Facebook question

[CathyA]

Facebook has decided that I need more friends and is constantly putting 2 rows of people's images on my facebook, asking "Do you know these people?" Usually in the upper right hand corner of things like this, you can choose "hide"......but this one says "no options available". NO I don't want strangers for friends. Why do they do this? It really ticks me off. Can any of you get rid of these "friend suggestions" on your FB page?

Also......FB is constantly putting things on my page and I choose to delete them. FB apologizes and then the next time I'm on FB, there they are again. Wouldn't it be in FB's best interest to not bug the hell out of us?

[sweetana3]

Well, Facebook is not a charity. They are there to make money. More people, more clicks, more buys = more money. I just ignore what is not interesting. I have blocked a huge number of ads and they are really down in volume right now.

The people are there often because they are friends of friends or members of groups you follow or otherwise there is some connection.

[frugalone]

It is getting terribly annoying--I agree. I have kind of trained myself to look around the stuff that doesn't concern me.

Speaking of ads on social media, is it my imagination, or is Pinterest showing more and more "promoted" photos?

[Gardnr]

If you want to use FB you're stuck with how they do things. Learn to not "see" those......and yes, there are more things periodically. This last week I started getting a list of groups to join.>:( can't get rid of those so they have to go in the "ignore button que" of my brain.

[CathyA]

Thanks everyone. I'll just have to work on ignoring it.

[Yppej]

Same thing with LinkedIn. They tell you to only connect with people you know then inundate you with suggested connections with strangers. For instance, one university I attended had an enrollment of 70,000 so they are suggesting all of those people who are on LinkedIn.

[Williamsmith]

Try deleting your account, if you want to be terribly annoyed.

[Ultralight]

I have been Facebook free since July 8, 2014. It is a beautiful way of life!

[ApatheticNoMore]

Same thing with LinkedIn. They tell you to only connect with people you know then inundate you with suggested connections with strangers. For instance, one university I attended had an enrollment of 70,000 so they are suggesting all of those people who are on LinkedIn.

this could make sense if it's recruiters or people in the same industry you have worked in (there is a potential networking opportunity there, not that I've ever been any good at that), but doing it for a whole university really is silly.

[IshbelRobertson]

I have been Facebook free since July 8, 2014. It is a beautiful way of life!

Well done! I have never been a member, and don't want to join!

[SteveinMN]

Like frugalone and (I think) Gardnr, I've trained my eye to not see Friend or Group suggestions or the ads on the sidebar, and I'm getting better at skipping the promoted posts in my news feed. So far I still find more value in having Facebook than not, but I don't have to be their -- umm -- tool. If it's not possible to eliminate the cruft, at least I can ignore it.

As for the posts you hide reappearing, what I discovered during the last election was that Fb did hide posts from, say, Breitbart, but that if someone on my Friends list posted or commented on a Breitbart post, I still saw content from them. Despite complaints to Facebook that I didn't want to see any of that crap (it applied to both sides, btw), there appears to be no way to shut off that firehose.

[CathyA]

The only thing I really like about facebook is that I can keep in touch so much better with my kids and relatives.

[Williamsmith]

The only thing I really like about facebook is that I can keep in touch so much better with my kids and relatives.

Thats funny.....this is exactly the reason why I hate it!

[JaneV2.0]

I like Facebook's newsfeed and special interest groups. I have no FB friends by choice.

[oldhat]

This is an issue that's particularly on my mind today, as I unbox a new laptop and answer all the intrusive questions involved in getting it up and running. Why does Microsoft need to know my birthday? Answer--they don't, but I can't get my computer going unless I answer the question. Of course, I could try to figure out a way around this, but that would take time and effort, so I just give it to them. That's what they count on.

I set up a Facebook account a couple of years ago at the behest of friends, but I hardly ever look at it. I was wary of FB, since it was clear from the outset that its business model depended on coming up with ever more nefarious ways of invading your privacy and colonizing your brain.

I suppose I ought to cancel it, but I'm starting to wonder if there's even any point in trying to avoid getting sucked into the maw of big data any more. I feel like the corporate beast has us all in its clutches, and there's no escape short of going all Unabomber, moving to a cabin in the woods with no electricity or hot water, and in the process consigning yourself to a life of complete social isolation. And my social life is anemic enough as it is <sigh>.

[Tybee]

I have been very happy cancelling Facebook and not using it, and it was not a big deal to do so. I think I posted here on how to do it, a while back, under different moniker.

[Williamsmith]

I have been very happy cancelling Facebook and not using it, and it was not a big deal to do so. I think I posted here on how to do it, a while back, under different moniker.

Cancelling seems to be no big deal...I believe deleting is what might be shall we say problematic.

[Williamsmith]

This is an issue that's particularly on my mind today, as I unbox a new laptop and answer all the intrusive questions involved in getting it up and running. Why does Microsoft need to know my birthday? Answer--they don't, but I can't get my computer going unless I answer the question. Of course, I could try to figure out a way around this, but that would take time and effort, so I just give it to them. That's what they count on.

I set up a Facebook account a couple of years ago at the behest of friends, but I hardly ever look at it. I was wary of FB, since it was clear from the outset that its business model depended on coming up with ever more nefarious ways of invading your privacy and colonizing your brain.

I suppose I ought to cancel it, but I'm starting to wonder if there's even any point in trying to avoid getting sucked into the maw of big data any more. I feel like the corporate beast has us all in its clutches, and there's no escape short of going all Unabomber, moving to a cabin in the woods with no electricity or hot water, and in the process consigning yourself to a life of complete social isolation. And my social life is anemic enough as it is <sigh>.

The Unabomber, as criminally homicidal as he was, did have lucid periods of commentary on the nefarious nature of technology. His solution was not isolation but the taking down of the entire technium.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Cancelling seems to be no big deal...I believe deleting is what might be shall we say problematic.

cancelling suffices for any reasonable purpose, the account won't be visible (yea if you confessed a murder on fb that's on you, as fb has that data somewhere).

[SteveinMN]

Why does Microsoft need to know my birthday? Answer--they don't, but I can't get my computer going unless I answer the question. Of course, I could try to figure out a way around this, but that would take time and effort, so I just give it to them. That's what they count on.
They ("they" being anyone, not just hardware/software companies) can ask all they want and even require an answer but most times it doesn't need to be an accurate answer. Pick a date, any date. It does not have to be your actual birthdate (though that is pretty much a matter of public record so it's not like you're protecting some great secret).

The same goes for the myriad security questions sites ask you to answer to verify who you are. They require an answer but not necessarily accurate answers. "Mother's maiden name"? A doddle to look up -- very little protection there. But if you chose that as your security question, your answer could be "Throatwarbler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyQvjKqXA0Y)" or "bleen". So long as you later provide what you set up as the answer, the site will be satisfied.