ScoutTN Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Several of my Dd's activities use FB as their primary communication tool. No way out. I have to be able to see this info. I have avoided all social media and not missed it to this point. I do not need to spend any more time on the computer! I am totally not a tech person. What do I need to know and do? I don't care about friending people or anything. I just need to be there to get info for kids' activities. I would like my settings to be very limited. Teach me to use this tool, Hive peeps! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 My number one suggestion is to never, ever, ever friend anyone. All of the worst parts of FB can be avoided if you don't friend anyone. People may still friend request you, but do not accept. If you accept anyone, you will get a continual flood of requests. I have 2 accounts. One has friends, but I deactivate it for large swaths of time (like during election season). The other has no friends and is used for the 2 homeschool groups that we're in. I even made a graphic to put as my banner that states that I do not add friends to that account. Even with that, I still get the occasional request. Oh, and don't add a profile pic (at least not one with a picture of you). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Just join the groups you need to track. People will send friend requests. Just ignore them. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 You're probably going to need to dig around a bit. I would say own it. Make your feed all about activities and don't post or friend people if that's how you want to use it. If seeing garbage doesn't work for you, unsubscribe. You can even set up e-mail notifications so if you keep your feed just to groups and events you want info about, you'll get e-mail when there are updates and you don't need to remember to check facebook. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Do you have any irl friends who are savvy FB users? They would surely be happy to help you get set up in a way that would be the least intrusive to you. As the others said, you set it up for minimal annoyance - I particularly like WoolySocks's suggestion of having e-mails sent to you so you never check it unless you have to. Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Agree with the advice not to friend anyone unless required for the group. Then you can tell people you friend no one and only use it for group purposes, and no one will be offended that you did not friend them. Don't fill out any field not necessary, don't post any pics, don't like anything. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 I just want to say that I feel your pain. I'm not on facebook, but I am on twitter and instagram. But, even knowing facebook owns instagram, I have felt so removed from all of the facebook crap that goes on. I've been so happy I don't have an account. But there is a group of friends I love dearly and they are all on facebook. They have a private group and chat regularly. I miss them. They regularly beg me to join so that I can be in the group... but...facebook. ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 (edited) I joined just a month ago for the same reason. We moved over the summer, and the local homeschooling support group does all their communication only through Facebook. So I reluctantly joined. I've kept my friend list to only 20 family members and no one else. But after being on it for a month and seeing how utterly frivolous it is, I'm still puzzled as to why people kept pressuring me into joining all these years. There's nothing but a bunch of garbage on there, and anything that is TRULY important (like my sister's ongoing custody battle) isn't going to be posted on Facebook anyhow. Edited November 3, 2016 by Kinsa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Meh. I joined for access to family pictures. It's kind of cool for keeping track of people you'd lose track of otherwise. Groups are another reason to join. If you join just for groups, don't friend anyone and set all your profile/post settings for your wall to "only I can see." 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I believe you can just ask the groups to make their pages public and you will not need an account to view the information. I could be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I believe you can just ask the groups to make their pages public and you will not need an account to view the information. I could be wrong. I wish. Both my dds' Girl Scout troop and ds' soccer team keep them private because it's about the kids and they post pictures. I appreciate that, but it does make it annoying for me. In the case of the Girl Scout troop, the troop leader just texts me the info, although I'm sure I'm missing stuff. For ds' soccer team, the club maintains communication by email/text and the FB group is run by the team manager with a focus on social stuff so I don't feel like I'm totally missing out. But, yeah, I feel your pain OP. I still have no FB acct and have no plans on changing that without a more compelling reason. