Facebook has been in the news a lot lately, accused of many not-so-nice things, like mining its members’ personal information and feeding them stories they like to read, whether they are true or just another conspiracy theory.
We know from previous surveys that many readers do not participate in social media of any kind, and many of them are especially turned off by Facebook.
What about you? Do you consider Facebook friend or foe? Do you hope it continues forever or that somehow it goes away?
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The only reason I signed up for FB is because businesses and campgrounds stopped updating their websites and posted everything on FB.
Facebook has use,but don’t let it dominate your life. We have dog rescue and post available guests on FB. Like many things FB can be good and bad. Much like a ‘smart phone’ FB has many valuable uses.
FB serves an invaluable purpose, connecting people and letting them exchange information in a way nothing else does. If you’re an RV’er and you DON’T belong to at least one or two FB RV groups, you’re really missing the boat.
I finally gave up on Facebook. I signed up at the very beginning, cancelled my account. Signed up again and joined groups for my RV’s. Enjoyed the groups, but with all the politics and science denial I signed off.
No Facebook, no loss
I dont use it, so I wouldnt miss it. I guess a lot of people dont realize that you can also talk and text to people on cell phones. Actually, it is potentially a great media that has been abused so much that we all just accept it. My wife has a Facebook account, so her phone beeps all day long. She admits its mostly useless crap, but wont shut it off, because it might be something important. She is hooked.
FB reaches just a bit wider audience than your phone.
Facebook started out with, I believe, good intentions, but alas, have gone the way of the media police and cancel culture! Color me GONE!
Good choice. If you can’t abide the rules then you shouldn’t be there.
Lucky we have a choice..if the forum is not suited for you, scroll on by. I do that for most things, but it is very good for certain interests for me.
People Facebook like it. People not on Facebook don’t really care, do they 😊
I joined FB when my daughter took a trip to Great Britain. It was an easy way for her to send photos of her trip without the data size limitation.
Then the fun began. I would get hundreds of people wanting me to be friends, or advertisements for stuff i wasn’t interested in. I even changed the privacy settings which helped a little, but still received unwanted junk.
After getting more and more unsolicited posts, I finally dumped it. Do not miss is at all.
It is nothing but a major spyware avenue.
The only redeeming quality of Facebook is their Market Place. I have sold many items through the Market Place. They sell fast with few crazies contacting you offering a penny on the dollar. Come to think of it the Market Place is about the only reason I go there.
I had FB for about a minute fifteen years ago, first time it asked, at least it ask, to download my contacts I closed my account. Haven’t missed it.
It’s not Facebook….it’s the people using Facebook.
I have been able to connect with friends and family.
We share jokes, photo’s, and stories about what is going
on in our lives. I have a small list of friends and I am very
picky when it comes to adding new friends. If you want to
talk politics or talk about illegal activities….you are not on
my friends list. Also, if I Friend you, then I don’t hear from
you I figure you are just a stalker and I cut you loose.
If Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & ALL social media disappeared today, I would be a Happy Camper. Those social media programs are destroying this country and the fabric of our democracy. This country was FAR better off and more united PRIOR to social media hitting the Internet. They will be the downfall of this country which most likely will end in another civil war.
I wonder if the same thing was said about newspapers. I can think of a few other contributors to the downfall of this country other than social media.
Facebook and it’s cousins are destroying our country. Before Facebook we did not have all these radical ideas and lies spreading through the country. SHUT THEM DOWN and stop all the nonsense!
After 30 years investigating certain crimes I must disagree with you. The “radical ideas and lies” were already spread throughout the country. FB does allow them to spread faster and to a wider audience but the hate and lies have always been there. FB does show the “true colors” of some people.
Facebook has contributed to a culture of extreme narcissism. Very un healthy!
Never had it, never will. Social media is the death of this country.
You said it ! That along with news that pretends to be unbiased.
I miss Walter Cronkite.
I had it for 1 day, about 10 or 15 years ago. That 1 day was enough for me.
A yes or no answer is not fair to your readers. I joined facebook when a cousin developed pancreatic cancer and was posting to her friends and family about her treatment. (It’s 9 years later and she’s doing fine). I find it’s nice for staying in touch with friends and posting photos while traveling. If you create or are on an email or text list try getting off if you are tired of the conversation. It takes a lot of work and cooperation. But there is a lot on Facebook I don’t like, such as the political and disinformation that is rampant. That I would like to see go away.
