When I finally was able to get a Google+ account with my Google managed email address, it immediately had me following some celebrity and it suggested following other celebrities. I use Facebook for the same reason I use(d) instant message protocols like AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, etc. and now still use Facebook, Discord, Hangouts/gchat/whatevergooglecallsitnow, etc.: To talk to my friends, and to share stuff and organize events with my friends. No interest in using anything Twitter-like. So I didn't. Facebook also has surprisingly good private interest groups, still based around talking to people rather than celebrity/influencer culture.
This is only my opinion, but I think forums do everything necessary really, with the only difficult things to manage being:
- good moderation
- site maintenance
Which Facebook et al really fail at with the former. I also personally dislike how Discourse attempts to make forums more like chat apps.
It also helps that the only ads/monetization going on are some banner ads from various rocketry store websites. The forum is run just as a service to the hobby and not to make money.
My family do not share more than a few holiday pictures.
No one really shared normal likeable lifevents.
WhatsApp groups are totally fine and even showed me how little I care about constant updates from other life's.
And no people also don't care what I do.
People are busy. Family people think about school issues and handling their daily life and planing a family holiday.i care about science and politics. My mother cares about the next hiking tour.
Google+ circle feature was already the technology highpoint of handling social media and no one really had the motivation to setup their circles or even use Google+.
Even sharing specific things is hard. Over or under sharing: I would have loved to see much more of a friend's house building for example.
While it feels like digital is the future, the people around you are. That's something Facebook and co teached me. It's a bad substitute.