Un-Friending Facebook!

Well, it finally happened, Facebook has gone off the rails and the other day,I deleted my personal Facebook account. As to the WoodyBoater facebook account with over 17,000 likes, we are keeping that, but will not be feeding it anymore. We need to keep it to protect our Copyright and Trademark, but don’t look for content there anymore. We are done. Facebook is a slimy thing. I have for a long time felt creepy about it, since we are the product and they are the platform. But nothing is free in this world and Facebook is using you and I for ad targeted sales. Throttling back stories so you are encouraged to pay, and creating a cluster you know what of crap, that is not reliable or useful anymore.

It’s more fun picking on Pontoon boats

Now I know I have said to the local chapters that it’s a good tool to use as a way to stay connected to your small chapter community and outreach. BUT, Facebook changes daily, and how that Chapter data is used is not cool. Just turn on the news. If you really want to dig deeper it gets far darker with leaked memos about doing business at all cost, even if it helps a terrorist bombing. YUP!

So for a minute forget all this crap and fake apologies from them. The younger audience you want to reach? They are not on Facebook anymore. It’s old people. Over 40, is old people in the digital world. So, you are no longer reaching the real target anyway if you think its for younger people. Younger folks to get into the passion. They are on Instagram, a Facebook owned Co by the way, and other platforms. I will say that we feed Instagram, but it does very little to drive traffic to WoodyBoater, so, we don’t feed that much anymore.

When you break down, facebook friends are hard to find! Real friends can tow you in! And no. NO ONE was drinking and driving. They were drinking and being towed in.

So what are we gonna do? Focus on what we do best, Daily fun exclusive reports on the culture, and keep building a better experience. The App is growing, and has some of the same Creepy Factor tracking issues as Facebook, so we will be adjusting that, including opting OUT of any Facebook sign in. Which gives Facebook access to you as well. You can go to your profile and turn off tracking if you like. It just leaves the red W where you last opened the App.

Hope this has been helpful info, we take your privacy and the Community’s privacy very very seriously, and never want to be creepy. In that way. We are certainly okay being creepy in other ways.

SCHWING! Its just a mast for gods sake.

By the way, if you think I am just saying this for WoodyBoater here is an Op Ed piece I wrote for Media Post on the topic of Advertisers Boycotting Facebook.

26 replies
  1. Captain Nemo
    Captain Nemo says:

    Matt, you just made my day. You brought important issues to light. Fakebook has been an evil entity for too long, if it all crashes down tomorrow it will be a good day.
    I will continue hang out here in Woodyboaterville where life is good.
    Thank You.

  2. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    Facebook didn’t just go off the rails, that happened more than 15 years ago. Basically from the day they let non .edu addresses join. People are just realizing how bad they are and have been.

    By the way, the youngins are on Snap not Instagram and when “old” people invade that they will move on again.

  3. Troy in ANE
    Troy in ANE says:

    Can’t wait to read Paul Harrison’s response to this!

    And just for the record drinking an alcoholic beverage while driving a boat is legal in Maine as long as your blood alcohol level is below .08.

      • Troy in ANE
        Troy in ANE says:

        Doug: I have actually checked with two Maine State Wardens and a Harbor Master.

        The Harbor Master said “you can take a drink right in front of me and as long as you are not over .08 it does not matter.”

        One of the wardens said “the others in your boat can be as drunk as they want to be, but the captain must be under .08.”

        LG (Life is Good for those who don’t know)

      • Troy in ANE
        Troy in ANE says:

        Breathalyzer – they can be bought as cheaply as $30.

        Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone drunk boating, but a glass of wine, beer, or cocktail is not drunk boating.

  4. Jim Staib
    Jim Staib says:

    I find it amazing there are no grammatical errors in the article you wrote. We at Woodyboater must be special. Google stalks you too.

  5. Paul H.
    Paul H. says:

    You mean Facebook was not a philanthropically motivated, wholesome endeavor designed only to foster a sense of community and social engagement for all?

    Who knew?

    LOL…..I feel so, so….vindicated.

  6. Mark
    Mark says:

    Most of the boat people that go on Facebook post pathetic obvious questions just to look important and start some self centered useless discussion.

    More often than not it is the larger vessel types.

    Will eventually get sick of it and leave the site.

  7. Troy in ANE
    Troy in ANE says:

    FB stalks you, Google stalks you, Oh I am pretty sure E-Bay stalks you, what in the world are you going to write about?

    I think I will just do a little stalking of my own.

  8. Bilge Rat
    Bilge Rat says:

    Due to progress toward using the interweb more efficiently, the Lyman Boat site has migrated it’s forum to Facebook access only. A business decision I’m sure as hosting a forum must be expensive. This forced me to drink the Kool-Aid and create a profile so I can still access the forum (my wife thinks this is hilarious). My info there is set to a minimum, not like the self bragging of one’s life that seems to be so prevalent there. I plan on using it as a tool for wood boat information seeking/sharing only, but the thought of even my limited profile and searching being archived and used for marketing still bothers me.

  9. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    Fake book was never something I got sucked into….
    Friends? We have real ones…on this site, in this hobby, to hell with the cyber crap. Got move!!

    Thanks,

    John in Va.

  10. Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U.P.)
    Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U.P.) says:

    Facebook is something I never got into either. I didn’t want the world to know too much about me. One place that I worked it was strongly suggested we not get on Facebook. This was when it first came out.

    • Matt
      Matt says:

      Yes it was the Harrisons boat, we did a story on it. A classic breakdown. It was the little Grease cups were loose and no presure could build up in the pump. The water pump had just been replaced. Simple fix. But epic in the tradition of harrison breakdowns

  11. MikeM
    MikeM says:

    I’m probably in the bottom 5% of “tech savvy” people here on WB…but I’d have to say that with or without FB we’re all being watched.

    For instance, the first time I had a friendly exchange with Tommy Holmes in the comment section of WB I started getting pop-up ads from AXE body wash. They figured if I was hanging with the sexiest man alive I would need to smell really good to even have the slightest chance. If you have internet, you’re being bought and sold everyday. Sorry.

  12. Rich Marschner
    Rich Marschner says:

    Matt, I thought your editorial piece was spot on. Who really needs social media anyway? Not I. Especially now that we know what we know….

    Back to plain ol’ websites. I’m sayin’ it’s an improvement.

  13. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    I am a heavy f/b user tracking events and stuff from my running, biking, motorcycle, CCABC, Vintage boats f/sale, and Sea Skiff groups to name a few. So if your only single minded and think WB is going to address all your wood boat needs then there’s going to be a need to see and post their stuff. Yea, I know, here it is I’m on it. But you’re limited to jpg size and you have your own limits for links, etc. F/b had less restrictive “rules” for that and…haven’t we had this discussion before?? I’m in agreement, I’m about to dump f/b and thats a big move for me for reasons stated above. But I’m sick of the shananigans and wading thru the constant ads which fill my feed. As you said, forum hosting is a major PIA, Troy can chime in here I’m sure taking over some of that with Boat Buzz and the headaches that come with tech. So looks like MySpace can find a new foothold, lol.

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