I hope it becomes more useful, because for me their original value proposition to users was great but has totally lost its way as they’ve monetized.
The trick of course is convincing anyone who isn't me to pay :)
Heck, maybe it should be a non-profit.
If they won't text you, they're not your real friends. (This isn't always true, but I'd say that it's 95% accurate.)
I'm not being condescending or pretentious. I have done this, over the last few months, and it's helped me to realize who's really worth having in my life on a daily basis, and who's not.
One of the great things about Facebook is the unexpected social interactions. I post a picture and someone I haven't talked to in a while comments something really great on it and sparks a conversation and rekindles the friendship. That's not going to happen over text.
People in my life on a daily basis are in my life on a daily basis. People in my life occasionally are on Facebook.
Just mute it so you can passively read it. And if it's something specifically for you they can @handle you.
Also we have more specific groups for gaming, memes, serious, homework,...
Oh and a "huge" group were we can add new people at first, that somebody randomly met somewhere. So they can maybe get friends with some of the others too.
I am personally going through a period where I need to tighten my circle and cut down on the number of people that I communicate with on a given day, so that’s what’s driving my approach.
Thank you for sharing your perspective.
Real friendships aren't passive.
Most instance admins have a Patreon and/or Liberapay if you want to send $10/month their way.
Honestly, maybe invites/sponsorships? One person who care's enough to pay $10 can bring his "social graph" (or a subset) with him.