Have you considered just using FB messenger @ messenger.com? You can log in with your email address instead of your Facebook account. You can also use it while your Facebook account is deactivated (I deactivated mine). No news feed, no ads, just conversations.
Not associated with Facebook, just a happy Messenger user.
Not really, because I have an ideological aversion to closed off / walled-garden protocols like that. Part of what my switch away from the whole FB/Twitter/Etc. thing is going to be going back to mainly using XMPP for chat. And anybody who can't, or won't, join an XMPP network and use an XMPP client is somebody I don't need to chat with.
I think I like IRC as much as the next guy (probably more). But I also like talking to friends who aren't in tech, like those from childhood, high school, or college, and who went into medical school or business or who simply write code during the day and don't make it their life, and the one network we have in common is the one managed by Facebook. For me at least, I'd rather stay connected to my friends using any means necessary than die on a hill over a chat protocol.
I don't ever want to be the guy who's not there for his friends, and I don't want to be the guy who regretted not staying in touch with his friends on his deathbed. I think that's a good reason to use Facebook, as good as any. Just offering my two cents!
I get, and appreciate, where you're coming from. But for me, I really care about promoting and encouraging use of Open Standards and that - to me - means eventually dropping my hypocritical usage of FB and the like. And I don't see any reason to think that people have to "be in tech" to use XMPP, IRC, etc. But to the extent that there is friction to using Open protocols, as opposed to closed ones, I see part of my personal mission to be helping to reduce that friction.
I don't ever want to be the guy who's not there for his friends
Same here, but I don't see that being tied into being on FB or not. My family, and real friends, all have my phone number and/or email address and can always call, text, or email. People that I only interact with via IM are typically not the people I am closest to.
I use it for some non-personal stuff. I don’t have any followers (doesn’t matter to me). I’m eagerly waiting for the mobile app, since that’s the biggest barrier when suggesting it to people. Beyond network effects, better integration with the camera and the photos library is what many people seem to appreciate (and filters...but Pixelfed has those already).
I haven't deactivated my Facebook profile, but I have not visited it in six months or so. I can't be bothered, my news feed became too commercial. However I use messenger.com to talk to my real life friends and family. I also use Messenger Lite on my phone.
Not associated with Facebook, just a happy Messenger user.