Most here are old enough to know how to moderate FB. Unfortunately, an entire generation who grew up with FB, do not and use it for everything in their life. FB doesn’t make communicating better, just easier. Pick up a dang phone and call friends and loved ones. If you want pictures, they can be sent by phone or email. There is a huge group using FB that somehow believe the world wants to know every move they make, 24/7.
concept of it is fine, however how it’s used is entirely another story. liked myspace better, no ads, political crap, and so on. but like everything in life, it’s a choice…don’t like it, turn it off or switch channels, pretty simple.
There should have been more choices. I use Facebook, but also think that the platform has gotten evil. Example: Yesterday I had two dogs show up at my house outside of the city. I posted a pictures of them on Facebook. After my post was shared several times the owner saw the post and claimed her dogs that evening. Naturally she was very gratefull to have her dogs back. That is the good side of Facebook. The bad part of Facebook is all of the misinformation, political divison and hate spewing. So maybe Facebook could do a better job of monitoring the hate and misinformation. Maybe the people who use it for hate etc. need a different platform.
FB DOES monitor the content. If it’s not to their liking (their political beliefs – ahem) it gets flushed.
My vote was, No. Having said that I think there’s a place and purpose for it sometimes. Additionally for some it has become an official communication platform i.e., the RV Park where we currently stay uses Facebook to communicate to residents. Not very reliable or effective but that’s what they have. We’ve also found about meet ups and rallys through Facebook. I don’t use Facebook but my wife does and every once in awhile it’s been an useful tool to doing something fun or finding out information.
Although my wife posts our camping photos for her fiends we used to do fine without it. The constant e-mails and the fake friend requests, the group suggestions that have nothing to do with your interests, not to mention the censorship because it doesn’t agree with Facebook’s views. Yes we could live without it.
I used FB for a few years, primarily to keep up with friends and family and several people vicariously enjoyed following along on our RV trips. I closed down my FB account when FB started censoring folks. I have not missed it. For my friends and family who wanted to follow along on our RV travels I created a blog that I update almost every day, with pictures and videos. If they are interested they can subscribe. It works for me and a plus is I end up with nice permanent logs of our trips.
Although the original idea may have been good, Facebook has gotten to be a springboard for nutcases. It’s bad enough to see people posting what they did every waking minute, as if anyone should care, you have the genuine nut cases spreading conspiracy theories and lies on a daily basis, only to influence the many people that believe that everything you read on Facebook has to be true.
It is entertaining to a point, but also dangerous. I only look at Facebook from time to time with my wife when she shows me something interesting, but that’s very infrequent, then you have to spend time trying to figure out , was this real?
I don’t have time to waste trying to sort out fact from fiction.
After seeing how much time people I know spend on it, I have had no interest what so ever in joining
There is good & bad in everything
I only use it for good & ignore the bad.
I believe in freedom. If enough people don’t like how FB operates they should build an alternative.
Frankly until it hit the news recently I never knew Facebook was a problem. It certainly hasn’t been a problem for me. Most of my posts consist of photos of my grandkids when they are staying with me during the summer or when I am otherwise babysitting for parents and other family members. I am also active on the Grand Design group and post about my Imagine, mostly photos about modifications. There I also learned a lot from others. I am also involved in the Princess cruise group and a firearms group. So, from my perspective, Facebook may be less of the problem than the people who use it.
I had an account once. I deleted it in 2020.
When it first started, FB was pretty good in keeping in touch with family and old friends. Now, way too political on so many levels. Not to mention being used to create divide amongst us and numerous nefarious other ways.
I told myself I would try it for a year and got off it exactly 1 year to the day. From my perspective most of all if not all social media is worthless! If someone wants to talk to me just call, if you want to share photos of your children and grandchildren or vacation then send an E mail or text.
I know of several people that get insulted when they don’t get likes for their posts! I even have a relative that won’t talk to others relatives because they did not get a like for posts, now that’s really stupid!
I would have liked a third option – it can stay but with major modifications.
I sincerely hope that one day soon the world will come to associate Mark “Suckburger” with other famous figures from history such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, etc, etc.
FB RV groups have been very helpful for me. I have only a few friends that I follow. I just scroll past the junk.
If I don’t like it then I don’t go to it. Simple.
Don’t shoot the messenger.
We have an antique rv and sometimes it had special needs. There was an owner on FB that clearly had a serious problem that we owners can all understand. Several advised of the correct but somewhat expensive solution. Someone gave very bad but less costly advice. He tried the cheap way and next I heard the part had failed on the road and he gave what had been a salvageable coach to pay for the towing bill. It was probably scrapped.
