families content on FB or not.

I’m sorry feelings were hurt. Not a FB fan and that came out. End of story

 

[Spock]

I read a similar article a while back and found this interesting. It breaks FB users into 4 general classes.

https://qz.com/1026914/the-four-typ...ders-window-shoppers-town-criers-and-selfies/


Relationship Builders:
Window Shoppers/People watchers:
Town Criers: The members of this faction are often sounding alarms on big issues, and passing along the latest memes,
Selfies: primarily to call attention to themselves.. Energized and validated by likes and comments..

I did a 3-4month FB hiatus late last year and found I couldn't do without it.
1. For some people this is the ONLY way to interact with them. They no longer email. If I want to keep up with them its FB or nothing. FB was the ONLY channel for getting info on a high school reunion earlier this year.
2. Targeted special interest groups: Cast Iron, Victory Vision motorcycles (FB is about the only way to find parts), other hobbies. There might be forums/BBs, but a lot smaller populations.
2a) Targeted buy/sell/trade audiences in the above special interest groups


Personally, I think FB is one of the big drivers of the polarization of society. FB could fix this if it modeled real world social interaction vs. blatantly just trying to increase volume. We all have topics that we will discuss with Friend X, but its a taboo subject with Friend Y. FB defaults to everything being "public"... and a lot of people have no idea how to control who sees what.
In real life, people routinely filter what they say to which audience. FB defaults to no filters and what limited filters FB has are either insufficient or unknown by most users.

I'll stay off the new censorship muscles that FB et. al. is now starting to flex more blatantly.
FB, IMO, is becoming both more necessary (only effective com channel available) and more evil at the same time.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I read a similar article a while back and found this interesting. It breaks FB users into 4 general classes.

https://qz.com/1026914/the-four-typ...ders-window-shoppers-town-criers-and-selfies/


Relationship Builders:
Window Shoppers/People watchers:
Town Criers: The members of this faction are often sounding alarms on big issues, and passing along the latest memes,
Selfies: primarily to call attention to themselves.. Energized and validated by likes and comments..

Interesting article, but it included only 47 survey participants and...

The authors acknowledge that we aren’t all easily pigeonholed, but say that we’re likely to find we’re mostly like one type. That is, at least among American young adults; the study only involved Americans aged 18 to 32...

So it sounds as though they have spent an entirety of a single afternoon putting together this "study"

Edit: And now Quartz is a subscription site? Not that I read much of their stuff, but I thought their content was free? Our "subscription society" is a whole 'nother topic of discussion.

 

[Spock]

Interesting article, but it included only 47 survey participants and...



So it sounds as though they have spent an entirety of a single afternoon putting together this "study"

True. But at the same time I could take the 4 types proposed and go through my friend list and find a perfect spot for all of them.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

True. But at the same time I could take the 4 types proposed and go through my friend list and find a perfect spot for all of them.

Very true. I am not sure where I would assign myself...probably the "window shopper" category. I don't really post too much and I have 3 whopping pictures on there (two of which are our dogs!).

 

[Floridatennisplayer]

Great topic.

In March I dropped off of FB after being a prolific poster for years. I was obsessed. I unintentionally got hooked. By 8am I was already ticked off at the world. Constantly checking responses to my posts. Having to “like” all of my 738 friends pics, posts, and comments. It became a full time job and one that only created angst and frustration it seemed. Sure there were the sprinkling in of pics of the grandkids, vacations etc......but 75% were reading comments on political posts or news headlines.....

I sat back on the day before my birthday in March and thought...”what the hell am I doing to myself!” I’m supposed to be retired, relaxed, and enjoying life vs. this! So I said goodby to everyone explained life is too short, going to simplify my life and get off the FB carousel.

It was freeing. Google leaving FB....interesting information. Best thing I’ve done in a long time. Now, I just hang out on one of my tennis forums, a guitar forum, and here. Lots of free time now. I got my life back.

 

[Bir48die]

FB will never filter like ER on political issues. Sure I like to keep up on family and friends. However I find that people cannot help themselves and start the “pack” posts where X numbers agree and Y people have to read the posts to keep up in friends and family. I guess I could filter or whatever you can do but not worth the time and effort.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Great topic.

In March I dropped off of FB after being a prolific poster for years. I was obsessed. I unintentionally got hooked. By 8am I was already ticked off at the world. Constantly checking responses to my posts. Having to “like” all of my 738 friends pics, posts, and comments. It became a full time job and one that only created angst and frustration it seemed. Sure there were the sprinkling in of pics of the grandkids, vacations etc......but 75% were reading comments on political posts or news headlines.....

