How I did it: There were a couple of people I talked to there for awhile but it faded. Since I joined as my cat (Facebook wouldn't accept my real name without a scan of a government-issued ID) I ended up accepting friendship from his animal friends, which was cool, but then I ended up friends with random friends-of-friends who turned out to be idiots and a bunch of people from Etsy who were nice enough but really just wanted to sell me things.

(I don't really get that. There are some artists I follow on Twitter because I like their artwork AND they have interests or political views similar to mine. Or they are really supportive of their children's geekiness. I don't expect other artists to be customers.

Shouldn't they be putting their own art on their walls?)

Anyway, I hadn't used the account very much at all. Less every time I had to change my privacy settings. But this last thing about "frictionless sharing"? Um, no. The last thing I need is to accidentally click on something that gives Facebook permission to post every little thing I'm reading. Sometimes I read things I don't agree with simply because someone tells me not to. I have a hard enough time explaining that in real life.

I do have one account left. It has ZERO friends. And it will continue to have zero friends. It's there because my art printer has a store app and so I can get coupons and vote with a like on boycott pages. It's not there for social reasons.

I may not even keep that one. I'm currently deciding if it's worth it. My artwork posts to my page automatically so I don't need to log in, but the idea of having it makes me feel icky.

Lessons & tips: Just do it. Delete the account and don't log in for two weeks. If you log in, your account will be reactivated automatically.

You can also do it to start over if you've accumulated too many idiots.

If you want to post pics and video but have them deletable in case you want to delete your account in the future, use flickr or vimeo or something. They have private and/or password-protected options.

Also, people are in awe of people who delete Facebook accounts. It's like telling someone you don't watch TV. You can see the wheels start turning when they realize it can be done.

Resources: I was hoping to use The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine but Facebook sent them a threatening letter. You can use it to delete other social media accounts that feel like they're holding you hostage.

You can delete all of your status updates and notes, but you have to do
it one at a time. You can delete pictures and video but they are not
actually ever deleted. Anyone who has a direct link can find it for two
years or more.

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Oct 10, 08:06AM PDT | 0 comments | 4 cheers