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 But after being on it for a month and seeing how utterly frivolous it is, I'm still puzzled as to why people kept pressuring me into joining all these years. There's nothing but a bunch of garbage on there, and anything that is TRULY important (like my sister's ongoing custody battle) isn't going to be posted on Facebook anyhow. But the quality of your feed is dependent on whom you friend/follow & what groups you join. My feed is not really that frivolous. I'd say mine is similar to the chat board + the WTM politics + the current events sub-boards. I deactivate fb (that pauses your account & makes you disappear but doesn't delete your account) on a regular basis just because I find it too time sucky; but I have the same prob w/ these boards too :) 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 FYI, this may not solve your problem, but if you have any influence for change, there are web-based platforms for groups that don't involve facebook. My daughter's team had been using fb to communicate, but there were many parents (and coaches) not on fb. We switched all of our team communication to Shutterfly's websites for teams and groups. We are mostly happy with it. The attendance feature is wonky, but the rest of it has been great. There are other sites that do these things as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Ignore everyone's fuddy duddy advice :p You don't need to know anything. It is easy. Do what you like. If you friend someone and regret it, unfriend them. It is a very very simple tool and can be a pleasure. I like groups for homeschooling. It's not that different from this board except everyone uses their names so they tend to be a bit kinder. And can be VERY specific. Most every curriculum has a support group , plus a spin off support group for struggling learners . (I'm sure there are other common support groups within curriculums - I am most familiar w ones for dyslexic kids). In a group people can see your name and profile pic but not anything else, if you set up your profile with common sense. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 One of the problems with not friending anyone is that then their messages go to an ignored folder (message requests) and it's harder to see them. So if someone tries to message her about a question having to do with the activity, that's hard to see. But if you just need to read the messages on the group page and post there, then it should be okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 . But after being on it for a month and seeing how utterly frivolous it is, I'm still puzzled as to why people kept pressuring me into joining all these years. There's nothing but a bunch of garbage on there, and anything that is TRULY important (like my sister's ongoing custody battle) isn't going to be posted on Facebook anyhow. Maybe you have the wrong friends? I don't see any "bunch of garbage". I see many invitations to art events, concerts and and classes about which I would not have heard otherwise, see what my friends across the country are up to, share suggestions for area hiking with the people who are following my page dedicated to this purpose. I have not been embroiled in a nasty dispute, do not see ugly political debates, did not have to unfriend anybody fro being obnoxious... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I had to join in order to be a mod on a different site. I have nothing on my page--no friends, no info, it's a totally blank slate. All it does is enable me to go on business sites I would otherwise be locked out of. It's very simple to keep your personal page stripped of all personal info. And if you don't want to use it, just don't. You aren't required to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 One of the problems with not friending anyone is that then their messages go to an ignored folder (message requests) and it's harder to see them. So if someone tries to message her about a question having to do with the activity, that's hard to see. But if you just need to read the messages on the group page and post there, then it should be okay. My messages all come through and I have zero friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 FYI, this may not solve your problem, but if you have any influence for change, there are web-based platforms for groups that don't involve facebook. My daughter's team had been using fb to communicate, but there were many parents (and coaches) not on fb. We switched all of our team communication to Shutterfly's websites for teams and groups. We are mostly happy with it. The attendance feature is wonky, but the rest of it has been great. There are other sites that do these things as well. For sports teams, there's also the TeamSphere app which is free. Our soccer club has just started investigating which requires a smart phone or tablet. Not that that helps woth your current FB question, but I'm all for introducing non-FB options for organizations. I am not a fuddy duddy because I'm against FB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Maybe you have the wrong friends? I don't see any "bunch of garbage". I see many invitations to art events, concerts and and classes about which I would not have heard otherwise, see what my friends across the country are up to, share suggestions for area hiking with the people who are following my page dedicated to this purpose. I have not been embroiled in a nasty dispute, do not see ugly political debates, did not have to unfriend anybody fro being obnoxious... Well, my only friends are all directly related to me, soooo... (lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I spend 2 or 3 minutes each day on FB. It is a great way to communicate with a company (egg provider, phone company/ADSL, etc.) if there is a problem. A couple of times, the FB Customer Service of those companies has been an outstanding help to us. I also keep up with some friends and relatives and a Private Group for my favorite singer/band. And, with TTUISD. There are a lot of settings and with time you will (hopefully) learn how to keep it as private as you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom25girls Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I joined for a similar reason. I don't really want any other contact. I joined under a "Facebook name." It serves the purpose and allows me to keep my privacy and time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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