It Really Wasn't That Long Ago
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (121731)
Gainesville, Florida
June 10, 2017 4:22pm CST
I received a notification from Facebook this morning alerting me that on this day 8 years ago I joined Facebook. So, today is my 8th anniversary with Facebook, and it's been a love/hate relationship the entire way!
But what struck me as amazing is that I've only been on Facebook for 8 years. It seems like it's been 20 years or something like that. We've just all gotten used to having Facebook around that we feel like it's always been a part of our lives.
I still remember when I first joined. I jumped on the bandwagon early, and I remember trying to get everyone else to join. The standard response from people back then was, "Why do I need another social media account when I have MySpace?" Do you guys remember MySpace? Oh goodness, that was ancient!
I guess by technology standards Facebook is considered a relic, yet it's still hanging in there. When existing technology becomes obsolete every 18 months or so, it's incredible to think that Facebook has survived this long.
So, how long have the rest of you been on Facebook?
22 people like this
23 responses
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
I'm the same way. I keep in touch with family and a few friends through Facebook, and that is really the only time I'm on it. When I do have free time for social media, I am always on this site.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (67080)
• United States
10 Jun 17
I remember myspace. It was 10x better than facebook and twitter are. Loved creating my own page and doing music and what not.
4 people like this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
MySpace has reinvented itself as a social media site for musicians. It's still pretty active from what I've heard from my musician friends.
4 people like this
@Courtlynn (67080)
• United States
11 Jun 17
@moffittjc might be. I've only been on it a few times since I've been on facebook (8-9 years). And that was just to get old photos.
1 person likes this
@dodo19 (47336)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
12 Jun 17
@moffittjc I don't post very often either. I will usually just go to see what people are up to.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
12 Jun 17
I'm the same way, I am constantly asking myself why I even bother keeping my account. But then sometimes I get the urge to post a lot of things. Like when I'm on vacation or something. But for the most part, I stay off of the site.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
13 Jun 17
@dodo19 I'll spend about 5 minutes a day doing just that. I'll go on FB just long enough to see what people are up to. Then I quickly realize that even after all these years people still post about what they are cooking for dinner! Which just reaffirms my belief that nothing ever good happens on FB! haha
1 person likes this
@velvet53 (22533)
• Palisade, Colorado
30 Jul 17
@moffittjc I see. Exactly what kind of business do you work for?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 17
I manage our social media pages at work, so unfortunately I have to be on Facebook every day. But I don't hardly do anything on my personal FB page anymore.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
1 Aug 17
@velvet53 City government. I run the athletic and aquatic divisions of our local parks and recreation department.
1 person likes this
@infatuatedbby (94914)
• United States
11 Jun 17
I have been on Facebook for longer than 8 years. I received a Happy 8 years with a previous best friend of mine that we've been friends. I remember MySpace! It took me the longest time to switch over.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
Facebook has only been available to the masses since about 2006. I resisted joining for as long as I could, but being that most of my employees are college students, it was all they talked about at the time, so I finally gave in and joined. Among people my age, I was one of the first among my friends to join, but still several years behind the younger kids.
1 person likes this
@infatuatedbby (94914)
• United States
11 Jun 17
@moffittjc I may have hoped on the wagon a few months after the release. :)
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
@infatuatedbby Actually, I did too, but through work, not personal. I created my first work Facebook page in 2007, but our attorneys made me shut it down. It was so new back then that the city didn't have policies dealing with social media sites. I'll write post about it.
1 person likes this
@bluesa (15022)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
11 Aug 17
I was late to join Facebook, all my friends had to nag me. I think I have only been on Facebook for about 6 or 7 years now, and I am rarely on Facebook, if I am online then I am on myLot. I was never on MySpace. It is amazing that Facebook is still doing so well.
1 person likes this
@bluesa (15022)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
11 Aug 17
@moffittjc and just like that, bye bye competition.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Aug 17
I thought for sure something else would have replaced Facebook by now. I thought at first that Instagram would kill FB, but then Mark Zuckerberg went out and bought Instagram and made it part of the FB family! Lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Aug 17
@bluesa Yes, Zuckerberg tends to buy up his competition. He sure has enough money to buy everything he wants! I know he wanted to get a hold of Twitter a few years back, but they wouldn't sell to him. But then again, he really doesn't need Twitter in his repertoire, as he is already sitting at the top of the mountain. Must be nice to be that rich.
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
17 Jun 17
I think I have been on Facebook since 2009. Prior to that I did have a MySpace account. Does it still exist? Haven't checked that one out in years.
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
18 Jun 17
@moffittjc the last time I was there I had requests from strange men telling me how hot I was and I don't believe I have my picture posted there.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
17 Jun 17
yes, MySpace still exists! And my old account is still there, I checked it not too long ago. Can't believe I still remembered my password! haha
These days, MySpace is mostly used by musicians and bands to promote themselves and to let their followers know of upcoming shows and other news about the bands.
1 person likes this
@popciclecold (39521)
• United States
11 Jun 17
MySpace. I had almost forgotten it. I been on about three years.
1 person likes this
@popciclecold (39521)
• United States
11 Jun 17
@moffittjc I guess in cyberspace. Lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
@popciclecold Yep, I figured that's where a lot of our old accounts are...floating around in cyberspace somewhere. Someday, an electronic archeologist is going to dig them up somewhere and display them in a museum! haha
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
Did you ever delete your MySpace account? Or is it still there in cyberspace somewhere?
1 person likes this
@sishy7 (27167)
• Australia
14 Jun 17
@moffittjc Yeah, I function just fine without it all these years...
