silo-quits

 silo quits  are public statements by individuals announcing they have quit posting on or using various silos with no intention to return. Sometimes people take a temporary break, AKA "social media break" or soft quit.

Why quit social media
There are numerous reasons to quit (or at least greatly reduce) use of social media silos, as fundamental as: For more, see: Why to quit specific sites: Etc.
 * Personal mental health
 * Being deliberate with your time and attention
 * Withholding support from systems that amplify misinformation, divisiveness, violence
 * Social media criticisms
 * silo criticisms
 * Facebook
 * Twitter
 * Instagram

Why document silo quits
It is worth the time to publicly document quitting social media silos for many reasons:
 * Show it is possible
 * Set a good example
 * Make it clear you are not alone for quitting or wanting to quit
 * See individual perspectives on why they quit

Who
Want to be included in this growing list of people that have quit social media silos?
 * Sign-in and add yourself,
 * or drop by the chat and ask to be added, someone will be happy to help you out!

This page is for documenting:
 * Anyone in IndieWeb community — please only add yourself. If you see silo quit announcements by others in the community, please encourage them to add themselves if they like.
 * Public figures — When "very public" people like celebrities, political figures, other "notable" individuals (see Wikipedia) make a public announcement of leaving or deleting a social media profile, feel free to add them.
 * Anyone else who asks to be added and preferably makes a public silo-quit statement with permalink.

Please do not:
 * Please do not add people just because you see a silo-quit post on Twitter or elsewhere.
 * Please do not ask people outside the community if they want to be added. E.g. people on Twitter that are declaring they are quitting Facebook etc.

Instead:
 * If you choose to interact with someone publicly on Twitter, consider a positive invitation like:
 * Congratulate them for quitting (acknowledgment is meaningful, being seen is meaningful)
 * Let them know they’re not alone (solidarity is meaningful) and perhaps link to silo-quits in that context
 * Only then invite them to join the IndieWeb for alternatives and a supportive community.
 * Then they can read the invitation to add themselves on the page itself, instead of feeling pressured by a public invitation (by a possible/likely stranger) on Twitter that could come off sounding like a burdensome demand.

Future silo quits
Silo quits announced far in advance, either based on a specific future date or a particular event that does not have a specific date associated with it yet.

Mark Frauenfelder (BoingBoing)
I'm joining the campaign to deactivate my Twitter account on August 17, 2018 #Deactiday (in protest against Twitter not banning Alex Jones).

Tom MacWright‏
Goodreads - 2017-12-07 https://twitter.com/tmcw/status/938928565126512640 "next indieweb goal: quit goodreads"

2017-12-07 https://twitter.com/tmcw/status/938945494499205120 "since 2k13, it's been An Amazon Company, and kinda hides that fact in all its branding/about materials"

Eddie Hinkle
"[…] Goodreads is definitely a silo-quit goal for me in 2018."
 * Goodreads - 2017-12-08 https://eddiehinkle.com/2017/12/07/17/reply/ (tweet)
 * Facebook - 2018-03-21 Leaving Facebook ... soon

Meredith L Patterson considering
Stack Overflow - 2016-02-08 https://twitter.com/maradydd/status/696656959706112000 "Considering deleting my @StackOverflow account. Haven't wanted to login in years, and my answers are now being farmed for editing rep."... and https://twitter.com/maradydd/status/696657390301790208 "[...] Sanctimonious edit spam."

Kylie Jenner
Instagram - upon having a child. 2015-12-13 Kylie Jenner Plans to Leave Instagram Once She Has a Kid

Unclear silo quits
These are folks that declared an intent to quit a silo but no evidence can be found that they actually did. If you can confirm either way with a public post or other verifiable evidence, please note those links in their entry and move it to the date they actually quit the silo or at least the year if you can determine it.

Mike Elgan, Journalist
2018-12-12: Elgan announced on his own website that on July 4th, 2019 (traditionally celebrated as Independence Day in the United States) he would be quitting and deleting Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. He wrote a long and succinct list of reasons why he's leaving. To replace it he will be using his own website, a newsletter, and a Google Photos idea which he calls Nicebook.

2020-06-07 Unclear if he actually quit Facebook. 2020-07-18:
 * His archives from that week do not mention Facebook. Presumably he would have followed through with a blog post announcing / celebrating that he had done so and encouraging others to do so too.
 * On 2019-07-03 he posted "New photos in my Nicebook! Just a reminder that tomorrow I’m leaving Facebook forever. Please follow my Nicebook for future pics and posts, or just send email to: mike@elgan.com https://photos.app.goo.gl/UhHg6Qs5Jj4dGp958"
 * 2019-10-07 he's posted once more and his account is still generally available at https://www.facebook.com/mike.elgan, but it appears that he's generally decamped Facebook for his website. Perhaps he's left it available to prevent fraudulent accounts which he's experienced before.

capjamesg

 * I deleted my Instagram account after realising I was spending more time scrolling than I would like.

Phil Schiller
Apple Fellow Phil Schiller quit Twitter https://9to5mac.com/2023/01/25/phil-schiller-now-on-mastodon/

gRegor Morrill

 * I decided to stop posting on Twitter after new ownership decisions led to increased hate speech and allowed previously-banned accounts back. Plus he has boosted misinformation, COVID conspiracy theories, and used anti-trans language.
 * Twitter version: https://twitter.com/gRegorLove/status/1610141819664470016 (archived)
 * Twitter version: https://twitter.com/gRegorLove/status/1610141819664470016 (archived)

I had effectively stopped posting on my Facebook wall since 2020-06-04, though without an announcement. On 2023-01-02, I took the chance to also post an announcement (archived) on Facebook with details of how to follow me. I may still occasionally use some Facebook Groups, but I have no intention of posting publicly on my wall again.