We have been on FB for many years. We keep our “friends” list to a minimum, pass over the photos of food and fashion, and take most news and conspiracy theories with a grain of salt. We find it a great way to share photos and other info about our friends and relatives as well as following each others’ travels and RV experiences. Facebook can be whatever you want it to be. It has been of great value and not a problem for us.
Absolutely agree!
I enjoy keeping up with family and friends that are far away and I have enjoyed the posts shared in groups that I have joined. If I see posts that I dislike – I can hide the post, the poster, or even block the originating post generator.
Also, if anyone is dissatisfied with what appears on their newsfeed, there are ways to improve it or they can simply remove their accounts and find another social media platform that will better meet their needs.
Don’t shoot the messenger.
Chris, you need to stop making sense. You know it doesn’t work on people who are “Right”.
‘Right’ indeed.
I don’t “follow” anyone on Facebook. I know where I’m going, thank you. That being said, there are a lot of RVers who make videos of their travels and have very useful information which I have found to be valuable and informative. There’s a Fleetwood Pace Arrow group I look at, and there are a bunch of sites concerning building ship models, which is my hobby. Unfortunately, there are many people who use Facebook to spread fear, misinformation, and even incite violence. And Facebook doesn’t seem to care. All they want is for you to spend more time on Facebook. Let’s face it, Facebook knows everything about you based on where you’ve been on FB. So much for privacy. “Free speech”, though, is a very slippery slope. What should be banned, and what shouldn’t? Obviously, there have to be moderators, but I don’t think FB is up to the task. Sadly, when something gets abused enough, the Government needs to step in and do it for them. But you know where that goes…………………………….
Just a friendly FYI if you have friends on FB then you are following them. You can unfollow them but then you will not see any thing they post but you still remain their friend.
I don’t care either way about people sharing with friends and family.
What I detest about Facebook is the way they implemented groups. It’s very hard to use and there’s lots of good forum software that could have been used. Even Yahoo groups was easier to use than what Facebook implemented. (They hide most responses to a post and it’s cumbersome to show more or backtrack.)
Face Book is like a bad traffic accident, everybody slows down to look, then moves on. I admit, I was curious at the beginning; had a look and determined very quickly it would add absolutely no value to my life!
The issue I have is not with Facebook but the government sheltering them from antitrust litigation and for violating free speech. They also delete post that they don’t like claiming they’re “false” or “hate speech” when neither was the case. I’ve had stuff removed that I had cited the sources that collaborated the facts.
The word is corroborated. These days, almost any crazy idea or untruth you want to find support for will be out there. That doesn’t mean it’s true. FB has a right to conduct business the way they want – the 1st doesn’t apply to private business. They are not a right-wing hate platform, a Covid misinformation center, nor do they support the “Big Lie.”
You can’t on the one hand say “The government can’t tell me what to do”, but then say “I want the government to tell Facebook what to do.”
FB clearly hates a conservative-point-of-view and they label “misinformation” anything that does not sync up with their leftie point of view. this is why conservatives are routinely squelched and true terrorists such as the taliban and those who support them are not.
They have a right to a point of view. What is routinely squelched is what they deem “misleading or incorrect information”, based on a preponderance of evidence and real science. Science is not “leftie”. Then again, I realize most of the readers of this RV paper are “rightie” Trump supporters.
I don’t think much of Fox news, so I don’t go there. You probably shouldn’t be on Facebook.
WOW, Rich…. I find it odd how you think the ‘Taliban’ are active on FB, but you rail about how the ‘American Taliban’ are shut out of it when they have the exact same goals. If you want to live in a country that’s based on religious law, maybe move to one that is. I’ve spent my share of time serving in those countries and will do whatever needs to be done to prevent America from becoming like one of ‘those’ countries.
Chris you are exactly correct. I totally agree.
I only use it for my tutoring business.
Dang it, I hate that people are being forced to log into Facebook and use it and to top it all off, they are not allowed to cancel their enrollment. Terrible situation!!!!
lol
FB is a cesspool…we don’t use it.
I like many things about FB, but I have no issues with doing away with it being a publicly traded company (same with Twitter, Alphabet, etc…) whose goal is money over people. They should also only allow verifiable, (i.e. corporate, .edu or .gov addresses – no fake or ‘sock puppet accounts) and they need to moderate their content. I like being able to stay in touch with groups I’m in and friends I don’t get to see, but I am done with the lies, hate and vitriol that they allow to be spread.
