Whatever Facebook haters/refuse-niks say, I still get enough out of it to consider it useful. Yes, there is a great deal of dross. But it does enable some small degree of audience for anyone to platform creativity [musicians, artists and yes-writers].

This last few weeks, while away I seem to have spent far too much time deleting and ‘hiding’ items that appear on my home page unsolicited. I hope I can be forgiven if I’ve posted my FB dislikes before however this is my new, updated list of Facebook hates [in no particular order]:

• With apologies to any friends who regularly post such snippets, I do not want to copy and paste any posts about your popularity, eg ‘let’s see who reads my posts’, ‘how did we meet?’, ‘if you liked me you would…’. I haven’t ‘un-friended’ you. That should be enough!
• I don’t want to read epithets, cute sayings, unfunny texts, lifestyle quotes or inspirational passages, thanks, and especially not accompanied by winsome pictures of tots or bunnies or kittens.
• As far as I am concerned, a quiz does not constitute answering questions to discover which flower I would be or which heavy metal band I should belong to. Don’t ask me to participate, please.
• It’s astonishing, I know, but I am not interested to see updated profile pictures of ‘friends of friends’. These are people I don’t know. Why would I want to see pictures of them? Also, at the risk of sounding humbug I don’t really want to see a new profile picture of my friends every week. I haven’t changed my profile pic in years-why would I?
• I could devote an entire post to this. I get bombarded with ads: funerals, incontinence pads, nail salons, cars-[cars?], holidays, grandchildren gifts, knitting patterns…just who do they think I am?
• Exercise app posts. I’m impressed by your fitness, friends, believe me. I know how it is to be fit, after all I ran every day for about twenty years plus step-aerobics three times each week. I was fit. You need not, however post a map of wherever you have run, cycled, swum or abseiled every time you do it. If you have not yet succumbed [as I have] to arthritic joints, injuries and becoming ancient you are merely lucky-nothing else.
• Regarding the dreaded selfies; while I want to see you doing something interesting, achieving something or lovely pictures of your kids, I don’t enjoy endless photos of you in line-ups of your friends who I do not know, sticking your leg/breasts/chin out in a ‘model’ type pose-neither do I much want to view every meal you eat in a restaurant [or drink that you drink]. Sorry!
• Please don’t post your rants, political or otherwise-especially not recycled Daily Mail rubbish or [worse] ghastly ‘Britain First’, fascist propaganda. I don’t want to unfriend anyone but am sometimes tempted if you circulate too many hate posts.

Ah, you say; so why use it at all? Because, reader, I want to post a link to this blog, I want to see what everyone is up to and, although I may be one of the few on this planet who likes them-I want to see your travel photos! So there!