NewNewsWire
2023-04-07 NewNewsWire quits Twitter: https://twitter.com/NetNewsWire/status/1644449449241092098
 * "Website: http://netnewswire.com Blog: http://nnw.ranchero.com Mastodon: https://indieweb.social/@NetNewsWire Microblog: https://micro.blog/netnewswire Support: http://netnewswire.com/help We will not be posting or replying here on Twitter." @NetNewsWire April 7, 2023

Laker J.V Turner
2022-05-13 announced on her blog that she was leaving twitter, citing mental health reasons.

Leo Laporte
2021-01-12 Leo Laporte, a tech journalist and prominent podcaster, posted on his website that he's leaving Twitter Tweet to Toot: Why I'm moving off Twitter (syndicated copy on Twitter) "It’s just too toxic on Twitter. The continued trolling was hurting our team, our hosts, and our business, so we decided, as a team, to pack up and move out. I don’t know about you, but I always found Twitter mildly disturbing. I won’t miss it (any more than I miss Facebook)."

Jan-Lukas Else
2020-01-13 Twitter: I deleted my Twitter account "I finally deleted my Twitter account (or rather deactivated it, it will be deleted if I do not log in for another 30 days)."

David Mead
2020-12-03 Twitter and Instagram: Leaving Twitter and Instagram "But why close them completely? Simple. I don't see what I liked ever coming back."

@aphyr
2019-12-23 Aphyr announced in a Twitter thread why he was leaving Twitter (after being repeatedly banned and abused) to move to a self-hosted Mastodon account/instance.

Centre for Innovation, Leiden University
2019-03-29 Closing all Facebook groups, Whatsapp groups, and Instagram accounts: The Centre for Innovation of Leiden University has always strongly supported social or collaborative learning in online learning: the interaction between learners facilitating learners, whether that is in discussion forums, peer review assignments or in our Facebook groups, contributes to a deeper understanding of subjects, and prepares learners to apply their knowledge.

However, the Centre for Innovation has a responsibility to our teachers, learners and volunteers, under GDPR and our own Privacy Policy. Based on this we conducted a review of different platforms that we made use of for collaborative, social learning and have decided to move away from those that do not allow us to meet our obligations and promises to those in our care.

Therefore we have decided to close all Facebook groups, Whatsapp groups and Instagram accounts currently under control of the Centre for Innovation, per the 29th of March 2019, and have adjusted our courses accordingly.

You can direct any questions or remarks in regards to this policy to MOOC@sea.leidenuniv.nl.

Kind Regards,

On behalf of Centre for Innovation, Leiden University,

Tanja de Bie, Community Manager from email through Coursera about "Policy change in regards to Social Media use for social learning from Centre for Innovation, Leiden University"

Fluffy
2019-03-05 Fluffy announces they've quit Patreon with an explanation of the reasons why.

Dries Buytaert, Founder of Drupal
2019-02-04 Dries announced on his own website that he's leaving Facebook in favor of more open web and IndieWeb solutions. "I'm pulling the plug on Facebook because of their recent privacy violations — which got me thinking about what is next for the Open Web."

Ken Bauer
2019-01-31, Ken Bauer, associate professor in the Computing Science Department at the Tecnológico de Monterrey Guadalajara Campus, quit Facebook on a one month trial basis. "There are many reasons and much to do about the way Facebook (and other companies) are shaping the thoughts of our society. Sure I enjoy being able to stay in touch with others and for many (family and friends from school) this is the only contact that I really have with them. But we must think how we use these platforms and more importantly how they are using us. Paint it Facebook Black"

Robert Habeck
Habeck, leader of the Green Party in Germany, announced deleting his Facebook and Twitter accounts on 07 Jan 2019, after falling victim to the Dec 2018 mass data hacks in Germany. In a blog post (archived) on his personal website, he mentions both the data hack and a personal tendency to loose focus and make unreflected statements as the reasons, while expressing his awareness that leaving social media may be a mistake as a politician.

On Twitter, the announcement (archived) triggered some immediate criticism for blaming social media for his own shortcomings; it was further questioned whether it is possible or appropriate for a politician to stay out of social media.

Walt Mossberg
2018-12-17 Mr. Mossberg, a veteran technology journalist of The Wall Street Journal, The Verge and Recode, said on Monday he would be deactivating his Facebook account, along with the Facebook-owned Messenger and Instagram apps. &mdash; via New York Times archive copy of Facebook post
 * "1/ Some personal news: I've decided to quit Facebook around the end of the year. I am doing this - after being on Facebook for nearly 12 years - because my own values and the policies and actions of Facebook have diverged to the point where I’m no longer comfortable there." @waltmossberg December 17, 2018
 * "2/ I am also quitting Facebook-owned Instagram and Messenger. I will remain on Twitter, and will continue to communicate via iMessage, email and SMS text with those who have my email address and/or phone number. Obviously, people who follow me here can also reach me via DM." @waltmossberg December 17, 2018

Glenn Harlan Reynolds, aka Instapundit
[https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/12/03/twitter-facebook-social-media-bias-political-poison-blogosphere-instapundit-column/2183648002/ I deleted my Twitter account. It's a breeding ground for thoughtlessness and contempt. Twitter is poison to American political discourse. Can't we find a more worthy pastime?] published as an op-ed in in USA Today on 2018-12-03.

Christina Farr
In an article dated 2018-12-01, Christina Farr, CNBC health-tech reporter, wrote "I quit Instagram and Facebook and it made me a lot happier — and that’s a big problem for social media companies". In it she discusses some health and happiness related issues to leaving social media.

Khurt Williams

 * Delete Google+ account on 9th October 2018.
 * Deleted Tumblr accont on 22nd October 2018

Mathias Pfefferle

 * Open web advocate announced on his own website that he was leaving Facebook on 2018-11-22 in preference for content and interaction on his own site.

