Facebook Update

About 5 months ago, I wrote this rambling post about my complicated relationship with Facebook, which included a mention that I was removing the Facebook app from my phone.

A weird thing happened right after that. As I often do, I shared the link to that post on Facebook...

...and I got put in "Facebook Jail." My post was marked as spam, and I was temporarily unable to post things. Weird, right? Here's a screenshot of the message I got from Facebook upon posting the link to that post:

I followed up with Facebook, arguing that the post wasn't spam, and eventually they relented, letting me share the link.

But this was confirmation for me that I wanted to put a little more space between Facebook and me.

I haven't had the app on my phone for more than 5 months now. Mostly I find I don't miss it. It's not that I don't still spend time on Facebook at all--I am on the site almost daily. But I do find it's not my go-to any more when I have five minutes to kill. (Of course, I have a couple of games that I play now instead...because I'm still overly-attached to my phone.)

Overall, I'm feeling healthier in my relationship to Facebook. I've become much more conscious of what I'm sharing on the platform. If you would look at my timeline for these past few months, most of the posts are sharing links to blog posts, or to other things to read. Very few have been what I would consider status updates. I share fewer photos now too, since it isn't as easy to upload them since I don't have the app on my phone. But I'm feeling fine about all of this, honestly.

I'm still active and engaged on Twitter. I'm still using Instagram occasionally. But I'm not missing Facebook as much as I thought I might.

How about you? Has your relationship with Facebook shifted over time? What are your thoughts about Facebook as a platform? As a company?