Word has it that face scanning will soon be necessary to do anything at all on FB and IG (including deleting your account) so I’m in the process of taking care of that business now and trying to encourage the few friends I’m still in touch with to do the same.
Unfortunately, without an account you can’t access content, and there are still numerous local businesses and organizations posting at FB and IG and I can’t really expect that to change anytime soon. But it would definitely help sell the idea of giving them up if I can offer another way of seeing posts on those sites.
With IG, there is https://imginn.com/ which I’ve been using for a time, it seems to work well enough to show an account’s IG posts.
What I really need is something like that for FB. I don’t really need to see posts from individual accounts as I don’t even think my friends post on FB anymore; I really just want to be able to see “Liked Pages” as those are often regional businesses and communities. Being able to see groups would also be helpful but those often require special permission even when you do have an FB account so I don’t expect much there.
Thanx
just delete your photos & posts and leave it idle…?
This is what I did years ago. No apps. Just a sandboxed FB browser tab so I can check the local marketplace and community groups.
What you’re looking for is called an “Alternative frontend”. I’m not aware of a working one for Facebook but it might be worth searching around!
I need Facebook for my volunteering gig, sadly. I disabled my own profile over 2 years ago now and made a fake profile which only follows the information I need on there and nothing else. I only use it in one specific browser with an extremely good Facebook specific ad blocker.
If a business only has some shitty Instagram or Facebook page or wants to only be contactable via WhatsApp then they don’t deserve my fucking business.
You obviously don’t live in a rural area where almost all businesses do exactly this, minus the WhatsApp part. If I had that attitude, I’d only have Walmart and nobody should live like that.
If you’re going to “leave” then actually leave and stop using it.
FB, you can use UBLOCK origin to block the login popup permanently. on this reddit post https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1g3bkhy/how_to_block_facebook_login_pop_up/
More businesses need to hear people say “I don’t use Meta products “ so that they consider making critical information available elsewhere. And businesses that still use Twitter should be shunned.
Seriously. Why is it so hard to find information about restaurants on the internet? And why can’t you post your damn menu?!
This… too many small businesses use facebook as their “webpage.” I’m not creating an account, blank or otherwise, to view your hours… I probably just won’t go.
Small businesses do this because it’s free, quick to set up, and easy to maintain with no technical knowledge required.
Facebook obviously made it easy on purpose, hoping to create exactly this scenario - where half of all small-business presence is only on Facebook and if you want to see that content you need a Facebook account to do it.
I hate it passionately, but I absolutely understand how it came to be this way.
Small business owners aren’t thinking about the ideological consequences of forcing people to engage with big tech to see their site, or that they should take a stand in promoting an open and decentralised Internet. They’re just thinking “I need a web presence” and I guess I can’t blame them for that as much as I dislike it.
Oh, I understand it… it’s basically free and I think they feel that advertising on facebook is good business. Facebook has just made it hard to view without an account. I think I’d have less of a problem with it if I could view the information without facebook popping up a “create an account” modal constantly, preventing me from viewing the information.
“I’m cutting it entirely”, “how can I see it’s content”
Clearly you’re not ot cutting it entirely, as you immediately after declaring you quit smoking bought another pack.
Just leave those platforms. Screw it’s brain rot content. Don’t open links from friends to there anymore. Just live a better life without all the junk there, plus without the junk on YouTube shorts and tiktok. Trust me, your life gets better without it.
OP isn’t asking about how to keep viewing shorts or memes from friends.
Many businesses forgo websites and put their contacts, opening hours, menus, and updates on a dedicated Facebook page. Is that small business open on Sundays? Google says yes, but Facebook has a post from the owner about their dog dying so the store is closed for the week.
I am part of several social groups that communicate entirely through Facebook. There is no way to get updates out to all members outside of the dedicated group pages. A venue change a few months back caused chaos because some people didn’t check the Facebook group in the week leading up to the event.
I too want to leave Facebook, and have stripped my use down to these minor use cases. But getting rid of it completely at this point cuts me off from some of my only positive mental health activities.
Leaving Facebook is more than just not using a website. Facebook is more than a website and leaving it is leaving the entire culture it has captured, so that our energies are spent building the culture that remains uncaptured instead of contributing to the captured culture. It’s a big fucking deal that affects every aspect of your life in modern society.
I use either MeTube or https://mollygram.com/ to view IG reels my wife and friends send me. Doesn’t have full browsing though, and might not help with seeing business hours. I tend to just not do business with any place that requires an account to see their info.
