Where Do We Go From Facebook

You may recall that a little more than a week ago, I announced that I would be participating in a week-long Facebook Black-Out.  This was a week in which authors and writers who normally provide a lot of content for FB audiences did not log in to the giant social media site.  What follows is the note I write the day the black-out ended.   I sent it to folks who read me in Facebook and want to share it with all of you here. 

 

Greetings everyone-- I have just completed a weeklong walk-out in protest against new FB policies that affect writers and artists who depend on social media for our PR. This time away has been very revealing. I learned several things during this experiment.

 

1. FB misses me when I am gone. Never before have I received email from FB telling me how much my participation is missed and how much I am missing while gone. I received at least two such emails a day during my 7 day boycott. Very interesting.

 

2. I missed hearing from family and friends, but figure they all know where to find me when I am not here. I did not miss the load of crap FB has been injecting into my newsfeed, making it harder and harder to find news from family and friends and businesses I support.

 

3. Not using FB seems actually to have increased the number of visitors to my websites and had no affect whatsoever on book sales.

 

4. Not using FB has made me a far more productive person. That is not a surprise, but my expectations are now confirmed.

 

5. There are several social media networks I prefer to FB. These are networks who are up front about the mutually parasitical relationship they offer writers and artists. They are also easier to navigate and a lot less frenetic than FB, so they don't eat so much time. All of these networks agree to share ALL of my posts with ALL of my followers/subscribers. Not one does the sort of filtering FB now does. That filtering is my main objection to how FB is doing business these days. Even if I pay them, FB does not want to share what I post with all of the people who have said they want it shared with them. That forces me to share my own posts repeatedly in various places on FB in hope that at least a third of my followers/fans/friends will see. That is irritating to those unlucky enough to see the same posts over and over and time-consuming for me.

 

The upshod of all this is that I have decided to greatly curtail my use of FB. Any professional posts you see from me here will be posted remotely from a thrid party platform. I will be inviting everyone to follow me elsewhere with the goal being that I am eventually able to leave FB altogether. It just does not work for me anymore for any purpose. My professional posts get buried from most folks I would like to have see them and I have a hard time finding personal posts from friends and family I care about.

 

IMO, FB has lost its soul and become something it never started out to be. That's a reasonable path for the sort of business it has become but not for me as a consumer. I hope you will find me and follow or friend me in other venues. Here's where to look for me.

 

Twitter @FredaFrostbite
(Twitter has LOTS of posts and a rapidly changing feed. It would be overwhelming to anyone who tries to read everything in their feed.)

 

Pinterest Stephanie Mesler (Pinterest is easy to organize and great for visual learners)

 

Tsu @FredaFrostbite  (Tsu is a lot like FB but much, much easier to navigate)

 

Google+ Freda Frostbite
Google+ Stephanie Mesler
(G+ is sort of complicated but has a lot of advantages for sorting ones people, priorities, and interests. Use the Freda page if you are at all interested in virtual worlds and my writing, the Steph Page if it's personal content you seek. Use both if that rocks your boat.)

 

Flickr Freda's Place https://www.flickr.com/groups/2779260@N23/
Flickr Steph's People https://www.flickr.com/groups/2808584@N22/
Flickr My Writing Life https://www.flickr.com/groups/2820051@N22/
(Flickr is a picture sharing site. Some of the pages I host are brand new, intended to replace FB photos. I'll be adding content to them over the next month or so.)

 

Royal Courts of Second Lifehttp://royalcourts.ning.com/profile/StephanieMesler...
(Royal Courts is another way to follow some of my RP and writing online. Anyone can visit but one must have an SL avatar to join.)

 

My websites are Freda's Place www.FredaFostbite.Blogspot.com
and A Poet's Progress, www.apoetsprogrogress.blogspot.com

 

I am very grateful for your support. I could not continue doing what I do professionally OR personally without all of you, so please stick with me as I migrate away from day to day in FB. You can even email me if you think I am not seeing something you want me to see.