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Why I Came Back To Facebook

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Circa 2004. The time when you needed an invite to join Facebook. I was so excited to receive one and before I knew it, I was pretty much updating every bit of my life out there. "What's on your mind", was taken very seriously and looks like I felt the need to answer that every thirty minutes or so. Things only got worse a few years later. I had just started working and was nursing a heartbreak. Internet access became more easy at work and I apparently was good at finding quotes on pain, crying, heartbreak and sharing them. Some of the memories that pop-up these days make me want to cringe and die at the same time. Long story short, Facebook has been a vital part of my growing up.

Roughly around four years ago, I finally did what I wanted to do for a long time. I de-activated my account. I was tired of the number of updates I kept getting about people I never or no-longer cared about. Also, I no longer had the patience to go through 476 pictures of someone's vacation to Goa. Add to this life updates, travel updates, materialistic gloating, melancholic cribbing, it all felt too much. I was already very closely in touch with the people who mattered to me. Offline. This space no longer felt necessary. Or needed even. I had already disabled all notifications decades ago. My usage of Facebook was solely in my hands and I no longer wanted it to exist. Just like that, one fine day, I went off.

It would be very profound to say that it changed my life and all that jazz. Honestly, it did not. One day it was there and then it wasn't. That's about it. Life moved on and so did I.

Then, sometime towards May 2022, I decided to get back on Facebook. Why? Blame this space! I'm not kidding. Blogging was the only reason I came back to Facebook. Writing had taken a backseat over the past few years, but I realized that it was also to do with the lack of readership. Without Facebook, I wasn't sharing my posts anywhere. Those times had long passed when people had bookmarked blog pages or subscribed to the posts. Without updates, how would people know that there was something new to read? I thought about it long and hard. Facebook was a space I had given up on and I never expected to return. All the other blogging communities were now extinct too. The only way to let people know that I was writing again was to announce it. So, I found myself crawling back to Facebook.

Having said that, the only reason I'm here is because of the Facebook Blogging Community that I'm a part of. Blog-A-Rhythm or BAR as we are known. We are a group of bloggers who still write for the genuine love of writing. Most of us had lost the motivation to write and were looking for a push. That was exactly what I needed too. Writing and sharing my posts here gave me good readership, genuine comments and it felt nice to be back again. Probably the only reason that I'm still writing is knowing that I am a part of this community that never gives up.

My return to Facebook was not as easy as I expected it to be. I thought the place would have changed and people would have understood the perils of social media, turns out not so much. I came back to ample life updates. A wedding, a baby, a second baby, a move, a new car, another new car, and yes, there still were a few hundred pictures of Goa and the likes. This time, it did not bother me much. Just because I did not want to share anything about my personal life, doesn't mean that others did not want to either. Just because I find it superficial doesn't mean that others too. Maturity had settled in and I realized that people are different and their ways of conveying things is also different. While it was not my cup of tea, for many others it held the tea set together.

For me, Facebook is an outlet to share my blogposts and nothing else. I'm more active and interactive on Instagram. Facebook and Twitter have lost their shine for me. Still, I have a reason to use it. Blogging is that reason for me. For others, it is something else. Honestly, I find it quite cute and innocent that people are still sharing every detail of their life here. Writing is my outlet, this is theirs. I've finally understood that. Everyone is here for their own reasons and I've now learned to respect that. I have a different set of priorities, so do they. As much as a toxic and fake place social media can be, if used right it can be magical.

So, well yeah! I'm back on Facebook to keep my blogging passion alive. I'll stay here for that very reason.

Comments

  1. Good to see you back on FB ! God knows for how many days I kept visiting your blog to see your pearsons post again and again - I did wonder what had happened to your writing, because you were pretty consistent. Good to have you back at this space <3

    Now let me see if this helps me dust out my space and start living there :D

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    1. Good to see you too! Awww aren't you the sweetest <3

      I promise to write at least once a week now.

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  2. I love the maturity with which you have written this post, Soumya. I totally get where you are coming from. While I have never given up on FB, twitter or Instagram, I have modified how I use them and my expectations from them. Who am I to judge who does what on which medium? It's good to read you again. And you are right, we love the kinship we share as a blogging group. These posts that are written for the sheer joy of writing and sharing.

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    1. Thank you, Rachna. I can see myself change as a person of late. I'm glad it is for the good. Social Media is all about to each their own. I've understood that now. I just do what I need to do and leave.

      Oh yes! I met your through BAR too! I'm glad we have a group of awesome people who write just for the joy of writing.

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  3. Welcome back to Facebook!
    I kind of agree with you on this, since the only reason I am still on Facebook is for sharing the blogposts I rarely write!
    Yes, our little community still keeps the spark alive and glad to be a part of it.
    Looking forward to more posts from you!

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  4. That's the only reason why I am on Facebook. For blogging. I don't even look at my feed anymore. I am a part of some other blogger groups as well, so once I'm a while it is nice to find interesting posts to read. I am glad you are back to sharing your blogposts. Let's hope 2023 is good for our blogging space.

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    1. Exactly! Just for the blogs I'm here too. I'm glad to see you have been writing as well. Let's hope we get to write more in 2023.

