Today I am posting a little different type of post because I want to inform you of a change I am making for 2015.
I have been a Facebook user from the early beginnings of it and have loved the way that I can touch base with friends and relatives afar. It brings joy to my heart to be able to have conversations and share photos to keep updated on their lives. But of late, I have found the changes in Facebook to be very much like “poking your nose where it doesn’t belong” in their dealings with us as users. As some have said, we are Facebook’s product and everything we do is sold and given away. So for me, when I post my photos, they are no longer mine anymore. Facebook owns them. And, just how do they decide to use what’s on my page and then post a “Year in the Life of…” on my page without my permission? Because they can. Have you ever tried to talk to someone at Facebook? Yeah…doesn’t work. There IS no one. When someone hijacked my Facebook page a while back and put a pornographic picture up as my profile that everyone could see, could I report it? Not really. I did report it after going in circles and never getting anywhere. But you can never talk to anyone. There report methods go around and around. They don’t contact you. It continued to happen and I couldn’t delete it.
So I have been researching other options and found one; MeWe.com. I have played a bit with the idea of this site, read some on it, took it for a ride, and just the other day when a friend posted about it in a food for thought post, that was my confirmation to go look at it again more seriously, and I went ahead and signed up. Is it hard to leave Facebook? Yes it may be. I have friends I really want to stay in touch with. Hard? Not horribly difficult, just a learning curve. But I am willing to learn it for the sake of the privacy that I experience there. No ads. No hints drawn from key strokes. Don’t believe me? Just type up something different on your page than you normally would on a subject of choice and see what ads come up all over your page. Then wait for the emails that follow.
The social network I went with is called MeWe.com. It’s all about clean pages, and the chance to enjoy connection with friends. It operates a lot like a Facebook account would operate but much more freedom with how it is set up. You can
have groups and actually decide more how you want your page to look. I have never been interested in the numbers of people who I have either. I just like to share and connect with people. I enjoy being a resource for others. This is my goal: Share life together and encourage each other when we need it; walking the journey together.
You don’t have to quit Facebook if you don’t want to but you can join MeWe and still have your other account. I’m just choosing to streamline my life a bit and make the time I do give to social networking something I can enjoy with out all the earmarks of other stuff I don’t care to see. I hope you will check it out and see what you think. On this site, they actually encourage input and there is someone you can talk to. So you will see less and less of me on Facebook and more and more of me on MeWe as I build my connections there. Don’t settle for the “it’s just too hard to move” when you really don’t like what is going on where you are but are just too afraid to take the step. Do something about it and change. I love it! I hope I will be watching for your friend request. Go to www.mewe.com/i/joann.shiley and let’s meet up!
Start the new year right…with privacy and fun!
Walking the journey with you…
~JoAnn
journeysofmyheart.com 
Enjoyed learning about your frustration and your intentions. I, too, am finding the clean face of mewe.com to be something refreshing. As photographers, we know that the best images are the simple ones that speak to the heart. The other day I pulled up FB with all its commercials begging for my attention and began to read my friends’ posts while monitoring my emotions. There were so many negative posts, that I felt all dirty by the time I finished. That is not how I feel on mewe.com. It seems like it is more old fashioned conversation around shared goals and values. I like how calm it feels. I haven’t been on FB since yesterday and it is nearing mid-afternoon. That is rare! I noticed I have 56 notifications but curiosity has not sent me to open my page. Instead, I’m pondering how I can add value and content and invite interaction on the group I began on mewe.com called The Creative Renaissance. It feels, good, doesn’t it JoAnn?
I love my page at MeWe also Marlee. I love to engage with people and can’t wait for more to join us! I love its clarity and you can actually have a continued purpose there without everything else. So I look forward to what God can do there and can’t wait for what God is going to do in through that kind of interaction. It is all good! Thanks for sharing!