Don’t leave Facebook — organize it!

keep calm and stay on FacebookI know, I know…..things are bad. Really bad.

Racial tension, worldwide pandemic, financial instability, political division…so many sources of stress on top of the normal stress of our daily lives!

All of the news is upsetting — and some of it is inaccurate or biased. Emotions are running high and there is no end in sight, not really.

And Facebook is… um… shall we say flawed and controversial? It’s really no wonder people are talking again about leaving it!

Keep calm and stay on Facebook! Or, at least check your settings and try to fix your News Feed before you give up. Click To Tweet

Don’t leave Facebook — organize it!

Before you leave, though, please skim this post and see if any of the topics I’ve previously written about might help you decide to stay.

Maybe decluttering and organizing your News Feed will remind you why you liked Facebook in the first place. Think of all the informative, entertaining, heart-warming, thought-provoking posts you will miss. Think of the people you know and love who are on Facebook, but who aren’t on other social media platforms. If nothing else, won’t you miss meeeee? I’ll miss youuuu!

(NOTE: I am only addressing Facebook because I spend more time there than on other social media platforms and know more about it. And, for the record….I could be wrong, but I don’t think Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is evil so much as he’s in wa-a-ayyy over his head.)

This is not the first time I’ve written about Facebook.

Here are my goals for writing about it again:

  1. To remind you of adjustable settings you may not have realized were available to you, or had forgotten about.
  2. To empower you to take charge of your News Feed and create a more rewarding experience for yourself.
  3. To help you understand Facebook better so you can make peace with its imperfections and actually enjoy it.

 

Links to Org4life posts (with sub-topics)

Do you need to change your settings?

  • Tech Settings
  • Life Settings
  • No guilt or shame required!
  • How to change your settings

Organize Your Facebook News Feed for Serenity Now!

  • The Social Media Serenity Prayer
  • This bogus chain letter — “Facebook only shows you 26 of your friends – press here – it works!”
  • Benefits of Facebook (list of 10 off the top of my head)
  • My favorite Steven Wright joke.
  • How to see what you really want in your Facebook News Feed.
  • How to see posts from more of your Friends.
  • How to see more posts from your favorite Pages
  • What to do about the things you DON’T want to see in your News Feed
    • Annoying Friends
    • Ads

How to Declutter Your Facebook News Feed (a.k.a. how to stay informed without going crazy)

  • What do you find stressful?
    • Constant interruptions?
    • Wasted time and energy?
    • Bad news and biased news sources?
    • Annoying Facebook friends?
  • The “Whom should I unfriend on Facebook over political differences?” Decision Matrix
  • FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

 

Decluttering Your Facebook Friend List

  • The Facebook Friends Clutter Flow Chart

How to Save the Awesome Things You Find on Facebook Without Cluttering Your Friends’ News Feeds

  • (Just what the title implies)

Caveat & Offer

Caveat: Settings change all the time on Facebook, as it grows and changes. I have not taken the time to re-read all of these previous posts to verify every little detail — it would be a full-time job to keep them 100% up to date — but the principles remain the same.

Offer: If you have read this far….and if you have ALSO read the posts to which I have linked (or at least the one that you think pertains to your question)….and if you have ALSO tried perusing and adjusting your settings….and if you STILL have a question, you are WELCOME to schedule a free 20-minute phone call with me and I’ll try to help you!

What are YOUR pet Facebook peeves? Have you tried to find a way to fix them? Were you successful?

Please share with us in the comments below!

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Copyright 2020 by Hazel Thornton, Organized for Life.
I welcome social media links directly to this page!
Please contact me for other types of reprint permission.

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6 Comments

  1. Seana Turner on June 1, 2020 at 7:34 am

    I guess my biggest frustration with Facebook is seeing very negative, biased posts by people I like. I think we tend to assume that others share our views, but this may not be the case. Sometimes I have to temporarily block posts from some friends because Facebook has become their soapbox and I just don’t want to read that. For me, this is unfortunate. I don’t expect to agree with everyone all the time, nor is it necessary. We should be able to have differing points of view and still talk, share and relate! But social media is just a platform for respectful discourse.

    One of the best tips I ever got for FB (probably from YOU!) was to “turn off notifications” on a post that I wanted to comment on, but didn’t feel the need to be notified about every other comment that was posted. That has been a great feature for me:)

    • Hazel Thornton on June 1, 2020 at 9:09 am

      Hi Seana, yes, that’s the same frustration that inspired my “Whom should I unfriend on Facebook over political differences?” Decision Matrix (to be found in the “How to Declutter Your Facebook News Feed” post). You didn’t mention it, so maybe you haven’t seen it?

      I’m not sure if the notifications tip is in one of my blog posts, but I’m gonna say you probably did get it from me, since I’m the only one I’ve ever heard talking about it. Conversely, do you ever turn ON notifications for a post you have NOT interacted with becuase you want to see what happens next without getting involved yet? LOL?

  2. Janet Barclay on June 1, 2020 at 9:07 am

    As you know, I’ve had some bad experiences on Facebook lately, but I get so much valuable interaction there that leaving isn’t an option for me. I’ve unfriended at least one FB friend who isn’t someone I have a relationship with, online or off, and unfollowed a couple of people I’m close to because some of their recent activities have upset me.

    Remembering that we have these options can make a huge difference to how much we enjoy and benefit from the platform.

  3. Hazel Thornton on June 1, 2020 at 9:13 am

    I so agree — “Remembering that we have…options can make a huge difference to how much we enjoy…” EVERYTHING!

  4. Julie Bestry on June 1, 2020 at 2:21 pm

    You always have so much wisdom to share, Hazel. I was thrilled with Google+ went away, and I’ve always said that I prefer Twitter to Facebook because the former doesn’t require a two-way interaction. On Twitter, I don’t feel a social obligation to follow anyone (and if I did, I could *so easily* mute the person and they’d never know); if you follow someone horrible on Twitter, people can easily review your feed and assume your are doing it as research, to keep abreast of what a heartless senator is saying so you can fact-check it publicly.

    On Facebook, the social obligation forces you to decide, if someone friends you (like the random person you barely knew or liked in high school) and then you see from their posts — or worse, their comments on your posts — that they hold reprehensible beliefs, you have to gate-keep, or apologize for their behavior to all of your real friends, as if a drunk acquaintance has wandered into your dinner party.

    My happiest tip for Facebook, I found by trying to help a friend who was even more frustrated than I was about Facebook not letting you maintain a strictly chronological feed. I’ve now bookmarked
    “https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr”and whenever I’m looking at FB on my computer in the browser (which is 99% of the time), I am only ever served a chronological view.

    I still thinking getting close to my social media ideal on Twitter is easier, but I appreciate all of your wise advice!

  5. Linda Samuels on June 1, 2020 at 6:28 pm

    FB is my least favorite platform, but I’m still on it. You’ve reminded me that I should go in to check my settings. I haven’t for a while. And perhaps if I did, I might like FB more than I do. One of the reasons I’m on FB is that many of the groups I belong to communicate there.

    On a related note, your post made me think that in life outside of FB, we need to periodically check-in and make adjustments. Appreciate the nudge.

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