I sat back on the day before my birthday in March and thought...”what the hell am I doing to myself!” I’m supposed to be retired, relaxed, and enjoying life vs. this! So I said goodby to everyone explained life is too short, going to simplify my life and get off the FB carousel.

It was freeing. Google leaving FB....interesting information. Best thing I’ve done in a long time. Now, I just hang out on one of my tennis forums, a guitar forum, and here. Lots of free time now. I got my life back.

Although I wasn't "as bad" as you admit to being, I did recognize a few years ago that I was on it way, WAY too much and like you, it was hard to not get "outraged" by the "town criers." I cut myself off completely for a couple of years but eventually jumped back in 6 months ago or so. Most of the stuff I see on there is still a dumpster fire so I just don't participate that much anymore. I do enjoy catching up with folks on occasion though and since I have friends scattered to the four winds, it is easier to keep up with them via FB.

I would say that my #1 social media time suck is here on ER.org but thankfully, it's not a lot of time and it's when my DW is busy w*rking or doing something else. And thanks to the great mod team, there is very little outrage here...so that's great for my blood pressure!

 

[Floridatennisplayer]

Although I wasn't "as bad" as you admit to being, I did recognize a few years ago that I was on it way, WAY too much and like you, it was hard to not get "outraged" by the "town criers." I cut myself off completely for a couple of years but eventually jumped back in 6 months ago or so. Most of the stuff I see on there is still a dumpster fire so I just don't participate that much anymore. I do enjoy catching up with folks on occasion though and since I have friends scattered to the four winds, it is easier to keep up with them via FB.

I would say that my #1 social media time suck is here on ER.org but thankfully, it's not a lot of time and it's when my DW is busy w*rking or doing something else. And thanks to the great mod team, there is very little outrage here...so that's great for my blood pressure!

Hey what about when to take SS threads!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those always crack me up.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Hey what about when to take SS threads!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those always crack me up.

Well, I have quite a few more years before then and likely the rules will be much different than they are today...so I get to avoid those discussions like the plague!

 

[dirtbiker]

I spend way more time on forums (still social media) than I do Facebook. I don't have twitter or instagram. It's been probably two years since I've made a post on Facebook, although my wife tags me in things she posts more frequently. If it weren't for having more distant family and army buddies all over the country that I don't communicate with other than on social media, I would have gotten rid of FB long ago.

My wife and I used to post pictures from our vacations on the go, but then decided that telling the world we were away from home for an extended period of time didn't seem like the wisest thing to do. So we quit doing that, and then by the time we get home, we just don't have the desire to go back and post the pictures. It was more fun to snap a quick pic or two and post it in the moment. Once we're home, we're busy back at work and life in general. And since then I haven't posted a thing. lol

 

[Koolau]

I've never had any interest in "traditional" social media.

This IS my social media. YMMV

 

[mountainsoft]

I look at twitter as little as possible, and don't tweet; I have two facebook friends, my DD and DSIL. But message boards? all the time! I'm an old usenet convert.

I don't have a Twitter or Instagram account, and only visit Facebook about once a month or two. I log on, see people complaining about everything, sharing nonsense, and log off promising not to go back for another month.

These days the only forums I really have time to read are this one and Bogleheads. Bogleheads is harder to use though, so I don't spend much time there. I have accounts on a few woodworking, home improvement, computing, and Volkswagen forums, but just don't have the time to log-in to each site and see what's new. For all I know my accounts have probably been deleted due to inactivity.

I still prefer the way Usenet worked. You could subscribe to a wide variety of subjects and read/respond to all of them in one place. It was so much easier than having to visit each site individually, with separate accounts to login to. Who has time for that. I only gave up Usenet when everyone else was already gone.

RSS news feeds sort of work that way, but it's read-only with no interaction. Still it works nice for following news, science, technology, etc. Sadly RSS seems to be going the way of Usenet. It's still out there, but getting harder to find.

My first "social media" experiences were old BBS systems run on a computer in someone's basement. It was amazing to use the old screech dial-up to type with other computer users.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I think I started using discussion boards on bbs systems and CompuServe, but only for hobby related topics. As far as social media, besides ER.org, I’ve never created an account. I never thought anyone would be interested in seeing me on FB, and after seeing some of the young people at the office suddenly stop talking to each other and discovering it stemmed from an argument on FB, I decided it wasn’t for me. Then came word from relatives about other relatives who posted political stuff every day, and I was convinced I don’t have time for that.

What’s frustrating is coming across businesses whose only web presence is FB and it demands that I log in to see their content. I just keep moving.