Adam Croom
"I decided that I would deactivate my Twitter account for the holidays. The holidays turned quickly turned into six months and here I am. I still have access to the Twitter profiles I wish to follow as most profiles are public, and thus I make a conscience effort to check the streams of particular folks (mostly journalists and news publications) that I’m still interested in following. Unsurprisingly, removing myself from punching the Twitter icon and swimming in the often negative environment that the community perpetuates has been a net positive for my health. In a similar fashion, I don’t have Instagram installed on my phone anymore (my workaround here is I’ll occasionally install it and bulk upload a handful of files and then delete it). For Facebook, I actually inactivated that account in November as well, but surprisingly felt myself come back to it quicker for important information I would miss otherwise (my gym uses a private group for all communication). But, for the most part, my day is spent sans social media."
 * 2018-11 Adam Croom, a Domain of One's Own advocate, did a "soft quit" of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Sweden
On 2018-10-01 the @Sweden twitter account quit tweeting after 7 years and 356 ordinary residents of Sweden who acted as curators. The story was covered in The Guardian.

Rick Wysocki
2018-09-26 Announced on his own website that he had quit Facebook

J. Gregory McVerry
Deleted 2018-09-28. Rejoined 2018-12-01 to locate missing dog. Quit again 2018-12-02 I deactivated my facebook months ago and thought I would leave it for when I volunteer with political campaigns.After today's data breach I am done. Not only did they get 50-90 million facebook passwords they got the token to everything you use "log in with facebook" Also while I missed the town news and friends, I simply felt better not being on facebook. No arguing with people whose minds I do not change, not lost time.Instead I found other new networks that actually make the world a better place. 28-September-2018

Eddie Hinkle
"Eddie quit Instapaper on Sept. 11, 2018"

Leo Laporte
"Yesterday I deactivated my Twitter account and kicked Tumblr to the curb. A couple of weeks ago I did the same with Instagram. A month or so before that I killed Facebook. And I survived. No, thrived! 29-August-2018"

Ezra J. Spier
 i’m quitting twitter thursday, aug 16 https://t.co/LJQNOthlyY &mdash; Ezra J Spier (@ahhrrr) August 14, 2018

 to be clear, there are lots of better reasons to quit twitter. but after thursday, i’d have to learn a new app and that’s just enough friction to make me let go. &mdash; Ezra J Spier (@ahhrrr) August 14, 2018

Susan Fowler
 Hello friends! I’ll be taking a twitter break for the rest of 2018 Today I received some especially nasty hate mail, and it was a little too much even for me  You can find me on Instagram or contact me using the form on my site  Be kind to each other ❤️  See you in January! &mdash; Susan Fowler (@susanthesquark) August 10, 2018</a>

Matt Haughey
On 2018-08-08 Matt Haughey announced on his personal site "After 12 years, I’ve decided to hang it up on Twitter." He included some additional thoughts, motivation, and description of exporting his data. Archive version "Over the years I started to get increasingly frustrated with the decisions made by Twitter. Every six months or so something would happen that’d make me stop and ask why I still use the site and I kept thinking of all the new voices I’d read and enjoyed that I wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise. But the looming doubt over the future of the service eventually became too great."

Brent Simmons
On 2018-08-08 Brent announced he was leaving Twitter on his personal site. Brent has previously quit Twitter before. My problem with Twitter remains the same: centralized social networking concentrates way too much power in one place. Twitter is awful in other ways, sure, not just for that reason. (The issues with Nazis and harassment and abuse. The way it treats third-party Twitter developers.) [...] Twitter is not the public square. It just wants you to think it is. The web itself is the public square.

50 Cent
2018-05-09 50 Cent announced that due to censorship he was quitting Instagram (where he had over 18 million followers). He made the quit posts on both Instagram and Twitter: "I’m leaving IG, I’m going back to Twitter. They take shit down off my page with out notifying me. #censorthesenuts'"
 * Following his quit he began posting images of nothing but black to his Instagram account, presumably in protest.
 * Story on Business Insider

Chrissy Teigen
2018-03-24 Quit Snapchat announced on Twitter "I stopped using snap. The update, the constant complaints of people not being able to find me, plus the Rihanna poll...no bueno"

SpaceX and Tesla
2018-03-23 Facebook page quits:
 * 2018-03-23 The Verge: Elon Musk has removed Tesla and SpaceX’s Facebook pages after Twitter challenge "During a tweetstorm, Elon Musk has removed both of his companies’ Facebook pages after being challenged to do so by a few of his followers. The pages of both SpaceX and Tesla are now inactive. Each had around 2.6 million followers."


 * https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/977211923719598086
 * "I didn’t realize there was one. Will do." @elonmusk
 * https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/977217618649137152
 * "yasssssssss" @RMac18 <img style="max-width:50%" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DY_GPRNU8AAydlC.png" alt="Screenshot of deleted SpaceX Facebook page"/>
 * https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/977217884526067712
 * "slayyyyyyyy" @RMac18 <img style="max-width:50%" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DY_GexpVMAM2FKR.jpg" alt="Screenshot of deleted Tesla Facebook page"/>

Multiple Facebook Quitters

 * 2018-03-21 the New York Times profiled various people quitting Facebook in relation to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Jonathan LaCour
2018-03-21 Facebook: 2018-01-13 Instagram
 * 2018-03-21 Announced he had deleted his Facebook account on his own website: "I've officially deleted my Facebook account, and it will disappear completely from Facebook within 14 days. It feels great. I hope they go down in flames."
 * had previously downloaded and archived much of his content on his own website before quitting. He published a blog post about how he did it.
 * also tombstoned his Instagram account on January 13, 2018: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd6HunOBMJ1/

Cher

 * 2018-03-20 Singer/Actress Cher deleted her Facebook account
 * "OK …….JUST LEFT FACEBOOK🙌🏻"
 * 2018-03-20 "2day I did something VERY HARD 4 me.Facebook has helped me with my Charity, &there are amazing young Ppl there.I have a special friend (Lauren)who I Respect & Admire,but today I deleted my Facebook account. I Love My🇺🇸🙏🏻. I Believe....There are Things MORE”IMPORTANT”THAN💰💰"
 * 2018-03-20 "To be completely honest, I have not used Facebook in forever, but I kept it out of respect🙌🏻 For my friend,the help they’d Given me & help they were going to be give me when FREE THE WILD Was completely up on it feet.Strange...we are Ready Now😥"

