A couple of months ago I posted that I was unplugging from Facebook. At the time I was somewhat concerned that no one was visiting this blog if I didn’t post links to it from Facebook, but decided that was a fair trade-off for staying away from a seriously problematic platform (for all the reasons I mentioned in that post). But eventually I decided to compromise, and created a page for the sole purpose of linking to this blog, while ceasing to post to or from my personal page altogether.

Trying to stay away from Facebook wasn’t easy when I was constantly bombarded with e-mail notifications. While I chose to keep getting a select few, I had to unsubscribe from over twenty separate notifications of everything from upcoming birthdays to page maintenance “suggestions,” and I’ve had to turn some of these notifications off more than once:

[Image: Screenshot with the header of “Notifications you’ve turned off” and a list of 21 separate notifications, with a “Turn On” button next to each one.]

I’ve also removed myself as co-admin of several pages and groups, notifying the other admins that I’m restricting my Facebook moderation duties to pages where I’m solely responsible for the content. I don’t want anyone to assume I’ve endorsed a post or action taken by another admin.

I also really don’t like the limited moderation options for discussion threads. Holding comments for moderation, closing threads, and disabling comments altogether are really basic features, and the fact that Facebook refuses to support them is worrisome. The best one can do on a personal page is limit comments to people on one’s friendslist:[Image: Screenshot from Facebook showing a drop-down menu of who can comment on public posts: Everybody, Friends of Friends, or Friends.]

And on a public page, you can only choose to block people from posting altogether, or block specific words from appearing in comments:

[Image: Screenshot from Facebook page moderation screen explaining how to add blocked keywords to “cut down on inappropriate content.”]

Some people have employed a workaround by entering a number of really common words into the filter, but this is kludgy and shouldn’t be required. Ironically, Facebook’s own Help Center has moderation features that are lacking on user-run pages:

[Image: Screenshot of a Facebook Help Center discussion thread on “How can I close a thread on a group page ?”]

I’m guessing that allowing more comments to remain publicly visible is in Facebook’s best interest, as that means more eyeballs on their ads. They might spin this policy decision as in the best interest of their users, to be more “engaged” with their friends and followers, but really it’s an economic decision. Fair enough; I don’t pay anything for using Facebook, and they aren’t obligated to include whatever features I demand.

But I’m not obligated to use Facebook either. And frankly, I’m probably contributing to the problem by not taking a firm stand and leaving that network altogether, permanently. I’ve seen a number of people announce, sometimes with great fanfare, that they are leaving Facebook, only to come back a few weeks or months later, which is awkward. This is why I said in my original post that I fully expected to return eventually.

Regardless, I realize that for some people, Facebook is a lifeline, and deleting their account isn’t a reasonable option. The same goes for people who are required to use Facebook for their jobs. This is one of the many reasons why the “real names” policy that’s gotten people unjustly locked out of their accounts is so harmful. Violet Blue has a good post on that subject.

Independent of all the Facebook policy problems, another reason I’m reluctant to post anything besides links to this blog is that I’ve seen a blatant disregard for privacy, with screenshots and extended quotes from private messages and closed and “secret” groups posted publicly on numerous occasions. This is not a Facebook-specific issue, and in some cases the publication was arguably justified. But at this point I honestly don’t know who to trust.

So for now, I’ll continue, reluctantly, with my limited use of Facebook to promote this blog. It’s an imperfect compromise, but that’s social networking for you.