Facebook.
Sometimes, it's a very good thing if all you do is socialize with others and/or play games. Other times, it's a very bad thing if you're trying to build some kind of name recognition.
Some time ago, my book blog moved to level two of Facebook jail. Level two is where you post a link from your website, and you get a pink warning box saying that your link is suspicious and thus you have to do CAPTCHA in order to post. EACH. AND. EVERY. TIME.
Additionally, having a website at level two means that you can never use it in your "shop now" button (if you have a business page like I do) because it will always give you an error message.
Well my friends this particular blog that you are currently perusing has, after two+ years, got moved to level one of Facebook jail. Level one is where you have to do CAPTCHA in order to post. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
How it got moved to level one is relatively simple: I posted a link one too many times over the course of a weekend. I believe it wasn't from my blog, but I'm getting punished just the same anyways.
So.
Because this particular annoyance is the straw that blew the brake line, I decided this past Tuesday (4/13) to resurrect my Tumblr blog, Father Nature's Mountain (don't click if you don't have the bandwidth to spare or you're sucking on IE instead of Chrome). I haven't posted on my Tumblr blog since last year, for the very simple reason of not having any pictures to blog about.
But this bonehead move by Facebook has forced me to shake things up. Instead of posting links to my blog twice a week, I'll simply write a summary of what I posted on my Blogger blog for the week (plus a bonus perhaps) and post that once a week.
Facebook is a bad Catch-22, in that unlike Amazon, who uses their algorithms for (mostly) good thins, they use their algorithms for (mostly) bad things. They want you to expose yourself to the world, but if you expose yourself too much and you aren't paying for it, then you get punished for doing so.
Facebook.
It's the new 1984.
(c) 2015 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved.
I have mixed feelings about facebook and actually even thought about quitting it altogether, but I like to see what my nieces are up to. :) That's the main reason I keep it -
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to have mixed feelings as well. I did deactivate my account back in 2011 when they were first doing that Timeline nonsense and only reactivated because my then publisher was heavy into social media.
DeleteI am giving serious thought about Instagram, but they have an issue with risqué photos there.
Yeah, I'm pretty sick of facebook and their policies
ReplyDeletePreaching to the choir my friend.
DeleteIt wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so damn inconsistent about their enforcement of both new and old rules.
That sucks. I'm really glad I'm not on Facebook. And I'm glad Twitter doesn't do that.
ReplyDeleteYou're really not missing much.
DeleteI've given thought to Twitter, but I need to find a way to meld the grief that my job gives me to the 140 character monstrosity that is Twitter w/o affecting my job.
I've never been at odds with Facebook, however it does sound like they are really grinding your gears.
ReplyDeleteMost people do not have problems with FB. However, it seems that if you actually follow their dictates of posting a lot, friending a lot, etc etc. etc., you start to run afoul of their algorithms.
DeleteFuck Facebook!
ReplyDeleteYuppers.
Delete