Tea Leoni

 * 2018-03-20 Actress Tea Leoni quit Facebook saying "This week, I’m leaving Facebook. It’s the spreading of misinformation during and since the 2016 election, and the unauthorized sharing of personal information—just can’t be here under these circumstances. I hope Facebook finds a better path. For now, I’ll be on Twitter. xoxtéa"

Adam McKay

 * 2018-03-20 Director-writer Adam McKay quit Facebook.
 * 2018-03-20 "Facebook account officially deleted. I’m a free man. I’m naked on a junk in the Hong Kong harbor now doing Tai Chi. Oh shit. I’m trapped in an HSBC commercial. Ahhh!"
 * 2018-03-20 "So is there a way to erase my Facebook account or just deactivate? https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/975862983275380736"

Natalie Wolchover
Her reasons and advice about quitting: "In case it helps give others the strength, I deleted my Facebook account four days ago and my current rejoice-to-regret ratio is 100:1. Facebook has been an unfun wasteland for years. I deleted my 14-yr-old Facebook account. It’s nice to no longer live with the hypocrisy of giving my data to a company that I think does more harm than good, that’s irresponsible with said data, that’s so far up its own ass that it’s in over its head. All the photos though... (1/2) The hurdle to get over was the years of photos, mine and other people’s, that are stored there. FB let’s you download all your data, but if, like me, its just the photos you want: I used a Chrome extension called DownAlbum to quickly download entire FB albums. (2/2)"
 * 2018-03-18 Science writer Natalie Wolchover quit Facebook.

Leo Laporte

 * 2018-03-18 Technology journalist and IndieWeb proponent Leo Laporte announced he had deleted his Facebook account the night before on his online show This Week in Tech, episode 658 (see discussion of the Facebook story at ~26 minutes into the show). He had previously quit Facebook, but came back to it because it was a space he felt he needed to cover as a technology journalist. "This is not the first time I'll quit Facebook, but this is the last," he said.

Jack Monroe
2018-03-01 Jack Monroe quit Twitter account @BoostStrapCook: Very sad to write this, but it's for the best. "I'm coming off Twitter for the good of my mental health."

Jim Carrey

 * 2018-02-06 Actor Jim Carrey quit Facebook saying "I’m dumping my @facebook stock and deleting my page because @facebook profited from Russian interference in our elections and they’re still not doing enough to stop it. I encourage all other investors who care about our future to do the same. #unfriendfacebook"

rafaorr
~2018-02-05 @rafaorr quit Facebook per:
 * 2018-02-12 https://twitter.com/rafaorrr/status/963118776618188803

Vincent Ritter

 * See also https://micro.blog/EddieHinkle/261383
 * See also https://micro.blog/EddieHinkle/261383

Colin Walker
2018-01-08 Twitter,Facebook
 * https://colinwalker.blog/08-01-2018-2151/ "After a lot of dithering and coming up with reasons not to I have finally deactivated both my Twitter and Facebook accounts... Do I worry about someone taking my name in future when it can be recycled? No. This blog and my primary email accounts (.me.uk and .blog) are the canonical representation of me on the internet and I don't need anything else."

Tim Morgan
2017-12-02 quit Twitter:



Nelson Minar
2017-11-09 quit Twitter except for two subsequent tweets citing additional sources for his reasons for quitting:
 * 2017-12-17 https://twitter.com/nelson/status/943234596119879680 linking to https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/internal-emails-show-twitter-struggled-to-interpret-its-own
 * 2017-12-27 https://twitter.com/nelson/status/946165350210531328 linking to https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/opinion/digital-nazi-hunter-trump.html

Bio (as of 2018-01-09): "I've quit Twitter because of management and policy. Find me on Mastodon: https://lgbt.io/@nelson"

Joël Franusic
2017-08-26 temporarily quit Twitter through 2017-12-31:
 * https://twitter.com/jf/status/901340736234246145

Mark Damon Hughes
2017-04-23 quit Twitter:

Lindy West
2017-01-03 quit Twitter:


 * 2018-02-01 New York Times: I Quit Twitter and It Feels Great "It has been one year and 28 days since my last tweet."

Ta-Nehisi Coates
2017-01-02 quit Twitter:


 * 2018-03-15 Toward the end of an The Atlantic Interview Podcast, Coates positively indicated he was done with Twitter and would NEVER be coming back to it.

Sherman Alexie, novelist
2017-01-01 quit Twitter:

Om Malik
2016-12-22 Instagram (possibly others? temporary ”Holiday from Social Internet”)
 * http://om.co/2016/12/22/holiday-from-social-internet/ "… I have decided to get off the Social Internet for the near foreseeable future. … Perhaps restricting myself to the blog is the right way to balance what’s important and what’s not. … Instead of Instagram (which Inhave [sic] shutdown for a few weeks including making it private), I will post photos in full size on my photo blog, Om.blog."

Marty McGuire
2016-12-15 Evernote
 * https://martymcgui.re/2016/12/14/225217/ "It’s overdue, but the new TOS pushed me to act. Tonight I liberated my Evernote content. Likely will import into laverna.cc."

Colin Walker
2016-12-01 Twitter
 * https://colinwalker.blog/2016/12/29/life-without-twitter/ "But, with the way 2016 has been, and things going on in my life offline, I decided to step away. So, on December 1st I stopped tweeting, uninstalled the app from my phone and took the drastic step of deleting all 13K plus of my old tweets."

Kendall Jenner
2016-11-14 Instagram
 * Kendall Jenner unexpectedly deleted her Instagram account

Alan Levine

 * 2016-11-16 Facebook Sticking a Fork in Facebook (2nd Time) "It was not even the still endless use of my flickr photos for Facebook catfishing accounts, which asking Facebook to address is futile, it is more the accepted inevitability of Facebook that grates at me too. Upin my last update waving goodbye, within an hour, one friend (the real kind, not the click kind) called me on the phone. It was actually my second deletion, I only had to revive it for a teaching project where student groups were in there."
 * 2010-05-16 Facebook Obligatory Why I am ________ing Facebook "First time was more about the stinginess of how Facebook sucks content in but never lets it out. And feeling hypocritical criticizing it while being inside"

Brent Simmons
2016-11-09 Twitter - https://twitter.com/brentsimmons/status/796419971450425344
 * On Leaving Twitter "I can’t really leave Twitter, because I don’t want someone else to take my username. But I did make my account private and I unfollowed everybody. If you @-mention me, I’ll never know."
 * 2017-08-22 returned: https://twitter.com/brentsimmons/status/900056075717591041 "(Yes, I’m back on Twitter.)"