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
14 Jun 17
Don't worry, you're not missing anything by not having a Facebook account.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
15 Jun 17
@sishy7 There was a time 6-7 years ago where I was addicted to Facebook. I couldn't go 10 minutes without checking my Facebook. I had to know everything that was going on with every one of my followers, and I didn't want to miss a thing. I don't know how I ever got any work done during that time, because I was always on Facebook! Nowadays, I'll go weeks before I check Facebook, and usually that's only to clear out any notifications I have!
1 person likes this
@Shavkat (140129)
• Philippines
11 Jun 17
@moffittjc If you are going to ask me, I would rather be in mylot,
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
@Shavkat myLot is my preferred social media site thesis days.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
I still maintain some activity on social media, but not like I used to. I go on social media sites just long enough to keep up with the latest news or trends. But I generally avoid social media if I can.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (472087)
• Switzerland
11 Jun 17
I have a FB account, but I use it very little, only to keep in touch with family. I do not know how long I have been on FB, I am logging in to search if I can find out. I can find nowhere when I joined. I only noticed that I have a friendship with a cousin that is almost 8 years old.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (472087)
• Switzerland
11 Jun 17
@moffittjc I will see if it shows me something in the next few days.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
@LadyDuck It would probably only show it on your anniversary date of joining the site.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
I don't know if there is anywhere on the site that will tell you how long you have been a member, but each time I first log in for the day, Facebook shares memories with me from the past. It sent me a Facebook memory that told me I joined FB 8 years ago.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (41752)
• United States
23 Jun 17
I really had no desire to be on facebook, but it was a way to keep up with what our kids were doing!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
25 Jun 17
I really still have no desire to be on Facebook, but I manage my social media accounts at work so I naturally have to be on there a lot!
I can't say that I am on there to keep up with my kids, because both of them refuse to have Facebook accounts!
Yeah, I raised my kids right! LOL
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
21 Jun 17
I've been on it for 6 years, just got the notice this week it was my anniversary. I joined so I could keep in touch with my three kids, all on line and on FB. Then I realized I had lots of friends on FB and enjoy keeping up with all of them. We moved so many times while my husband was building his reputation in his field and we left so many good friends behind, thankfully FB made it easy to find them and keep in touch.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jun 17
You know what's funny? My two teenagers absolutely refuse to have a Facebook account. They say Facebook is for old people! haha
But they both have Instagram accounts, and so if I want to keep up with them, I have to check out their Instagram posts!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
25 Jun 17
@moffittjc I can see that, there are so many old friends on FB I rarely see the youngsters..
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
Did you ever have an account on MySpace? I did, and I never deleted it. I went and logged on today and my MySpace page is exactly how I left it when I last used it 8 years ago! lol
3 people like this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
@djbrat13 I've thought about deleting my account, but I have too many long-distance friends on the site to get rid of it. It's the easiest way for me to keep in touch with people.
1 person likes this
@djbrat13 (392)
• Phoenix, Arizona
11 Jun 17
@moffittjc I did have an account but I had deleted it a loooooooong time...
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61101)
• United States
27 Jun 17
I on the other hand didn't join right away and I still have reservations about the amount of personal data and information that people share on there, TMI for sure.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jun 17
It's amazing that today's younger generation has no reservations whatsoever about sharing any all personal information about themselves. But I guess maybe they're just a victim of the times, having grown up in a world addicted to the internet, where the sharing of personal information is encouraged rather than discouraged.
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
19 Jun 17
I joined Facebook in 2008 or 2009. I loved Myspace back in the day, then they started changing everything and now it's pretty much unusable. I miss having my blog and being able to customize my page and music playlists. I have noticed more and more people are leaving Facebook these days, although I don't know where they're all migrating to.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
19 Jun 17
They're all migrating to Instagram and Snapchat, which interestingly are both owned by Facebook!
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
But for me, that is one of the reasons I do not like it anymore. They keep trying to mess with it, and now it has become too cluttered and convoluted. That's a big reason why so many people have switched from Facebook to Instagram, because Instagram is still very simple and straightforward.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
11 Jun 17
I've been active on there for TEN YEARS!! You were SO late to the Facebook Party?! I do remember a time when I much preferred MySpace. But then, everybody else was using Facebook. I wrote a post on Helium about how Facebook was naff compared to MySpace. I was obviously in the minority for my thoughts.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
I don't think you were in the minority for your thoughts. At least with the older generation. The young kids were frustrated with MySpace because it was supposed to be their thing, free from any influence or meddling by adults or parents. But then adults and parents started joining MySpace in record numbers, and it pissed off the kids so they started gravitating to Facebook. But I remember so many adults back then saying, why do we need Facebook, when MySpace gives us everything we want in a social media site?
And actually, I was late to the Facebook party for my personal account (on purpose), but I was one of the first governmental agencies in the US to created a Facebook page for work.
1 person likes this
@Elizaby (6902)
• Pensacola, Florida
2 Jul 17
I have an account but really don't post on it, I check some that I follow or like some businesses to help them but as forpersonal stuff I don't post because what you post can come back to haunt as I know of some instances where some did not get a job they were hoping because of what they posted
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Jul 17
Trust me, I know exactly what you mean about things you post coming back to haunt you. On at least two occasions, I have gotten into some hot water at work for things I posted on my Facebook page. And both times, I threatened to get an attorney to sue for infringement on my First Amendment rights. Both times my employer has backed down, but in all honesty they have the right to discipline me due to what I post, since I am in a high-profile, public administration job. But they fear drawn out lawsuits costing lots of money, so they usually will make a stink about it, but not really follow through on their threats.
@andriaperry (117146)
• Anniston, Alabama
11 Jun 17
About 7 years, was on myspace too, I reckon I am still there :)
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121731)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Jun 17
I stopped using MySpace when I moved over to Facebook, but I never deleted my account. I went back there and logged on, and my account is still just how I left it many years ago.
1 person likes this
