"Why use Facebook for anything," I tweeted this week. And I mean it. I see no reason to use the ubiquitous social network. I don't need it for marketing. I don't need it to find old relatives. I don't need to keep up with high school classmates or former crushes.

I'm not interested in following the life of someone I'm not hanging out with. If I am hanging out with them, why do I need to friend them on Facebook?

While I can easily avoid Facebook, one thing I cannot avoid is site after site requiring Facebook to log in. Luckily that trend has walked back a bit; most sites allow you to create an account with your email address.

Even more annoying is the "check us out on Facebook" promotion. Instead of simply maintaining a good website, which can be done cheaply using a multitude of methods—hello Wordpress( at Amazon), hello Blogger—they resort to Facebook. Here is why they should not do this.

If you are not a Facebook user, you get this page blocking the site. How is this a good idea? Does the California Faculty Association at Pomona think this helps them?

I do not want to join Facebook. I click on "Not Now."

Boom, I get one-third of my browser page blocked by Facebook.

This huge overlay stays there as I scroll around the page. Why does any organization use Facebook as a homepage or sales site or information site knowing this is the way it displays to non-users?

How is this better than an individually designed free WordPress page using any number of modern templates? Nobody is hounded to join WordPress. The site is easily maintained. The likelihood of users being tossed off the system is minimal.

The funny thing about this is, it's assumed by many domain name providers that you'll use Facebook as training wheels for eventually getting your own dedicated page. It seems that the opposite is true.

Small operations and organization like the one above have some sort of rudimentary website first but cannot or will not maintain it. They switch to Facebook with the "check us out on Facebook" plea, and end up there for good. Because the association is on Facebook, the admins have an excuse to be on Facebook all day making sure someone did not unfriend them. Oh, horrors!

Let me summarize: Facebook Pages replacing real web pages is not a good trend, period.

Although I am sure some old high school pals managed to hook up here and there. So what?

Further Reading