Successfully leaving Facebook has 3 main stages: analysis, bridge mode and final deletion process.
> I will not be available via Facebook after <insert date> on as I am deleting my Facebook account. > I can be contacted via email at your@email.com, you can continue to chat with me at your@xmpp.account and I am present at <diaspora/friendica/myblog> > Please don't post any data in your Facebook account that involves me. This includes conversations we've had and photos of me that you can part with. > <insert some articles listed on this subreddit, check sidebar: filter bubble, censorship, surveillance, privacy, net neutrality> > Please respect my privacy. Thank you."
Also you can edit your Facebook/Instagram cover profile and put an image with that message. This way, every contact that visits your profile will know about your decision (since the cover profile photo is completely public, obviously do not post personal info).
In this stage, you still are on Facebook services and using alternative services. During a period of time (depends on the size and structure of you social graph, but 2-3 week should be enough) you are spreading your new contact information and updating your address book.
> Hi, like you may be already know I will not be present on Facebook after <insert date>. Please use another service to continue chatting. Thanks.
Help your contact to setup a new account if necessary. See the Alternative - Chat: XMPP/Jabber section. Don't forget to update your address book with emails and XMPP contacts of your social graph.
At the same time, post news on what's wrong with Facebook to reinforce your position and decrease the information asymmetry about the facebook problems. Every month we post a newsletter with the most recent news about the problems of Facebook see [archive]. For example, the mods posted a compilation of problems of Facebook during 2016, see r/bestof: u/fantastic_comment compiles a list of horrible things Facebook has done over the course: of 2016 [12.9k points and top 150 of r/bestof].
Facebook tracks non-users around the internet and which Stores You Walk Into, breaching EU law and USA law.
Choose one or more of the following methods:
Install uBlock Origin and/or uMatrix and go to Settings > 3rd-Party Filters > Enable Fanboy’s Social Blocking List
Or add the following rules (uBlock > My Rules > Edit Temporary rules > Save > Commit)
* facebook.com * block
* fb.com * block
* fbcdn.net * block
* tfbnw.net * block
* fbcdn.com * block
* messenger.com * block
* m.me * block
* whatsapp.com * block
* instagram.com * block
This prevents loading Facebook on all applications on your computer, not just the browser.
To edit the hosts file on your computer, follow this guide. Add the following lines:
0.0.0.0 facebook.com 0.0.0.0 www.facebook.com 0.0.0.0 login.facebook.com 0.0.0.0 www.login.facebook.com 0.0.0.0 fbcdn.net 0.0.0.0 www.fbcdn.net 0.0.0.0 fbcdn.com 0.0.0.0 www.fbcdn.com 0.0.0.0 static.ak.fbcdn.net 0.0.0.0 static.ak.connect.facebook.com 0.0.0.0 connect.facebook.net 0.0.0.0 www.connect.facebook.net 0.0.0.0 apps.facebook.com :: facebook.com :: www.facebook.com :: login.facebook.com :: www.login.facebook.com :: fbcdn.net :: www.fbcdn.net :: fbcdn.com :: www.fbcdn.com :: static.ak.fbcdn.net :: static.ak.connect.facebook.com :: connect.facebook.net :: www.connect.facebook.net :: apps.facebook.com :: edge-star6-shv-02-ams2.facebook.com
Note this method is not 100% efficient, since hosts files don't support wildcard rules. See jmdugan/blocklists for more domains to block.
Click here for more advanced methods to stop Facebook tracking
What can replace Facebook then is not another social network, where all your friends have to agree to join the same new place, but a network of social networks through decentralization with federation. Federation means that two people with profiles on two different social networks can do all the things together that they would normally need to be on the same network to do. Social networks using federation are called distributed social networks.
Facebook Chat/Messenger/WhatsApp uses a proprietary chat solution, which means that it is locking you in. And this is exactly what Facebook wants, because of the network effect
The best method to keep in contact with your social graph is via a XMPP/Jabber chat service. The main point of Jabber/XMPP is that is a decentralized/federated network, like e-mail or standard telephony systems. This means that john@conversations.im can talk to jane@xmpp.com, or with neal@somecompany.net. John can use program A on his mobile phone (Xabber, ChatSecure, Conversations, …), Jane can use program B on her PC (Pidgin, Swift, Psi, Gajim…), Neal can use program C on his company… and nobody cares what program the other person is using, since it’s not necessary to know it, or to use the same program to talk to each other. For a in depth discussion of the problem read Have you considered the alternative?.
There are good clients/apps for all different platforms: like Gajim and Dino for computers and Conversations.im or ChatSecure for mobile devices.
You can also host your own server with Prosody or ejabberd. For more info read Configuring an XMPP server for secure, mobile instant messaging
This is based on the good article Picking and setting up modern XMPP clients
Dino also supports OMEMO.
Note 1: If some of your contacts have an iBad device, they can use ChatSecure iOS 4.0 that supports OMEMO.
Note 2: List of XMPP clients that supports OMEMO - https://omemo.top
Matrix.org is is an open standard for decentralized communication system. Riot.im is built on top of Matrix and supports full end-to-end encryption via Olm and Megaolm for group chats. You call do voice calls via WebRTC.
There are distributed social networks like diaspora*, Friendica based on the XMPP protocol that supports federation, which means you can communicate with people on a Diaspora* pod. Tutorials are available, you can pick from dozens of service providers..
If you are a blogger/news aficionado, to keep up to date with the websites and blogs you like, you can subscribe to the updates via RSS or ATOM.
Install a news feed reader in your device like quiterss and subscribe to feeds you find interesting. You can organize them on folders for different subjects.
Check youneedfeeds.com
