Remember in like 2010 when it was cool to "become a fan" of every obscure Facebook page you could find, and then after about a month you regretted it because your news feed was filled with junk? Well, I can't really say my social media habits have changed much since then.
I "unliked" most of the stupid pages I had previously liked on Facebook so I could at least start seeing my friends' posts again on my news feed and not a bunch of clickbait. But since that time, I've probably liked an additional 200 pages that have gotten "suggested" to me, and joined about 100 groups. The only difference now is that the groups I'm in now always have posts I care about.
But still. I have a problem, OK?
85 percent of my news feed is now sponsored posts from pages I've liked trying to sell me stuff (that is crazy-tailored to me and I'm super tempted to buy), or posts from total strangers in a group I'm part of that I read and say "Huh, I forgot I was in that group."
Now, I'm not innocent either. I'm definitely not a troll, but I do a lot of the posting in the groups I'm in. I'm probably clogging up the other members' news feed just as much. And honestly, I hope they love reading my posts as much as I love reading their's, because 90 percent of my Facebook activity is reading posts in groups that I'm in. Here are a few other Facebook quirks that people in tons of Facebook groups can relate to:
1. Saving a ridiculous number of links
I always think I'll read them later, but I think I've actually read them later like, once. On a weekly basis, Facebook will remind me that I have so many saved links, and that I should probably actually open some of them. In an attempt to actually read all of them, sometimes I'll message them to myself so they're easier to go back and find.
But nope.
I rarely make time to go back and read them.
2. Making Internet friends through your groups
I think kids these days that make Internet friends do so through Tumblr mostly, but over 20 of my Facebook friends are now people I've met (only online, usually) through the multitude of Facebook groups I'm in.
"Hey, I see you post a lot in five different groups I'm in, wanna be friends?"
3. Being addicted to reading every single comment on threads that catch your attention
Along with "liking" all of the comments you agree with.
Over 400 comments? Challenge accepted.
4. You really only use four or five of the groups you're a member of, but you still can't stop joining groups
I have this weird thing where if Facebook suggests a group to me, I have a really hard time not joining it because it probably applies to me in some way and someone at Facebook worked really hard to present me with relevant content (or more likely it was an algorithm).
5. You read an article that really applies to one of your groups and you accidentally share it to your entire Facebook
Then you have to go to your wall speedy quick to delete it, and then retype your entire post to share into the group it was intended for. Ugh.
6. You want to delete your Facebook, but you can't because of all of your groups
Several times you've encountered such stupidity online that you just wanted to quit the Internet altogether, but then you realize you can't deactivate your Facebook because who else will you ask to look at this mysterious rash at 2 in the morning? Who else will give you tips on great recipes? Who else will tell you creative ways they've used coconut oil recently? How will you know what's happening in the local garage sale scene? What will happen to all of your saved links that you might eventually read?
Must. Stay. Connected.
God bless Facebook groups.