Jeff – I disagree with your request that FB moderate their content. FB is preventing “free speech” and anyone who disagrees with the main stream media or the current progressive agenda gets their posts scrutinized and sanitized by “Fact Checkers” (who are anything but). It’s a slippery slope, but when people use FB to share ideas -we shouldn’t be silencing people just because you disagree with their political point of view.
If you want unadulterated unhinged “free speech” try Mike Lindell’s Frankspeech.com. I guess it’s still up.. I don’t know, but it’s gotta be a haven for right-wingers. If you’re lucky maybe Mike will stop by with the proof the election was stolen.
It’s a Private company, get over it or go back to sleep
Nick your comment gave evidence of your political preference.
Who is going to pay for all this moderation you want?
Facebook has a serious amount of bad issues, but Facebook makes it possible to stay connected to family. That makes the disgusting platform worth using.
My husband and I don’t like Facebook except to keep up with the animal rescue organizations. As to family and friends, we know things about them now that we wish we didn’t and see them in a very different light. It’s a shame. We have befriended almost all of them.
“We have befriended almost all of them.”
Why would you do that if you don’t want to know about them?
I think Pat meant “unfriended.” 😉 Have a great day. 🙂 –Diane
Should have another choice – I don’t care one way or the other. I use it to keep up on those I graduated from high school with 55 years ago but I don’t otherwise use it much.
Facebook is like many other things – if I don’t like them I don’t use them. Life is too short to get upset about what someone else is doing that doesn’t affect me.
I have a button in my machine that enables me to bypass matters I don’t consider worthy of my time, both left-sided and right-sided viewpoints don’t have enough time left to be bothered by vile spewing, disagreeable people. I use the site for my purposes.
Exactly! I also unfollow people who spread the hate. Love keeping up with family & old friends
I just send out an e-mail to everyone I want to update . that way I can control who gets what ( no dirty jokes to my cousins ) and don’t have to be bothered by all the ads and junk .
As Facebook is using your data to make money you are working for them for free. If Facebook payed me to use it maybe I would.
I use Facebook to keep up with friends and family only. I pay zero attention to any other content.
The more I see the results of these polls the less I think that RV people are my people. Facebook is great, why on earth would anybody want it to go away? If you don’t enjoy it don’t use it.
Shocking, isn’t it?
Thank you! 🙂
Facebook, its sister company Instagram, and just about every social media company out there are the bane of today’s society. They have far and away gone beyond their original purpose of “keeping family and friends” connected.
Today social media plays a huge role in our politics and elections, lifestyle choices, decisions, and peer pressure on youth and control many of today’s messages without regard to repercussion or give a darn on the effects of society.
The Mark Z’s of the world just keeps getting richer and richer and richer using your information Bob Palin without regard to you or your “Friends” list privacy.
Seems to me FB is a medium, not the message. It’s the people on there who have abused it, and then blame FB when they get called out for it. Some go as far as wanting the government to control it, while at the same time hating the government. People have changed in the last 5 years.
Never had a Facebook account and never will, Wife got rid her account after all the political stuff got fierce and somebody in China kept trying to hack her account threatening to post nude pictures of her all over the internet. I told the hacker to post them if he had them cause she and I both wanted to see them (hacker disappeared). Facebook is evil and your kids are sucking up everything on it.
When Facebook kicked me off for a month due to my support for the then President of the USA, I knew I was done with Facebook as far as using it for any serious communications with family and friends. They blocked my ability to post anything, and even blocked my ability to send private messages to friends and family members. That made Facebook utterly useless to me. One thing they didn’t block was my ability to delete, so I spent that time removing over a decade worth of personal content, and now only post political stuff and anti-Facebook memes, and that only rarely. I’ve tried getting kicked off again, to no avail. Apparently they are only interested in blocking support of one particular, now former, US president. One humorous side effect of deleting all of my content: They no longer know what to try to sell me. The resulting ads for oatmeal, baby formula, and hair coloring are pretty humorous, given the context.
I now use MeWe.
I decided to never use FB for friends family etc. Only use it for the groups that I associate with on subjects/hobbies pertinent to me. However that is also getting on my nerves. What is MeWe? I support our former Pres, wondering if perhaps MeWe is a more conservative or at least non woke cancel etc platform?