Lynn Cyrin
2016-08-16 LinkedIn
 * https://twitter.com/lynncyrin/status/765661049060155394 "Done ~ Gonna see what http://microformats.org/wiki/hresume is about now <img style='max-width:60%' src='https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CqAsaf5UAAAkvyk.jpg' alt='image of LinkedIn screenshot with text: We’ve closed your account. Your LinkedIn Account is now closed.”' />"

Ilya Grigorik
2016-07-28 Flickr
 * https://twitter.com/igrigorik/status/759141929732878337 "(finally) deleted my Flickr account, cya Verizon! ... if you were following me on Flickr, you can find me @ http://500px.com/igrigorik"

Tino Kremer
2016-07-18 Facebook, Twitter, Path, Google+, Flickr, Camarilla
 * I deleted all my socialmedia accounts. Keeping everything up to date was a huge time sink. It also affected my mood as I was getting annoyed by all the crap Facebook and others put in my face while I just want to see what's happening with my friends and family. I reverted to chat, email and RL visits. I'm much happier now. I never looked back.

Joe "begriffs" Nelson
2016-05-01 Twitter
 * "Deleted my twitter account and went back to the original social network. Been off Twitter for months and rarely think about it anymore. Primarily using email to talk with people now and have found we have higher quality conversations."

Tim Burks
2016-05-28 app.net Replacing it evidently with IndieWeb usage, next tweet in reply:
 * https://twitter.com/timburks/status/736683997812510720 "Deleting my http://app.net account in case any other timburks out there wants it."
 * https://twitter.com/timburks/status/737004930712494080 "Picked up one of those 'indieweb' domains: http://timburks.me"

Various Milennials
2016-03-17 Twitter, Facebook
 * 'Everyone could know what I was doing': the millennials not using social media "“One day I realized I’m spending so much time doing this. These little seconds add up. I wonder what it would be like if I didn’t spend these seconds here and spent them doing something else. What if I was doing other things with these seconds? What would they become? Would I enjoy it?”"

Julieanne Smolinski
2016-03-01 Twitter
 * Twitter Has Become a Park Filled With Bats and Perverts "I’m quitting Twitter for a specific, practical reason: Because I keep getting bothered by assholes and perverts and Twitter doesn’t seem willing or able to do anything about it. I’m quitting Twitter the way you quit your favorite restaurant when it suffers an E. coli outbreak. I'm quitting Twitter for the simple fact that Twitter’s been bumming me out."

Stephen Fry
2016-02-15 Twitter
 * Too many people have peed in the pool "It’s no big deal – as it shouldn’t be. But yes, for anyone interested I have indeed deactivated my twitter account. I’ve ‘left’ twitter before, of course: many people have time off from it whether they are in the public eye or not. Think of it as not much more than leaving a room. I like to believe I haven’t slammed the door, much less stalked off in a huff throwing my toys out of the pram as I go or however one should phrase it. It’s quite simple really: the room had started to smell. Really quite bad."

George DeMet
2016-01-01 George DeMet (founder & CEO Palantir) quit Facebook:
 * Six Weeks Without Facebook (And Counting)

Darren Mothersele
2015-11-10: Facebook
 * 2015-12-03 Work in Progress: The Future of (My) Web (Part 1, Leaving Facebook) (and tweet)"I deleted my Facebook account on 10th November 2015. This time there's no going back."

Previous challenges:
 * "I have posted before about my decision to leave Facebook. In fact, that was almost exactly 2 years ago. I tried to leave. It didn't work. Six months later I returned. The main reason for my return was that Facebook had become the single place where my friends organised social events. I was locked in." Emphasis added.

whaity
2015-11-08: Instagram
 * https://twitter.com/whaity/status/663379066037358592 "Disabled the Instagram account. Next is Google stuff. Then Facebook. Not sure about Twitter yet. #indieweb]"Emphasis added.

Essena O'Neill
2015-11: Essena O'Neill quit Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr
 * 2015-11-05 Essena O'Neill: Instagram and YouTube stars rush to prove their posts aren't fake "O’Neill had over 600,000 followers until she left Instagram and YouTube, claiming popular users such as herself present an edited and ultimately fake version of reality."
 * 2016-01-06 Instagram Star Essena O'Neill Breaks Her Silence on Quitting Social Media "The 19-year old Internet star made global headlines when she posted a YouTube video explaining her decision to quit Instagram, YouTube and Tumblr in November"

Rob Fairhead
2015-11-01: Google Photos, Evernote
 * https://twitter.com/raretrack/status/660786323775557632 "Removed all of my photos from #GooglePhotos - another small step to owning my data. Flickr may be more problematical! #ownyourdata #indieweb]"Emphasis added.
 * https://twitter.com/raretrack/status/660830547871068162 "Just finished migrating all of my bookmarked articles from the silo of #Evernote into my own @withknown site #ownyourdata #indieweb #known]"

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce
2015-09-30 Business Insider reports that Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has quit Facebook. Benioff explained why in a series of tweets including the quote "[It was] Just too much. Desiring peace through simplicity."

Joss Whedon
Twitter Joss Whedon Calls “Horsesh*t” On Reports He Left Twitter Because Of Militant Feminists
 * 2015-05-04: "Whedon said, is that he chose to embrace his longstanding desire post–Age of Ultron to reclaim his personal life and creative spark — and that meant saying goodbye to Twitter.""Whedon laid out a portrait of the constant noise of Twitter and his complicated relationship to it to explain what eventually led him to leave.""“Twitter is an addictive little thing, and if it’s there, I gotta check it. When you keep doing something after it stops giving you pleasure, that’s kind of rock bottom for an addict. … I just had a little moment of clarity where I’m like, You know what, if I want to get stuff done, I need to not constantly hit this thing for a news item or a joke or some praise, and then be suddenly sad when there’s hate and then hate and then hate.”"

