With Unfriends Like These...

For a product that made its top guy a multi-billionaire, Facebook really does have some crappy, limiting, and non-intuitive software from an end-user viewpoint. It's what it doesn't do but should.

I've noted before because I only use it to promote my article links, that I do not send out friend requests. I only accept them, and that's after giving a friend request a once-over to make sure the requestor looks to be interested in RKBA, and to try not to let spammers, grabbers, and purveyors of "nude photos" in. But what Facebook doesn't do is tell me who has "unfriended" me. Instead, you need to use third-party software, in this case, "Unfriend Finder."

I get notified if anyone drops me and access a screen that looks like this:

The "red" deleted me, for reasons anywhere from they deactivated their account (there seems to be a lot of that going around lately) to they've decided they want nothing to do with me. Ah, well.

I then go to my Facebook page, click on the "friends" link, and enter my ex-cyberpal's name. If it's a case of a deactivated account, this is what I see:

Since I have no idea why they did it and if they'll ever be back, I click on "unfriend." I figure if they change their mind they'll be back. As for other reasons, sometimes I see their name does not appear so no action is needed on my part.

Twitter is pretty much the same. For that, I use Who.Unfollowed.Me.

Yeah, I know about Gab and Parler and MeWe and have accounts with all, but they just don't produce enough article readership results to make it worth my limited time.

And for those of you who make a point of telling everyone you never use "social media," well, just so you realize you are ceding an effective ideological battlespace to the enemy. Until such time as it's no longer worth my while, I'll continue using it as ADVOCACY media.