MeWe is an alternative. It’s pretty small compared to FB, of course, and it’s been difficult, to next to impossible, to get friends and family to make the switch, but it is, at least for now, quite “wide open” compared to FB. There are groups that so far meet my expectations…lots of RV and camping groups, for instance. I collect and restore old kerosene lamps and old tube radios, and there are groups for those. Hunting and firearms are well represented, without the fear and restrictions of FB. Lots of politics from all sides, so plenty to see and read, and I’ve not detected any interference from MeWe itself. The only negative I can see to the situation is that for some it may be a bit ribald, as there is very little to no censorship from MeWe itself…that’s left up to individual group moderators, if they choose…and some don’t, so one never knows what they might see or read. I don’t mind it..I figure as an adult I can choose, rather than have someone choose for me..but even I’m surprised from time to time.
Facebook has definitely been a personal tool to control conservative thinking or comments. And it is in the control of ONE PERSON. I will add, from personal experience, that the majority of its advertisers are from China and the goods they are advertising are so poor in quality and not anywhere near what is photographed that I don’t any longer buy any product that is advertised on Facebook. My experience with this junk started in the first wave of COVID — a fact I find fascinating. Shall I say I strongly suspect a hand in hand arrangement. I do.
I’m on FB every day, and I see “conservative” posts all the time. What they are trying to control is misinformation about Covid and calls for violence regarding the “stolen election.” FB doesn’t want to be taken over by radical and violent extremists and lose most of their audience. They’re trying to maintain some semblance of that most elusive commodity, the truth. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
I enjoy Facebook’s availability as a repository for photographs. I can see what my actual, real-life friends from the past and now do. Similarly, I can show them what I do. It has shortened the miles between me and many who were once important parts of my present and now are important parts of my past and how and who I became.
Why does everyone feel, act like they can’t survive without Facebook? What ever happened to writing a letter? Making a phone call? Facebook and Instagram are way too nosey and intrusive, they want to, and will find out more about you than you realize. Protect yourself from social media.
I’m guessing you don’t text either.
Texting on tiny keyboards is an ordeal (at least for me). Add “Spell Check” and even simple messages can “go south” quickly (although some are funny). Like texts, there is usually NO CHARGE to make an actual phone call. Instead of playing “ping pong texting” a short phone call can get both parties ALL the information they are likely to need, often in only 30 seconds. Texting often requires MULTIPLE texts (and all those texts STILL may not get the job done). I actually witnessed one case where a text took FIVE DAYS to be delivered!
Texting is free, and doesn’t suffer the dropouts of poor signal, as in “could you repeat that?”. It’s especially handy in noisy environments like casinos where you just want to tell someone where you are. And I’ve never seen a text take 5 days, unless it was coming from a no signal area. But if you prefer voice, that’s what you’ll do. It’s just that so many people do not anymore. And then there’s always the fun of voice mail tag. Verizon’s voice mail is so annoying where the nice lady takes about 30 seconds of explanation of the call before I can actually get to the VM. A text is right there, right now.
I think you should follow up on this with the demographics. I’m sure it comes down to young versus the old.
Statistically, maybe, or maybe it’s just RVers.
The same things take place on rv forums as well. why would I want to be part of a social network that is all conservative or all liberal? How boring. I prefer open discussion from all sides. Not only is it interesting but also a learning experience. Sure there are things on FB I don’t care for so I just scroll on by. I’ve met people from all over the world, some rvers as well. FB marketplace, as well as groups, are great places to find products, services, places, and people.
I can count on one finger the number of times I’ve had an ‘open discussion’ with anyone of an opposing view. It’s always angry insults and name-calling.
Anytime there is someone put in charge of another’s comments it becomes pretty evil. No one should decide what one can say- ever. That was one of the reasons our founding fathers came to America.
Well, yelling fire in a crowded theater is still frowned upon. You can’t go into a restaurant and start swearing real loud, or on an airplane. Private businesses are allowed to maintain civility and decorum, and I seriously doubt the founding fathers would disagree.
Facebook is the enemy. Yes it should go away.
I use Facebook strictly for communicating with friends, sharing photos, updates on life’s happenings, etc. Political stuff is not something I discuss with most people on or off Facebook – politics is a private thing for me. When I see posts, personal or shared from other sites, that make me uncomfortable, I delete them and block the site. Also, those dang advertisements – I also block them and use the tool to stop them from coming back on my page.
Walking into Facebook with eyes wide-open, for me, has been a healthy choice, which allows me to enjoy it. I have fun sharing silly humor, good feeling posts and communicating with my friends. It is not the main tool, but Facebook has become a lot of fun for me, once I learned how to block (literally) out the negative and focus on the positive.
I use FB to keep in touch with family, friends. I scroll past the political rantings, the Tow Vehicle and Rv accident postings where the numerous experts are rapid. I like the Rv and travel related postings even keep some of the links for future road trips. If in the end Fb went away; so what.