Assuming you do at all; how much do you self censor on Facebook? & why?

[SoCaliGirl]

I find myself self-censoring more and more on Facebook these days...

 

The NSA/big brother BS seems like it's going to escalate until the server farms collapse and open up a black hole.

 

I am moving into more professional circles where I am concerned about jeopardizing professional relationships with politics/philosophy.

 

I have been feeling more and more like it's Facebook is an unproductive medium for changing hearts/minds.

 

Thoughts?

[regevdl]

I find myself self-censoring more and more on Facebook these days...

 

The NSA/big brother BS seems like it's going to escalate until the server farms collapse and open up a black hole.

 

I am moving into more professional circles where I am concerned about jeopardizing professional relationships with politics/philosophy.

 

I have been feeling more and more like it's Facebook is an unproductive medium for changing hearts/minds.

 

Thoughts?

I have a personal page and a business page and of course  a lot of my friends from personal page are also on my business page.  I know many of them do not follow me on my personal page (or interact) but  I need their likes and shares for my busienss page.  So I try to find a good balance.

 

I have tried various tactics.  I get straight to the point on topics or write 'notes'..sometimes lengthy that way they are logged and easier to find in archives. 

 

What I hate about FB is that friends can see what you write on a completely different wall. I tend to be more brutally honest (but  civil) away from my all than the content I post on my wall....but the odd thing is that my friends engage with my comments on oher walls morethan my own.  So I am not sure what to make of that.   lol

 

I have a lot of 'closet' followers and they periodically send me PM telling me they enjoy my posts . 

 

So it's a challenge to find the right balance where I don't feel stressed about it.  lol  I do like more forums like this where it's anomynous and people can be as frank as they see fit.  I've noticed that in private anomynous forums, people are far more civil than on FB where you have your entire profile exposed.  It speaks to human behavior that people are nicer to strangers than people they might even know a litle bit.  

[tele]

I find myself self-censoring more and more on Facebook these days...

 

The NSA/big brother BS seems like it's going to escalate until the server farms collapse and open up a black hole.

 

I am moving into more professional circles where I am concerned about jeopardizing professional relationships with politics/philosophy.

 

I have been feeling more and more like it's Facebook is an unproductive medium for changing hearts/minds.

 

Thoughts?

 

I agree that facebook is of no use for changing minds and would go further that it is nothing but a time sink. I get the impression it is only used by bored housewives posting about restaurant meals and their kids.

 

In the 'real world' I am finding that I am self censoring less and less and quite frankly, bugger the consequences.

[ValueOfBrevity]

I deleted my facebook years ago for this exact reason. Some employers even demand login info. No way, Jose.

[Cuffy_Meigs]

100% from me. I deleted my Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts two years ago and I don't miss them. I upgraded to FDR where the conversations are far more intelligent.

[shirgall]

I save my Facebook comments for groups where they are appropriate, just like my tailor my in-person speech for my audience.

[powder]

This is interesting to me.  I joined FB a few months ago after years of colleagues telling me it was a good thing.  I found out of course that many of them are lefty and quite political in their posts (artists and musicians mostly).  I started to post the occasional argument and push back on some of the propaganda that was flying around.  I don't post or link political or philosophical stuff on my personal and business pages but  like regevdl, I recently learned that all my friends and followers can see the comments I post on other people's timelines.  I am rethinking this idea now.  I have had some good debates with a couple of people and had some positive feedback about my arguments, which of course are quite foreign to most.  

[DaVinci]

I don't censor myself much on FB, but I'm also finding that people don't care. They either don't respond to my posts, or they don't respond to my comments on their posts. I've even had some conversations recently where people who I know want to expand their knowledge stop responding to me after a few posts about certain subjects like politics. It's too easy on FB for someone else to "like" the posts of the person I'm responding too, while no one likes my posts which tends to create a kind of group think scenario where I must be wrong because no one is liking my posts and everyone is disagreeing with me. 

[powder]

I don't censor myself much on FB, but I'm also finding that people don't care. They either don't respond to my posts, or they don't respond to my comments on their posts. I've even had some conversations recently where people who I know want to expand their knowledge stop responding to me after a few posts about certain subjects like politics. It's too easy on FB for someone else to "like" the posts of the person I'm responding too, while no one likes my posts which tends to create a kind of group think scenario where I must be wrong because no one is liking my posts and everyone is disagreeing with me. 

can't disagree with that

[SoCaliGirl]

It is quite irritating how a photo of my cat will get 50 "likes" but a well thought out, well articulated argument about a political issue will get completed ignored with zero comments or likes.

[shirgall]

Let me add that when I was a hiring manager, searching for people on the Internet, including social media, was just part of the vetting process. What you post can certainly be taken into account. Heck, I have had specific impressions of people just based on what they chose for their email address.

[Thus_Spake_the_Nightspirit]

I have all my friends filtered into different lists depending on their capacity to handle things that they disagree with. Only the best and smartest ones get to see my most controversial post. Over half of them only see my cat photos.

[Tyne]

I don't post much on Facebook, and I comment even less often. When I do decide to leave a comment, I think long and hard about what I say and if I should say it at all. I really don't care what people think about my arguments or political positions. I feel pretty safe from attack behind my computer, and being female and mixed race; my employers are republicans and don't seem that interested in snooping around my Facebook page.

 

My husband, however, is concerned that my opinions could end up costing me employers and clients in the future. He is a stay-at-home father and can be open about these topics with out much consequence. (Although he says even he has clammed up more over certain topics these days).