Antonio Savorelli
Facebook The Friction of Quitting
 * 2015-03-31: "A couple of months ago I decided to quit Facebook once and for all, and stop considering it an inevitability of my digital identity. Its business strategy had always creeped me out, even before the advent of frictionless sharing, which is something bad labeled as something good. Nothing I’ve done throughout the years has ever fully succeeded in toning down the sources of creepiness, from the so-called Facebook envy to the feeling I have that even the smartest of my friends become shallow, babbling dummies the moment they open Facebook—which makes me certain that I too, in their eyes, must appear the same way, even more than my offline self does."

Dan Gillmor
Facebook (except to stay "up to date on how it works") https://www.facebook.com/dangillmor/posts/1757944654431393
 * 2015-01-31: "Please don't be insulted if I don't accept friend requests -- I'm using FB solely to make sure I'm up to date on how it works, and will be spending very little time here. So it's unlikely I'd catch up with you this way in any case." his last post on his Facebook profile.

Graydon Hoare
Twitter (and perhaps other "social media") https://twitter.com/graydon_pub/status/556131987564408832
 * 2015-01-06: "Think it's time for a social media break. See y'all in a while."
 * 2015-04-06: 3 months later, returned to Twitter: https://twitter.com/graydon_pub/status/586263366844477441 "… I returned to twitter …"

Geoff Nicholson
Facebook
 * 2014-12-12: "A few people have recently asked me why I left facebook. Mostly, it was because I was compulsively checking it for no real reason. Yes, I miss out on the heartwarming stories that people post, and I miss out on hearing what my friends are doing in places far and near.  But I also miss out on tracking cookies, being an outlet for advertising, and siloing my data in Facebook's vaults.  Mostly, I've decided to implement the #indieweb.  This is a set Principles which I think the web is missing out on. [...]"

Brad Colbow
Medium, Tumblr
 * 2014-07-31: "Decided to move all my blog posts from Medium and Tumblr back to my own site http://bradcolbow.com/blog.html"

Chuq Von Rospach
Facebook
 * 2014-06-29: Announced he is probably leaving Facebook in one week.
 * Facebook Steps In It "My bottom line is that I keep looking for ways to spend less time on Facebook because I get very little value for the time spent there — I’d rather put that time into more productive things. Facebook just isn’t that interesting or useful, and I’m not thrilled with their tendency to set policies that ignore the needs and interests of their users in favor of things that benefit Facebook."

Brennan Novak
Facebook
 * 2014-06-06 Dear Facebook, Goodbye "In honor of the one year anniversary of Edward Snowden's revelations and in effort to #ResetTheNet, I am leaving Facebook. I will first download all my pictures, updates, and private messages and then delete my account data."

Tyler Finck
Facebook, Instagram, Google+
 * 2014-05-06 Tyler Finck: Antisocial Networking "Last weekend I deleted my Instagram account, my Facebook Page, and my Google+ profile. [...] Over the past year I’ve tweaked my website almost every month, editing code and experimenting live. I’ve also started to create content two or three times a month. This site has become the place that I’m ready to host almost everything I make. The one stop Tyler Finck shop, which sounds horrible but is the best summary of the journey that I didn’t even know I was on until very recently. [...] Note: I plan on keeping my Twitter account active because after six years of use I still love it. My Flickr stream will soon become private as a means of backup and my Tumblr panoramas will be rolled into tylerfinck.com. Vimeo/YouTube? I’m not entirely sure what to do with them (since I utilize those sites only to serve up content). My love/hate relationship with Dribbble continues, and I’m still experimenting with Soundcloud."

Doug McKown
Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr:
 * 2014-04-16 Doug McKown: Why I’m Quitting Facebook "I’ve already deleted my Pinterest, Google+, and Tumblr account, but still have too many accounts to manage: Facebook, two Instagram accounts, and three Twitter accounts. I’m closing both Instagram accounts and my Facebook account. I want to own and control my content." [ Strong emphasis in original]

Neil Gaiman
Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter

Neil Gaiman is taking a ~6 month break from "social media", as announced in:


 * <time class="dt-published">2013-12-31 Neil Gaiman : <cite class="p-name">Where did I go? Out. What did I do? Nothing. OR, why I'm coming back to the blog once more..., which refers to an earlier piece in
 * The Guardian on <time class="dt-published">2013-06-14 by Richard Lea : <cite class="p-name">Neil Gaiman prepares for social media 'sabbatical'

He is, however, still blogging on his own site:
 * <time class="dt-published">2014-01-02 <cite class="p-name">How I cope with the social media cravings, and in which I begin to become a blogger once again...

Eat24
Facebook
 * 2014-03-31 Eat24 (company): A Breakup Letter to Facebook from Eat24 : "We’ll pack our things and be gone by 11:59pm on Monday night. Yes, you read that right. Eat24, the company that is always telling customers to Like our page, post on our wall, and ask us for coupons on Facebook… is deleting its Facebook. This is real."

Dadepo Aderemi
Facebook
 * 2014-03-21 Dadepo Aderemi: Getting Personal : "I am avoiding Facebook by all means now. I still keep using twitter though, but majorly as a source of discovery for things around my area of professional interests, and once in a while, a place to engage in ephemerial and disjointed rants. If I have something on my mind I really feel the need to share or capture, I write a coherent post instead. No, sorry: fusilade of tweets is no longer for me."

Michael Garvin
GitHub
 * 2014-03-28 Michael Garvin (gar) started self-hosting project code Time for gitlab "Of course, with github you still can own your data, git is a decentralized version control system so you have a complete copy of everything even on your local clone. The things github provides (that are also the data you do not control) are things like issues. Things that are the real ‘community’ part of your project. As my friend @baldwin said to me earlier today, “It’s interesting that github seems to have re-centralized git.”"