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  5. I can relate to your thoughts, Soumya. I used to share a lot of status updates, not many photos, mostly thoughts, on FB once upon a time. That was before I had started blogging actively. While I never deactivated my account, I stopped sharing updates altogether. Initially, it felt like I didn't want to be yet another noise in the online space, which gradually changed into not wanting to sharing anything on FB. Even though I was writing quite a bit, often I forgot to share those in my profile. For me, self doubt was the main reason for not sharing stuff online, but when my friends and family asked me about why I am not writing, that's when I realized people were reading my posts even though they were not commenting or liking any of them. So, not sharing in FB kind of helped me learn a few things about myself and others.
    As you said, to each their own. I hate to see 300 photo updates from one Diwali celebration shared by one person, but that's not my place to judge. We have the option to not click and look at the 300 photos. Social media isn't a bad place, provided we take control of our next action and reaction. But yeah, it's not easy to take that control. :)
    Glad to see you writing as you used to do before, Soumya. Your candid posts are always nice to read. Hope to see more blog posts from you this year. :)

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    1. Exactly. People some how don't know that you have written a post unless it is announced some where. People no longer visit blog links directly. I'm glad you got your lessons from FB too. It is all a matter of choice at the end of the day. Our choice. Thank you for reading, Vinitha :)

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  6. Congratulations and welcome back. I never went off FB but I can totally relate to what you are talking about as I have cut it down to just talking about my blog and instagram on FB since past few years. I did go back a few years back and started posting about what I have been watching on OTTS (covid days) and one blogger just cut copied and pasted one of my posts to her FB page where she recommends what to watch. I was so flummoxed and irritated by this though I didnt say anything to her. I has thought her to be one of those mature writers who dont do shit like this, or atleast check if its okay to do so with the original writer of the post. Anyways, post that I got off putting anymore personal stuff/opinions anymore on FB.

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    1. Oh boy, who is that blogger? Shameless.

      I have the most nosiest relatives on the planet. So I completely stopped putting up personal stuff on FB. I did not even want to be on it for the same reason. I'm here only for the blogging scene and will stay only for it.

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  7. OMG! Soumya, this is just like my story! Two years back, I too went off FB. I deleted all my pics and videos and locked my profile. It was as if the universe told me to do so because in a month's time, I changed my phone, forgot my password, and couldn't log into FB.So, I thought WTH, let me forget all about it. As it is it wasted my time. The same thing happened with my IG account, and I felt like the universe was trying to tell me to save my time and focus on what really mattered. I also got busy with my work. Whatever I wrote on my blog i shared on twitter. But sadly, it didn't get me any readers. Just the three or four friends I have been in touch with, visited my blog. And so, last week, just like that, I decided to make a new FB account only for my blog and the blogging community which I had missed sorely. And, so here I am! Same story, no? :) This time, though, I have matured. I have only added blogger friends and am planning on sharing only blogging or writing related stuff. And visit other's blogs and have visitors to mine, and get back into the blogging spirit. And, it feels good.Also, this time I haven't installed the FB app on my phone, so that saves more of my time. Time does teach you what to value, and what matters, right? I am glad I came back to FB for the right reasons. :)

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    1. Oh Shilpa, so good to hear from you! <3

      As much as we say we write for ourselves, we need readership too. That's the motivation to write more. I'm so glad we learned out lesson and are back here for the right reasons.

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  8. Welcome back to Facebook. I am extremely inactive on Facebook and Twitter as well. But now that I am getting back into blogging may be I should use them for blogging purposes as well. But Facebook feels too over crowded to me. And honestly I am not part of any great blogging communities either. Could you recommend a few please?

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    1. Harini! So glad to see you here <3

      FB, just use to share your blog posts. Don't interact for anything personal. I don't follow any blogging communities except BAR. I'll check with them if they are accepting new invites and invite you if it is a yes.

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  9. FB is soooo boring now. I worry for people who posts pics on insta and share it on FB and then post them on whatsapp status also!! I chuckle when I see that max comments are by elders. I judge people when they comment and like based on the posters networth!! Its an entertaining world and God knows I am not getting that masala in my real world, so, honestly, I am in it for the masala!!! 😂

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    1. Aye heroine! Welcome!

      Haha, FB is pretty much a retirement time pass community now. I just can't deal with it, so I only use it for sharing blog posts.

      As for the masala, follow MissMalini on Insta. MORE THAN ENOUGH.

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  10. There was a time I took what's on your mind seriously too. 😂 When some updates from the past pops, I want to run and hide. Nevertheless, its all what I did 🤭 I don't want to simply delete it and behave like nothing mattered or happened. So it's there and I'm here. I logon to Facebook via the browser, and directly visit the BAR group. Yes, the choice to move away or be in social media is very much each one's choice. What I don't like is spamming to follow pages, groups or pestering to subscribe - That truly killed the joy. I was off social media too, now on the fence with Instagram, but otherwise lost it with other spaces.
    I'm not worried this time, more than these social media spaces, I'm glad I'm available via phone to connect if everything else fails. 😊 That's keeping me content in a way.

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    1. Haha, our immature selves. Social media definitely is kill joy. While I don't mind Instagram, mostly because my personal account is private, FB is something I'll never use or anything else other than blog sharing.

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