Facebook: What am I missing?

I have, for many years, objected to joining Facebook. My reasons aren’t that different from the lists you can find online about why you shouldn’t join, or why you should quit.

Frankly, when Facebook started to become a household name, I didn’t think it would last very long. I thought (and maybe hoped) that it would be a passing fad. So much for that idea. As much as I loath to admit it, Facebook seems like it’s here to stay. For some people it even seems like Facebook is the Internet.

What does this have to do with paddling? Well, it’s difficult to find others around me with similar kayaking skills and interests. I’ve tried some other tools like Kijiji and Meetup, but haven’t been very successful with either of them. Facebook seems like it might be a good candidate, but how do I know whether it fits into my “big picture”?

Am I a dinosaur or a conscientious objector? This is your opportunity, if you are so inclined, to convince me one way or the other. Go ahead and rant if you like, but please keep it respectful.

Facebook can be great. A buddy created an account for our biking group. Old dudes who ride early in the morning. It’s a really good tool to keep up with ride start times; who’s biking on which day; who has a great joke or smart remark etc.

On the other hand… there’s a group of older retired guys who could absolutely use a Facebook account to make communications between riders easier and quicker but none has been created. Why not? Number one… the ‘center’ or ‘alpha dude’ of the group would be giving up power. Also… the ‘center’ dude got real political on his regular account and there was big backlash. Hey. It’s like yer mama taught ya. Be very careful about talking religion or politics. It’s a recipe for conflict.

I joined FB years ago to keep track of our children and grandchildren.
It seemed to be a forum for every crackpot and juvenile fool on the planet. Even the most innocuous comment could turn nasty.
And I can’t stand pictures of food.
I’ve been off for a couple of years and won’t be back.

Our group use group email to organize.

Interesting. I expected there to be an outpouring of folks telling me how foolish I’ve been to have avoided it this long.

Maybe that’s yet to come?

Yes, I do Facebook and it’s a good way to stay in contact with family and friends. On the other hand, it can look a lot like monkeys flinging poop.

Check out “Church of the Double Blade Paddle” on FB.

@shiraz627 said:
Check out “Church of the Double Blade Paddle” on FB.

See, this is where I’m wondering what I’m missing. I can see part of the main page but that’s about all without signing up and logging in to Facebook. I’m sure it’s a huge part of their corporate strategy.

@TreeA10 said:
Yes, I do Facebook and it’s a good way to stay in contact with family and friends. On the other hand, it can look a lot like monkeys flinging poop.

If Facebook comments are anything like what there is to see on YouTube, I’ll commend myself for being hard headed and walk the other way, never looking back.

I joined facbook and have a number of paddler contacts there, but I don’t use it. I’m really put off by the company’s in-your-face attempts to get me to be active on the site. Whenever someone posts a comment to a photo in which I am tagged, every time there’s a comment on that photo I get three emails per day for the next six weeks telling me about it. Sheesh, knock it off already! And none of the notifications for the messages I’ve recieved (all three of them) will switch to being indicated as already clicked on by me. Another attempt to get me to keep clicking. I could probably put up with that if I was active with some group that made plans through the site, but as a way of keeping track of what my friends might be doing, it’s too over-the-top for my tastes. Besides, in keeping track of friends, I don’t need to know every time someone picks a tomato from their garden. I don’t care about that, but a lot of facebook users think that’s news.

If you are only interested in keeping contact to for example a group of paddlers on Facebook, that is perfectly doable. Make an account, join the group, don’t tell your family that you joined and don’t make any Facebook friends.

Now you can hook up with your group when planning trips, etc., and you still don’t have to look at meal photos or cat videos - unless such stuff is posted in your paddling group.

P.S.
Be prepared for the wrath of your wife when she finds out that you are secretly on Facebook and haven’t befriended her. That happened to me.

Your missing people croaking your age. LOL missing people who do nothing your age. It’s fun anyway.

You guys aren’t making a very convincing argument on the “for” side.

Our paddling group stays in contact by email, as Flotsam said, but my other group is a Meetup devoted to paddling.

I’d say that pretty much every trip that I do is organized through Facebook. If it is not through a Facebook group, it is through people messaging me on Facebook. Around here, the old email lists and message boards are gone - put out of business by Facebook. I have 260 “friends” and probably 200 of them are paddling related. Some I have paddled with once or twice, and some I paddle with all the time. Either way, it’s nice to see what other people are doing, and where other people are paddling. If I don’t like someone’s posts, I can unfollow them, or unfriend them, and they will probably never know the difference.

It has worked well for me - can’t say whether it would work for you, but I would recommend you give it a try - especially if you have other paddling friends on Facebook.

FB can be a death trap, if you get too involved. But stick to just the areas you want and be connected to just the people you want, it can be Ok.

Some groups I do follow (which may or may not be of interest to you):
Strictly Sea Kayaking https://www.facebook.com/groups/2230757062/?ref=bookmarks
ACA Coastal Kayak Instructors: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACAcoastalinstructors/
Bay Area Sea Kayakers (local club): https://www.facebook.com/groups/BayAreaSeaKayakers/
Western Sea Kayakers (local club): https://www.facebook.com/WesternSeaKayakers/
Neptune’s Rangers (kayak porn): https://www.facebook.com/neptunesrangers/

I don’t put app on my phone. I go on through Current Designs or Seaward. Didn’t like alert on phone every time I got a post.

It’s good try it you can always dump it.

@PaddleDog52 said:
It’s good try it you can always dump it.

There are some who say permanently deleting your account is difficult. Not to mention that anything that goes online stays online, deleted or not.

True are you listed in post office?

@PaddleDog52 said:
True are you listed in post office?

Listed? As in “WANTED (Dead or Alive)”? I’d tell you, but I’d have to kill you.