I Like Facebook Best for Social Media

I know, I know, I sound old when I say this but please hear me out, I have some good reasons. 

I have enjoyed using Facebook since the summer before 8th grade. Facebook was the site most of my family was connected on already, and that my friends were getting introduced to as well at the time. It became a fun website where I could post fun, and funny pictures and text, simply “friend” friends and message friends for free, because texting wasn’t unlimited at the time. 

Facebook gets disliked by some younger people because the older generations are also interacting with it, but this is one of my favorite elements, I can post and know that my grandparents and other family have the chance to see my latest updates if they’re on, and I can see theirs. The same goes for my church congregation and even pastors, I love that so many of us are connected on the site, and it makes my intergenerational church even better connected. 

Another favorite element is that there’s no follow counts. On Facebook you’re just friends, no playing the mind game that is the “follower game” of followers to following ratios on your profile; unless you turn on followers on Facebook, but even then you can still just be friends. I think this is really helpful. That’s my primary problem with Instagram. I’ll admit I get sucked into follower counting. It’s a psychological boost that we really can’t avoid liking, it’s human nature. When you get a new follower it essentially means someone’s interested in you, that’s arguably a lot of power.

Related to followers it seems like everybody and their brother feels the need to have two accounts, a “personal” one and a “professional” or “spam” one. For a number of people it’s justified, but really not for the majority of middle and high schoolers, and even college students and most adults. This system is obviously valuable to some online, but I think it usually just complicates things and even further encourages the “follower game” I think the other reason I’m not  huge fan of this is because it feels like someone’s trying to live 2 lives, this not the case for everyone, but it feels off sometimes to me. This all not to say it’s wrong, its just sometimes frustrating to me.

In addition to all this, I would argue that Facebook has far more diverse benefits than the other methods, from events to marketplace, to groups and even things like photo albums that try to keep thoughts and ideas organized. I have used Facebook on numerous occasions for youth group announcements, political connections, university events, and swing dancing events. The other sites can’t do any of that. 

I’ll admit to having at least a presence on most of the latest social media platforms.  I started all the other profiles I have in high school, because that’s where everyone was connected, and I wanted to stay easily connected with my friends; the exemption to that is Twitter, for that one I was just plain curious and now I follow a lot of political thinkers on that one. The others I enjoy for different reasons. 

All this to say that I actually do like Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and even YouTube, in addition to Facebook. I also use LinkedIn, but I think that’s a different case to a certain respect. The rest admittedly have their niche in the media world, and it can be fun.

Nowadays I wish I wish that Gen Z liked Facebook more because that’s where I am, but honestly, they’re mostly on Snapchat, so I might pick it back up to connect more easiliy online with the high schoolers I lead at youth group. 

So we can all enjoy social media, just don’t let it take over your life, especially not the”following game”. Oh and by the way: @katherineglader or @katieglader on Snapchat.