Lots of correct and incorrect info on this thread. Even by people I would expect would know better.
I am an IT Security Solutions Director by trade. Do I use FB? Yes, but I know what I'm doing and have systems and controls in place to protect me and my privacy. I could scare the socks off people if I wanted to, but it comes down to personal education, tolerance for risk, and privacy. It's not just FB. The whole world has changed. AI and ML are pouring over videos and audio of you and your family. Anyone have an Amazon Alexa? We do. But if you don't know what you are doing I would think twice about putting a live microphone in your house. So you really have two choices... 1. Get educated and take precautions or 2. Don't participate. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, you really won't have a choice anymore. Your data is being gathered and sold today.
Here is a fun example... I was in the office building where I used to work. I don't have access to their Wi-Fi any longer obviously, but since I forgot to "forget" that network on my iPhone something interesting happened. When I got home and got onto FB (On my PC, not my phone) I got a message asking me to give information about my former employer. It said "We see that you recently visited XYZ". So because my phone recognized the SSID for that Wi-Fi and associated it to my phone, even though I didn't actually connect it knew where I was, and then passed that information to FB. There is more going on behind the scenes than most people realize...
I started and manage the 2R/P48 group, S Scale group, 3R to 2R conversion group and a few others. I find that our posts are far deeper and more hands-on than over here. Sort of the way this site used to be in the early 2000's. Sharing video, photos, etc... is much easier on FB. Not to mention how well it integrates with mobile devices. I can attend a show and stream live video to my group from my phone. Pretty cool.
Can it be used in a safe manner? Yes. Is it safe/private right out of the box with no education/settings/controls/3rd party apps and hardware? I'd say probably not. Is it changing everyday? Yes, and you have to keep up with it.
