2012 - Day 003 - Deleting Facebook
Last Update: January 12, 2012

I think it's time to do this.  I've been contemplating it for some time now.  I realize this might not be the best thing to do right now, but I really wonder if it's worth it to keep it.

Many will say, "But everyone has one...why would you want to do that?"

  • It compromises your personal privacy.
  • For me, it is a place with bad memories with my family and it simply is not a friendly place for me.
  • eMail does everything Facebook does for me
  • I want to start a completely different account later...one where my family is not involved.  I don't like seeing half of my family members having blocked me over things I hadn't done.
  • I'd rather have Facebook for business, not personal stuff.
  • I don't like the things I hear about Facebook.  I realize some of this is second-hand information, but some of it makes sense.
  • Facebook does not want members deleting their accounts...which is understandable...but to put the link for that levels deep is  quite devious...though they make it very easy to inactivate an account...meaning, your information is still public.
  • This is all fine for a business, but I'm not like most people...I'm just not into the Facebook stuff.

I've never had the kind of following that is into Internet marketing...or even wanting to do anything to "get out of the box" so to speak.  In all of the Shout Out activity I've done I've not gotten a single nibble...not even any interest at all except the couple I've gotten from people wishing I wouldn't do that.  There is no reflection at all on the Shout Out system or anything else about WA...just that I simply do not have much of a Facebook following and right now, it's too much more trouble than it's worth keeping.

I think it's really great for folks here and am not, in any way, encouraging any member here to quit their Facebook accounts.  For now, that's what's right for me...and only me.  I had a heck of a time trying to find out how to delete my account and had to go outside of it to find out how. 

By far, the greatest reason why I'm dropping Facebook is because of my family.  There are issues there which, I don't think will resolve any time soon and going on there is a constant reminder when I see the line of nieces and nephews who, without the facts, blocked me.

I fully realize the value of Facebook in Internet marketing...and as a means to communicate.  Just about everything else most people engage with on Facebook (such as the stupid games, etc,) are useless to me. My aunt persuaded me to involve myself with a Bible game on there and I did two or three "maps" and quit.  I just can't justify using my time for that. 

All the time I was in Massachusetts last summer, both my sister and her boyfriend spent about eight to ten hours every day with that Farm Ville rubbish. 

09-19-11_Oh No!  Farm-Ville Stuff!
 
Kathy M Spear
Kathy is away and their new baby Bald Eagle needs food. Oh my!
Kathy's Bald Eagle was just born. She is cold, lonely, and will get sick soon without any food. Baby wants to grow up big and strong some day and just needs a little help getting started.
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        Daniel Euergetes Oh nooo! .....
        12 minutes ago · Like

Why not go out and purchase (with real money through PayPal) to do some of the stuff on that game?

I'm happy that there are a lot of people here at WA that know how to use Facebook constructively!  When I'm ready...and have deleted my current account, I will create a new one strictly for marketing and keep family out of it. 

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relaxing_piano Premium
For a moment, i thought you were writing my story. I did exactly what you have just done here because of "family issues mainly", it was the only way I could just stop it all. I've got some pretty ugly family issues as well and the more distance I keep between them, the better life is for me (and safer). I had one family member get in my facebook, thought it was okay and for the first few days, nothing happened. Then all HE*L broke loose. Because all my friends were intermingled in there and I couldn't just stop some and not others without knowing who would see what, I said enough is enough. It was so freeing to get rid of facebook. It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my back.

Okay, with that said, i did recreate a new one but it is very private (or I hope it still is). I used a new email address that I don't give out so they couldn't easily find me either. I think I've got it where it doesn't show up publicly... or I hope I do! I'm still very careful with what I say online and what I post. The amount of friends i have is limited to people I know well and want to interact with. Who cares how many friends one can have when you don't even know who they are. I don't!

I get so sick and tired of hearing the preaching on the internet (no particular person invoked here) that facebook is the way to live life! Screw it! I don't trust it. I don't feel safe with it. Maybe some have had great experiences and I'm happy for you. I'm just not prepared to go down that road and compromise my safety and my life. No, I'm not exaggerating either!

