Four days until I delete my (15 year) facebook account. I put up notice to my friends/family that on 1/20, that I'm deleting facebook. This gave me time to get contact info from friends and family.

I mostly only see ads (that somehow seem to know what my personal conversations - very disturbing)

I am liking BlueSky a lot. You can't post as much text (one reason I never much liked twitter, which I deleted after Elon bought it). That is where DU is good.

But I am really enjoying the kinds of things I am seeing on BlueSky.

I don't watch any news any more. I'm still stressed as hell over what is going on. I do need to keep myself an informed citizen, and between DU and BlueSky, I do feel informed (more than my ex MAGA friends that I'm leaving in the dust)

If it was just buying things and getting them shipped, I think I could manage. Costco, and other stores. But what I think I will miss the most is all the stuff that I now get through Prime (video)

My mom loves her Acorn TV, and some other British channels we subscribe to. And we both watch some things that are free with prime. Since we don't go out all that much any more, entertainment in the home is our biggest expense. We do have Hulu, Disney+ (some kind of bundle), I pay for HBO and Starz (tomorrow Outlander season finale!!!), I also have DirecTV.

At some point I'd like to get rid of that. I find myself watching fewer things on it, but mom still wants her World News with David Muir, and she is still watching cable news. I just can't stomach it.

I just wish there was a company that was as convenient as Amazon out there, I'd switch in a minute. It may be a slow separation, but eventually, I just can't stomach making Bezos even more rich.

It is a 30 minute mountain drive to town, and so ordering things from Amazon has been so convenient for us. I only go to town once a month if I can help it.

I've never used FB and I "keep up with friends and family" just fine. I generally don't need to know what they do day to day or what they had for dinner.

half my family was overseas so when we went overseas I was always away from half the family for four years - no internet back then and transatlantic calls were too expensive.....I used to draw my hand on the back of a snail mail envelope so my grandmas could "see" me growing - during the pandemic I thought it was bit much, people whining about not being able to see people when they could literally see them on their phone.....and the angst over fascist FB, as if there is simply is no other way to communicate

Mastodon has a couple of features that can kind of simulate a friends list. You can set your profile so that followers have to be approved. That way, you only have the followers you want. Then, on each post, you can set it to public, followers only, or mentioned people only. I just tested this. If I make a public post, I can see it from an Incognito window or without being logged in. If I set a post to followers only, I can no longer see it in that mode.

Friendica has even more features for building circles of friends. It doesn't have as many users as Mastodon, but that could change with the increased interest in Facebook alternatives. You can still see posts across the two federated platforms, though.

I am struggling with this very thing. My personal FB is not of any great importance to me, but my business FB is a huge game changer! I’m a small retailer in rural WV and FB and IG are of tremendous importance……I’m not sure I would still be in business at this point without them. Social media is free, it’s visual, it’s a way customers communicate with us, it’s a BIG part of our operations at this point. We have a huge following, too. Dang. It’s such a hard call.

As for a replacement, I know of none. I’m always on DU and I have joined BSky but these have nothing to do with my company.

I employ 10 people and every single one of them depends on the paycheck. Every. Single. One. And we’re a cool tribe with an even cooler vibe - -not a single Trumper in the group. So I’ll continue to utilize FB for business growth and to protect my amazing store family.

If anyone in my spot has suggestions, though, I am all ears!!

If you describe what FB features you like and wish to replicate, that helps a lot with identifying alternatives.

Lots of high school kids, e.g., keep an old-school running convo in a Google doc. They use this as a more controlled social media-type exchange. You're notified when someone posts, you can keep or delete the doc, and it supports pasting pics into the doc.

for an easy transition that would be easy and appealing v to current FB users.

Bands these days often have crappy websites and put their latest content of FB. I can't abide that.

Through Facebook, I am able to keep in touch with my many cousins, and childhood friends. Including one whose home barely survived the Pacific Palisades fire.

I have a ridiculous amount of cousins and those old friends I (honestly) wouldn't get on the phone with, but I want to know what is going on in their lives. Ditto they me. Since the vast majority of them are Democrats, it's a lifeline for me too.

I also live in a red county of FL and it's a good way to keep up with my Blue friends here.

It is a challenge. I've deleted Twitter, Threads, Instagram. I'm still on Amazon but I'm starting to shift more to Target, now that we finally have one here. I use a Kindle, but borrow a lot of ebooks from my local library.

I think we should do what we can and not feel guilty about the rest.

I might as well boycott for a week because sometimes I don't log on for a week anyway.

And not bit anything online either.

At least not today.

So before Facebook friends and family were perpetually estranged? If one can’t maintain social connections without Facebook, Facebook may be the least of their problems.

and the little rant sounds incredibly silly.

You might not think that connecting with old friends and acquaintances that you would have otherwise lost touch with is worthwhile, but you don’t get to decide that for everyone else.

Going outside in real life if possible. FaceTime real people if not possible.