Sebastiaan Andeweg
Facebook
 * 2014-09-09 left Facebook (deactivating), after downloading the data-package they provide. Not everything seems to be in there, and it's certainly not easily parsed, but it's enough to not reactivate when in search for a memory. I did leave partly to get more time and space in my head, partly because I just did not want to have the feeling of being analysed all day.

Aaron Parecki
App.net <blockquote class="p-summary">"I am no longer publishing content to my App.net account until I can syndicate my content to their service without writing a single line of code."
 * <time class="dt-published">2013-03-28 Aaron Parecki : <cite class="p-name">An Open Challenge to App.net

Kartik Prabhu
Blogger
 * <time class="dt-published">2013-09-19 Kartik Prabhu : <cite class="p-name">Redux

Jamie Zawinski
Dropbox
 * <time class="dt-published">2013-10-28 Jamie Zawinski : <cite class="p-name">Fuck Dropbox.

Laurent Eschenauer
Google+:
 * <time class="dt-published">2013-08-11 Laurent Eschenauer : <cite class="p-name">Good bye friend, I'm outta here. (carbon copy on Google+)

Douglas Rushkoff
Facebook:
 * <time class="dt-published">2013-02-25 Douglas Rushkoff : <cite class="p-name">Why I'm quitting Facebook

Aaron Sorkin
2011-06-22 Both The Telegraph and The Guardian reported that The Social Network's [writer] Aaron Sorkin quits Facebook: Writer of Oscar-winning drama is no longer a friend to Mark Zuckerberg's creation due to 'opinions on social media'

Jesse Eisenberg
2010-10-16 The Courier Mail reported that Jesse Eisenberg, the star of the film The Social Network who portrays Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg had joined Facebook for the film, but subsequently quit. But his brief flirtation with the site left him "freaked out".

"I joined under a fake name and was sent a message from Facebook suggesting people I should befriend," Eisenberg explains.

"One of them was a girl my sister was friends with in high school. I don't know how they found her, no idea. I signed off right then."

Leo Laporte
"we’re having dinner with Lisa Stone and Chris Carfi and Chris says Leo is the “Twitter quitter.” The reason Leo’s leaving Twitter is significant is because Leo kicked off the Twitter hype by talking about Twitter on his show, TWiT (This Week in Tech) about two weeks before SXSW."
 * 2007-04-06 Leo Laporte leaves Twitter for Jaiku Laporte tweeted: “I’ve asked Ev to delete my Twitter account. I’m concerned about confusion with TWiT. I’m moving to Jaiku: account is ChiefTWiT. CU there!” followed by “I should never have trademarked TWiT. Curse you Ev. Couldn’t you have called this Odeoer or something?”
 * According to Scoble's post:
 * 2007-04-08 Being part of his technology journalism beat, Laporte rejoined Twitter days later.
 * 2018-01-16 Laporte is apparently suing Twitter for it's move into audio/video space:TWiT is suing Twitter, alleging breach of contract and trademark infringement

Silo quitters years ago

 * quit LinkedIn "a long time" ago.

Purging Rather Than Quitting

 * 2017-07-14 I Flushed The Last 9 Years Of My Facebook Profile "I flushed the the last 9 years of my Facebook profile over the last couple of days. Instead of deleting my account, I just cleaned up everything except what I have posted in 2017. In the future I will make it a yearly ritual to flush the previous year of my Facebook profile"

"My plan going forward is to manually delete all engagements at the end of every month. I will also refrain from hosting much content on Facebook, and will instead add most things to my blog and then link to Facebook (go #IndieWeb!) Facebook Delete and Stay</a>"
 * 2018-10-12 Robin Derosa deletes all content at end of each month to maintain local connections


 * 2019-01-08: deleted all his FB and G+ posts (and isn't posting any more).


 * 2019-10-31 unfollowed everyone he was following on Twitter.

Silo quits to File
So many have been quitting silos that many haven't been properly documented in the calendar timeline above. This section collects those that need to be filed above properly. (Roughly in order by date):


 * Digg in 2010 had a mass silo quit when users abandoned Digg V4 to go to competitor Reddit.


 * 2011-11-20 7 Months, No Facebook


 * 2018-03-26 quit Instagram and left a final post in place: https://www.instagram.com/p/BgzsAZQltSQ/?taken-by=ben.werdmuller "This is my final Instagram post. If you want to continue to see my photos, please keep in touch at werd.io. I will not participate in this."
 * 2018-04-26 returned a month later with this post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BiDzbpIFKf6 "Monkey, God of Pens, says “Ben’s back, which was inevitable”."


 * https://twitter.com/APBusiness/status/983309928495550465
 * "#Apple co-founder [Steve] Wozniak decides to shut down his #Facebook account. http://apne.ws/z1h42TR" @APBusiness April 9, 2018


 * #DigitalCleanse (via )


 * 2015-09-30 The Telegraph: Why do celebrities like Lena Dunham leave Twitter?

"I’m quitting Instagram. Here’s why. […]"
 * 2018-03-08 Instagram silo-quit: https://instagram.com/p/BgD-k5KFpm8/


 * Wetherspoon pub chain shuts its social media accounts "'It's becoming increasingly obvious that people spend too much time on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and struggle to control the compulsion,' [Wetherspoons CEO] Mr Martin added."

"I’ve never managed to leave Facebook of my own accord. My year off Facebook was kind of my choice, but was really because Facebook temporarily banned me until I agreed to stop impersonating a Pokemon."
 * 2018-04-28 I tried leaving Facebook. I couldn’t by Sara Jeong


 * 2018-07-20 Maggie Haberman quitting using Twitter as dialog: Maggie Haberman: Why I Needed to Pull Back From Twitter "After nearly nine years and 187,000 tweets, I have used Twitter enough to know that it no longer works well for me. I will re-engage eventually, but in a different way."
 * https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1018625748939177984
 * "With exception of breaking news and my own stories, taking a break from this platform. No reason or prompt other than that it’s not really helping the discourse." @maggieNYT July 15, 2018


 * 2018-07-22 quit Instagram with this last post: Thank you for viewing! I'll continue to share at cygnoir.net. See you there.


