How has Facebook changed since 2010?

[NaughtyChair]

I started using Facebook in 2010 - I realise that compared to most - I was late to the party.

So - how do you feel it’s changed since this time ?

I know two women that ended up marrying men they met on FB via other friends lists. One remains happily married the other divorced.

People used to post the most mundane stuff and think everyone was sat on the edge of their seat waiting for an update.

The best status that will forever be legendary between me and my best friend was -
“My PC isn’t working so walked to the library to update… nothing to update”

The girl that posted was 100% serious and I think that’s the perfect example of Facebook when it first launched 😂.
Everyone was a main character believing they had to keep posting.

I'd forgotten about that! It could get quite messy....

People keep saying that Facebook is dying, but most people I know use it.

But the usage tends to be less "visible," because people are not posting on their feeds much - the feeds have become semi-useless due to the amount of random adverts and clutter (mine is full of old photographs of 19th century people. I don't know why? I guess I clicked on an old photo once and the algorithm decided I was super-interested in old photos for this reason?).

Rather than feeds and personal updates, people are using FB for the GROUPS. My Facebook groups are lively places and are my go-to for relevant information and also for events and meetups.

In a way it's great. I keep social media like Twitter, Reddit and Mumsnet off my phone for the most part (too much of a timesuck!) but am happy to keep Facebook on my phone. Why? Because it's useful to have my groups on there so I can do things like easily check where we are meeting for today's meetup/event. And because the Facebook feed is so boring that I'm not interested in looking at it, so it doesn't become a timewasting thing or a distraction.

Definitely an advertising vehicle rather than one to help keep up with friends. It’s strange how it’s designed to make you feel connected while actually making it impossible to connect

I know someone back around 2011 who put their status as

‘wee wee in the potty!!’

I was at secondary in the early 2010s, and us teens did 'like for a like' posts. You would 'like' a friend's post, and then said friend would list several things they like about you, e.g I like that you play hockey, I like you are in my physics class, you like Katy Perry etc etc.

Sending love and support ❤️

I can’t remember the last time I posted an actual written status, years ago definitely. I do post the odd photo but only if I go on holiday or to a festival or something.

I find our village group quite useful sometimes but the rest of my feed seems to be written by AI. There are topics I’m interested in but I’m never sure if it’s written by a human so just don’t read any of it anymore. I’m not reading something just to realise at the end it’s AI!

To all those people who don't like the ads and other unwelcome comment, there are three or four really good low cost ab-blockers and pop-up blockers. (There are even a couple of FREE choices that will do a halfway passable job.) Make use of them!

How do those work on Facebook when the actual posts are nothing but adverts and AI created bullshit?

It’s not about the people you following anymore. It’s about the groups, adverts and reels. Before I felt like I was in contact with friends, peers and school randomd. Not so much anymore.

It's nothing but advertisements

Yeah - this. The actual ads get blocked but there are still so many spammy posts.

I used to like how some random you went to school with would get drunk and start spilling their guts on FB, or get in an argument with a family member. All public. You don't see that now 😂

Over 85% of unwanted posts and ads just stop appearing. It also requires you to set your security level tightly.

I get irritated with the disjointed chronology. I don't want to interract with things when they finally appear about 5 days after posting.
Now there's stupid notifications that you hadn't seen an update from a friend. No shit! The stupid algorithms didn't show it 🙄

And the endless adverts.
Shitty features like reels thrust at you relentlessly

I like groups. It's great when you find friendly niche communities on there. They're the main thing keeping me on there.

I have some friends that still post but the whole thing is intermittent. Partly lifestage and being past the cute baby bore stage and into camera-shy teenager stage of of family life. But there was a sudden drop-off after Cambridge Analytica, and general loss of trust in social media.

I still like being able to put something out and people I know to interact with it as they want to. Messaging can be too targeted. I've never found instagram quite as interactive.

It's a shame, I think there's still the demand for facebook out there, but lousy algorithms, advertising, bots, awful reporting and AI content seem to be on a mission to make it uninteresting and kill it off.