I don't love Facebook, but acknowledge it's important to be there. Whenever I flirt with the idea of deleting my Facebook account I remember that's the main way I now keep in touch with friends and family. When a friend gives birth, I'll learn about it and see the pictures in Facebook. When my nephew dresses up as Max for Halloween, I only know about it and see the picture because I'm on Facebook. Whether you update your status message and post updates or not, it's important to be there.
One thing I've always disliked about Facebook is how their News Feed works. It's not a reverse-chronological listing of all updates by all friends. That's what I want, but that would be too simple for Facebook. Instead, it's a strange unknown algorithm that determines what makes your News Feed and in what order.
I no longer visit my Facebook home page (the official news feed) when checking Facebook for updates. I've created a list I call "Everyone" and I've put every single one of my friends in this list. Then, my bookmark for Facebook is actually the feed for this custom list. This way I actually get all updates by all friends in reverse-chronological order without being filtered through any unknown Facebook algorithm.
Here's how you create custom lists right from your home page:
- Click the Home link (along the top-right of every Facebook page)
- Click the More link next to Friends
- Click Create a List
- Search for your friends in the search bar at the top of the page, or add people from the List Suggestions on the right
When it comes to interface and behaviour, I prefer Google+ to Facebook. The problem is, almost everyone is on Facebook and almost nobody is on Google+. Sometimes you have to go where the action is, even if you don't love being there.