 * https://jamesshelley.com/2018/04/10/farewell-social-media/


 * 2018-07-28 WIRED / Emily Dreyfuss: I'm Deleting All My Old Tweets Because Nothing Matters


 * 2018-08-01 WIRED / Emily Dreyfuss The Sadness of Deleting Your Old Tweets


 * 2018-08-08 https://twitter.com/tinysubversions/status/1027325323317104640
 * "100% related to this article that I'm going to try really hard to turn this into a promo-only account from now on. ("promo" meaning "promoting interesting projects or information"). If you want to engage with me as a person, follow me on Mastodon. (1/5) https://twitter.com/tinysubversions/status/1027270383181811713" @tinysubversions August 8, 2018


 * 2018-08-15 Mike Montiero and #DeactiDay https://twitter.com/monteiro/status/1029816025129209856
 * "Stand with us on Friday. I doesn't have to be permanent. Come back when/if you want. A day. A week. The point is to have them see a dip in engagement. Show them how many of us there are. Also: Do the #BlockParty500 thing!! It’s totally awesome. #DeactiDay" @monteiro August 15, 2018
 * 2018-08-17 Mike Monteiro deleted his Twitter account https://twitter.com/monteiro; he subsequently reactivated it.
 * 2018-08-15 Mashable: #DeactiDay: The growing Twitter movement urging users to delete their accounts over Alex Jones


 * https://twitter.com/girlziplocked/status/1029909564819496962?s=19
 * "Overheard this today between a teenager and her dad: “Why did you delete your Twitter account?” “I dunno. I just did.” “Were you being bullied?” “No. I just...all the people on there say the exact same stuff as everyone else on there and like I get it, we’re all gonna die.”" @girlziplocked August 16, 2018


 * 2018-08-17 Twitter quit: longtime user Derek Powazek deleted his primary account https://twitter.com/fraying though his private placeholder https://twitter.com/powazek still seems to be up (and says to check @fraying)


 * 2018-08-17 Wil Wheaton deleted his Twitter account https://twitter.com/wilw
 * 2018-08-29 Perhaps more of a site-quit than silo, or fedi-quit? Wil Wheaton leaves Mastodon (the instance he was one) https://mastodon.cloud/@wilw
 * ^^^ apparent star(t) date: https://mastodon.cloud/@wilw/27202
 * "Maybe this is the one that will stick? Hello, World." @wilw April 5, 2017


 * Om Malik quits Facebook https://om.co/2018/09/01/the-long-goodbye-to-facebook/


 * 2018-09-03 Charlie Owen "It's time to say goodbye to Twitter"


 * https://medium.com/@spidey_j/moving-off-of-medium-fa267c06b264


 * https://twitter.com/svoisen/status/1048071680457826304
 * "This week I deleted my Facebook account and removed Twitter from my phone. Life feels lighter, a little more focused." @svoisen October 5, 2018


 * https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1075513588859645952?s=19
 * "We've decided to become a Facebook-Free Business at @basecamp starting today. No Facebook, Instagram, no WhatsApp. No ads. No profiles. No pages. No usage. No more. Run your own business? Consider joining up. https://m.signalvnoise.com/become-a-facebook-free-business-5bfefc20c09d" @dhh December 19, 2018


 * 2019-01-01 deleted Instagram (native app) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGnDKPgcnS/
 * "Cleaning house of Facebook surveillance apps. Happy last @instagram post day! #unstagram" @Dietrich Ayala January 1, 2019


 * https://twitter.com/colinjohnston/status/1082107744495128576
 * "I’m deleting Facebook tomorrow. I set up a @tinyletter newsletter for friends and family. I’m going to experiment with personal blogging using @indiewebcamp practices." @colinjohnston January 7, 2019


 * https://twitter.com/espiekermann/status/1081727078016241664
 * "I intend to spend tomorrow, Sunday, getting off Facebook." @espiekermann January 6, 2019


 * https://twitter.com/MarcoInEnglish/status/1023597053350477825
 * "I was never on Reddit, and I deleted my FB account on March 31. Use Twitter, some little Mastodon, and am transforming my blogs to be #indieweb capable, so I can pull all the stuff out of the Twitter silo now as well." @MarcoInEnglish July 29, 2018


 * https://twitter.com/vincentlistens/status/1089986141804204035
 * "Quit #Instagram going fully micropub on my photo posts. Plus Instagram is pants etc.. #siloquit #indieweb" @vincentlistens January 28, 2019


 * 2019-01-30 https://twitter.com/Emma_Marris/status/1090728196788477952
 * "I emailed Dr. Tilcsik and he says he closed his account because it was his New Year's resolution to delete all his social media accounts by the end of January 2019." @Emma_Marris January 30, 2019

Articles
General articles about silo-quits as well as how-tos:
 * Quitting facebook increases time with friends and family, reduced political polarization, and increased well-being The Welfare Effects of Social Media
 * 2018-04-07 Buzzfeed: Teens Also Sometimes Quit Social Media
 * 2018-12-19 New York Times How to Delete Facebook
 * "Lost faith in Facebook after data leakages, breaches and too much noise? Here’s a guide to breaking up with the social network and its photo-sharing app for good."
 * "How to delete Facebook: 1. Assess what you might lose 2. Download your data 3. Hit the delete button 4. Resist getting back together 5. Delete Instagram 6. Ensure there is no tracking https://nyti.ms/2EzlsrM" @nytimes December 19, 2018
 * 2018-12-27 Consumer Reports How to Delete Online Accounts You No Longer Need
 * Quit social media silos because they’re a BUMMER: 2018-10-18 Quartz: A simple acronym sums up what’s wrong with social media "… the sinister purpose of tech companies that brought us the platforms we’re hooked on and their effect on us—BUMMER. It stands for Behaviors of Users Modified and Made into Empires for Rent."