Recent Facebook Changes?

[*****]

I've never had a Facebook account as  I am not into social media much. Except I have (until this past week) been able to get on Public Facebook sites with no problem (yardsales, to watch church services, to check on hours and sales of local stores, schools, education sites, local news, etc. ).  Suddenly this past week, I can no longer get on any of these public sites. I've tried various computers, even the library computer. Does anyone know if the 'honeymoon is over' and now I actually have to sign up to view? Blech!  I just want to get on to view information I want to see,  but not be inundated with everyone else's postings, etc. Any help on how to do that?  Thanks!

[kirstenhill]

I checked just now in an "incognito" tab in Chrome on my android phone, and I was able to see a couple pages without logging in - but I went directly from a Google search for "[business name, city] Facebook".  There was a sort of annoying box at the bottom that I had to scroll past to see the posts, but I could still see them.  Maybe some pages are locking down their privacy settings so you can't do that? Groups definitely can, and some groups I've joined have gone from public to members only recently in terms of post privacy. 

I know a lot of people who join Facebook with an "extra" email address and not put their full name or a picture.  So maybe first name and middle name instead of first and last.  Lock all the privacy settings down. Then you don't have to accept any friend requests - just follow pages you want to see. You would still see random stuff on your feed (ads, pages Facebook thinks you might like) but it won't be from friends and it's easier to get to pages you want to see. 

[Pawz4me]

You can use a completely fake name on FB. I know people who use very obviously made up names (let's say Snow White as an example) with no problem. Set up an email just for that account that doesn't use your real name in it, and lock down your privacy settings. There's a ton of info on the 'net about how to do that, but make sure you're following up-to-date tutorials because FB changes things frequently.

Alternatively, you can make an account using your real name (also locking down privacy settings), accept any friend requests you get and then promptly unfollow that person. They won't know you unfollowed them. You can still go to their page and see what they're up to if you want, but their posts won't appear in your feed. I'm not into social media for socializing, but this is what I've done on FB to keep up with community news and (especially) for finding various competent tradespeople. The latter is the main reason I finally caved and set up an account a few years ago. I'm sure they're tracking me despite my best efforts to lock everything down, but at this point in my life that's a trade off I'm willing to accept in return for access to the info I need.

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, kirstenhill said:

I checked just now in an "incognito" tab in Chrome on my android phone, and I was able to see a couple pages without logging in - but I went directly from a Google search for "[business name, city] Facebook".  There was a sort of annoying box at the bottom that I had to scroll past to see the posts, but I could still see them.  Maybe some pages are locking down their privacy settings so you can't do that? Groups definitely can, and some groups I've joined have gone from public to members only recently in terms of post privacy. 

I know a lot of people who join Facebook with an "extra" email address and not put their full name or a picture.  So maybe first name and middle name instead of first and last.  Lock all the privacy settings down. Then you don't have to accept any friend requests - just follow pages you want to see. You would still see random stuff on your feed (ads, pages Facebook thinks you might like) but it won't be from friends and it's easier to get to pages you want to see. 

I do this. Email address only for facebook. First and middle name, no last name, and deliberately misspelled part of my name so it doesn't show up in a random search which keeps the friend requests down to almost nothing. My friends list is 30-40 people long. I set privacy settings as high as Facebook offers. If I want to see a community page, I search for it. I do not follow or join groups except my rocketry and aerospace ones.

[mommyoffive]

9 hours ago, ***** said:

I've never had a Facebook account as  I am not into social media much. Except I have (until this past week) been able to get on Public Facebook sites with no problem (yardsales, to watch church services, to check on hours and sales of local stores, schools, education sites, local news, etc. ).  Suddenly this past week, I can no longer get on any of these public sites. I've tried various computers, even the library computer. Does anyone know if the 'honeymoon is over' and now I actually have to sign up to view? Blech!  I just want to get on to view information I want to see,  but not be inundated with everyone else's postings, etc. Any help on how to do that?  Thanks!

Same.  It led me to join last week.  Boo.  

[cave canem]

I've also never had an account and am still able to see public content from a church.

[*****]

I just checked sites again, and I used incognito tab as well. The 'See more on Facebook' tab that has 'log in or sign' in was covering the first page with a light screen over it.  But I did click on the X in the right corner  of the tab and today it worked!  The See More tab disappeared and I was able to get on like I used to.  Hooray! Mommyoffive, I hope it will work for you also! 

But I appreciate the suggestions for anonymity as I'm sure there will come that day...😕