I wish I knew how to quit you, Facebook

It happened to MySpace. It happened to Friendster. Now Facebook, the most popular social media platform, is falling out of favor. Perhaps taking a cue from other social networks — see Twitter’s 2012 purchase of the video service Vine — Facebook has gone on a spending spree to acquire smaller social networks. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult for users to escape Facebook’s octopus reach. As the site grows more bloated with new features to keep users engaged, Facebook proves itself both undefeated and desperate.

“Facebook is still by far the most popular social media channel. However, many … are getting tired of the spam posts, political posts and targeted messaging they didn’t ask for in their feed,” said Jennifer Abernethy, CEO of the media consulting company Socially Delivered and author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Social Media Marketing.” “They want a curated experience.”

“I don’t like the way Facebook makes me feel,” said Dylan Moore, 27, a writer and publisher from Maine. “Everyone’s trying to grab your attention or evoke a response.”

Mitu Khandaker-Kokoris, a 30-year-old game developer from the U.K. who has been logging onto Facebook for seven years, says she has a conflicted relationship with the social network.

“While it does keep me feeling connected to people I know and wouldn’t otherwise see, it’s obviously problematic in its attitude toward privacy,” she said. “Realistically, I couldn’t imagine myself leaving Facebook completely, though I have definitely found myself using it less — or, rather, I’ve been posting less. I’ve probably still been using it just as much to read others’ updates.”

For Oscar Madrigal, a Los Angeles–based writer in his 30s, it’s getting harder to differentiate between real posts and blended-in ads. But he can’t see leaving Facebook anytime soon.

“I don’t see [another] platform that brings everyone together the way Facebook does,” he said. “If something else came along, I would consider it.”

The hubbub started early this year with historical and future analyses. One estimated that tens of millions of teens have left the platform since 2011, and one projected that Facebook would lose 80 percent of its users by 2017 (a study that Facebook and others were quick to discredit). Both attempted to show that while older users are slowly joining Facebook, younger generations are moving toward smaller, single-purpose apps — preferring to share photos on Instagram or send messages using WhatsApp. Facebook, of course, can also be used to upload photos and send messages, but it’s the equivalent of going to Walmart when you need a pack of gum.

It’s no coincidence, then, that Facebook spent $20 billion to acquire Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp this February, with the promise that they would continue to be run as independent properties.

Facebook further disenchanted users by reneging on its privacy promise.

Three years ago, Facebook released the “Like” button to the Internet. The thumbs-up icon originally was on just the social network, but an upgrade allowed other websites and apps to use the button as a universal login — akin to your having a master key that opens all the doors to your house. Using your Facebook username and password to log in to all your favorite websites and apps is convenient but has raised privacy concerns. At the time, Facebook promised it wouldn’t use the data for any sales or malicious purposes.

Earlier this month, however, Facebook changed its privacy mind — or, as Forbes’ Kashmir Hill put it, “Facebook Will Use Your Browsing and Apps History for Ads (Despite Saying It Wouldn’t 3 Years Ago).”

“On smartphones, any apps that use Facebook login or have Facebook ‘Likes’ in their apps will send information back to Facebook for advertising purposes,” she wrote. “If the OpenTable app, for example, has a Facebook login and you are looking at Mexican restaurants all the time, you’ll start seeing ads for chips and salsa on Facebook.”

To paraphrase a tech adage, if the product you are using is free, then you are the product. However, it would be difficult to think of an advertising targeting process as evasive as Facebook’s, especially for its size and reach. Only Google challenges Facebook in knowing where you’ve been, who you’ve been with and how you spend your time.

In a post–Edward Snowden world, the online outcry has been justifiably loud. On June 5, dozens of online organizations launched the #ResetTheNet campaign to protest snooping by the National Security Agency and other entities. Countless articles now explain how and why you should delete your Facebook account. YouTube personality Matthias’ "Delete Your Facebook" video has racked up more than a million views.

Matthias, a humorous commentator on tech culture, is particularly critical of Facebook’s new Listening feature. It uses the microphone on your smartphone to filter out conversations and correctly identify music and TV shows playing in the background. When you post a status update, Facebook will stitch this audio information onto your message. For example, if you are taking a photo and a Frank Sinatra song is playing in the background, the new feature will recognize the music and tag it with your Facebook picture.