So anyway, thanks for writing this. You're not alone on this!
jatdebeaune Premium
I agree with that. I will use it for business, but not casually. It IS dangerous. Your instincts are right on.
Daniel Euergetes Premium
This is not to mention the rubbish some people put on their newsfeeds that...guess what...ends up on yours! I ran into problems when one of my "friends" was engaging in a stupid game on FB...one about marijuana. I have never been an avid user of FB and had not been on it for weeks...until I got an e-mail from one of my church friends who had visited my FB wall and found it filled with pictures of pot leaves, bongs, and other smoking tools...one after the other for pages! This guy was playing the game all day...every day. I had to answer for that...and I unfriended the guy spending all his time doing this. Now this is actually a facebook game much like the farm ville! Gotta watch what's happening on the newsfeed. It can get you fired from your job, or just plain ruin your reputation because of your associations. The guy didn't like it and told me I needed to tell the one who brought it to my attention to f off, but I can't have this kind of stuff happening. Business is best usage for FB...all the way!
relaxing_piano Premium
Wow Daniel... reminds me of MySpace where you just never knew what was going to end up on that thing. I've seen people all of the sudden become a news story and the first thing the media does is head to facebook to find a profile of the person. Pictures that maybe weren't quite so bad amongst close friends now all of the sudden become a major embarrassment. At one time I had far too much personal stuff written up there and with it all down, I'm in control of what is out there now, rather than Facebook. I answered a friend of mine on something and a family member took such offense to what I said to my friend - I was like - it had nothing to do with you and wasn't about you but that didn't matter. I got reamed for it!
Daniel Euergetes Premium
At the time this post went into the Blog of the Day, I'm into a bit over a week having deleted my FB account. I will be creating a new one as soon as the deletion process completes. I fully realize the marketing value of FB and will reserve it for that. The other reason for having an account is that other programs require it.
WriterGig Premium
I'd love to just use my fan pages, but I think if you delete your main account the fan pages you've created go bust as well.
Daniel Euergetes Premium
This is why I think, after I do away with my account, I will need to create another...something far more geared to an existence along the lines of a viable niche, not a personal setup like it is now. I don't mean to sound rude or ungrateful, but it's just a nice way to excuse myself from my family rather than blatantly excluding them from my list. It's not healthy for me to be involved with them...not by means of beliefs they have conjured as far back as the 1960s, the none-productive criticism they throw (knives would be a good analogy) nor in mindset. None of them except for my youngest brother will listen about self-improvement, income from sources other than from regular employment, etc. I strongly believe I've been meant to stay my distance. I've always been more than willing to resolve things, but they simply do not and have become very set in their minds about who Daniel is. Family is the greatest of all the reasons why I'm removing that account. Secondly, Facebook has way too many bait 'n switch lures as well as people trying to pull others into the stupid games and gifts on there.
smokeywins Premium
I totally understand what you mean about Facebook. While I have an account, I have become more of a lurker than a user. I have a relatively small group of friends, mostly ex-schoolmates and co-workers, in the grand scheme of things and after a few attempts with shout-outs about WA, I also received no nibbles as its seems most if not all are content with their JOBS and have no drive or determination to do anything else. I primarily spend most of my time on my fan page for promoting my Etsy store, and the proper uses of fan pages is the one thing I hope to learn more about in 2012. I give you credit for deleting your account as you are correct, there really is little worth to it unless you accept every friend request that comes in, but with that you have really defeated the purpose of FB, to stay in touch with friends and family we have lost touch with, not to connect with the most strangers.
Daniel Euergetes Premium
I'm wondering if one could have a fan page but not a regular account. As an experiment, I do have a fan page but it is undeveloped. I will see what happens when I push the delete button. Right now I'm going through and taking off writings I have throughout. That shouldn't take long. I have 66 friends on there...half of that is family...half of that again...is family members who have blocked me. Of this entire audience, only one person from my family has any real interest in literally anything I talk about...my younger brother. As for the rest, I'm great to be seen...but not heard. The other half are comprised of college mates. I will carry those on in my email. Most of them (if not all) are members of the church where I go. I'm not speaking for every member of the church, but they tend to view employment as the socially acceptable means of deriving an income. The audience I have left over came from an Internet marketing seminar I attended. Most of these are into the massive product-launch-per-week scene. I've tried to deal with some of these people. They're making money with what they are doing...so they tell me...and the very few out of that number have hung up Internet marketing and hate Wealthy Affiliate. All this entire thing boils down to is getting the right kind of audience on Facebook by whatever means that can be done. This is where a fan page comes in.
Veritas12 Premium
Yes, Daniel. You can create a fan page without actually having a personal account. On facebook login page- below the green sign up tab, there is a link for 'create a page'. I think you can use that link to set up a fan page.
Hope this helps!
Daniel Euergetes Premium
Wow Rajgopal, I wasn't aware of this link! When I get to the sign-up page I'm going to check that link out! Thanks a million! Yes, I would like to make my FB more fan pages rather than a personal page. I'm waiting for my FB to get through the 14 days before it deletes. I hope I've done nothing that would cause it go to into "inactive" status because simply opening into anything somehow attached to FB will nullify my request to delete my account. Never know just how many trees are in the forest until you want to actually leave the forest! Pintrest is one of the reasons why I need to create a new account. I don't dare create a new account until the old one deletes...for the same reason as above. It finds my IP address, it might nullify the request. So, best to wait it out.
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