Goodbye Facebook. It's Time.

I'm moving on by deleting my Facebook account.

Written by Jonathan "JD" Danylko • Last Updated: • Opinion •

Screenshot of Facebook on a laptop

With the amount of controversy over Facebook this past week, I feel this is something I need to share with my readers.

This week, I am deleting my Facebook account.

For those who are shocked (or those who aren't), it has to do with the Facebook media coverage this week regarding the ability to pass around all of our data.

Now, since I'm "firing" Facebook, I want to make this point VERY CLEAR: this is more of a personal decision rather than a persuasive blog post.

If you read this entire post and, by your own volition, you want to delete your Facebook account, by all means, please do. But I don't want this to be a "he-said-I-should-delete-my-Facebook-account-so-I-will" post.

Why am I deleting my account? Let's examine.

Security

Facebook should have a better hold of their data of what can and cannot be accessed.

I've also had an troublesome international scenario with my family where some "people" acquired information about me and it makes me wonder if Facebook was a possible source. While I've moved past this troublesome scenario, why continue to "fuel the fire" by posting about everything personal in my life including where my family is at, my vacation plans, and the time of day I'll be away from house (so it can be robbed).

We've already seen what happened with Cambridge Analytica (reported on CNET here and on TechCrunch here and here).

As a huge juggernaut of the Internet, I also feel Facebook will have a hard time cleaning up this mess.

Audience

This wasn't a huge deciding factor, but if you're reading this, you know I have a technology/programming blog. Looking at my demographics, a majority of my readers are NOT on Facebook so I don't see a need to continue posting content there.

Then again, since my blog is so technical, some users don't even know what I'm talking about when I post my content on Facebook. ;-)

Social Media for Persuasion?

After reading about how Russia impacted the U.S. election, this makes me wonder about how other countries are using Facebook or even other social networks to persuade or influence you to do things ("It's on the Internet, so it must be true.")

Oh, and for those who just read the article, do NOT tell me this is considered "fake news."

Time Waster?

While I do appreciate seeing what old friends and family members are doing, Facebook is not the end-all, be-all social network.

With consumers fueling so many posts on Facebook regarding their first yogurt, Uncle Fred slipping on the ice, or personal meme's flying everywhere to pass the time away, it seems there are better ways to spend my time.

Heck, I've been there. I've been caught scrolling endlessly when I just wanted to wish someone a happy birthday and then I snap out of it and realize I'm watching a rhino attack a truck in Africa.

Yeah. Really Productive.

Conclusion

Finally, I may be over exaggerating with my actions, but I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I've started the process of gathering my Facebook data throughout the years, so I will be going through the motions over the next two weeks (according to DeleteFacebook.com) to download my content.

NOW...

To my existing readers on Facebook (those few who are there), thank you for being loyal followers. I couldn't be where I am today without you. You have my undying gratitude.

If you want to continue to follow me, You can contact me on other platforms found on my bio below or my contact page. I'm never far from your mobile devices. :-)

Goodbye Facebook. I feel it's time to move on.

(UPDATE: 2018-Mar-30) - WOW! Growth At Any Cost: Top Facebook Executive Defended Data Collection In 2016 Memo — And Warned That Facebook Could Get People Killed and what their internal employee's said.

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Picture of Jonathan "JD" Danylko

Jonathan Danylko is a web architect and entrepreneur who's been programming for over 25 years. He's developed websites for small, medium, and Fortune 500 companies since 1996.

He currently works at Insight Enterprises as an Principal Software Engineer Architect.

When asked what he likes to do in his spare time, he replies, "I like to write and I like to code. I also like to write about code."

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