Your Page Sucks...

Not Your content.....but the format you built it on.....


Maybe I felt like stirring up the pot a bit, or just getting some things off of my chest that have risen in the past few months? I guess I better watch out for the social media Gestapo after voicing my personal opinion? They can be relentless!

Facebook has ruined a good thing!.....I will reflect on an old piece of advice "Do not fix it if it is not broke!" Yes I am talking about how facebook pages (and even the personal profiles) really suck now. I am an artist and I have spent a lot of time networking and showing the world my work through the magic of facebook. It used to be fun and a great way to interact with other artists and fan of art. I have even written blog posts on how to improve your facebook pages experience. I still spend time on facebook and will continue too. It is a part of my work flow to catch up and post thing that people have chosen to see. I have made some great friends from all around the planet and it is a good format for sharing what is going on in my art world. I made the page to share Color and Love.....

My main bone of contention is the outright censorship of things I post. I am not talking about things like anti-government, nudity, or race posts (which I can understand on some level aside from the freedom of speech stuff...but we are on their servers and interface). I am talking about a photo of a painting of a huge house fly, a colorful abstract. or just me telling my fans what I am working on. It is now the job of facebook engineers to decide who gets to see it. They get their math wizards and code engineers to make the decision for you!  When you have hit the "like" button on a page you are asking to see content from that page in your news feed, Right? not in their eyes! They only let you see what they figure you want to see! Who are they to make this decision for me. When I " like" a page I want to see all the content they post. I can make my own decision on if I will look at it, react to it or comment on it. The funny thing about it is that they even tell you how many people see your posts and the percentage. The did this to encourage you to spent $5 or $10 to reach your whole fan base (who has chosen to see it anyway.) Has it had the opposite effect?

Facebook is now a publicly traded company, they play by new rules now. It is the job of the executives to generate profit for the share holders. Plain and simple! "They give you the golden goose for free but make you pay to see it." The rise of facebook is a great story...American brilliance at its best....nerd steals an idea...turns it into the greatest new thing....everyone flocks to it like sheep....nerd becomes filthy rich....puts it on the NYSE...nerd now controls one of the most important ways of communication....nerd learns that censorship can be profitable for him and his share holders....and starts to change the product that made him rich....Is the next step nerd looses everything and goes the way of Tom Anderson from Myspace? It could happen....Myspace was huge! But do you even have a Myspace now? If you do when was the last time you looked at it? 

Timeline, Pay to post and facebook metrics all epic fails from the point of view of most who use this free service. Yes it is free and I cant complain to much about the cost but when you start changing things without even letting folks know, that is a bit creepy and underhanded even for a free site. They made everyone and pages go to this Timleline interface....gave you a great place to put a huge photo and then gave you rules on what you could actually put in that space. They also took it upon themselves to make it difficult to see what others have posted on the page (which made it suck for pages that promote artists work, and please share your artwork here sites) You also do not get your news feed in order it was posted....now it is up to those engineers to let you know what is important to you. Sounds like some governments from the past or future (hehehehe ever see 1984 or V for Vendetta) Just the other day they went and changed all of your email addresses to one they have control of. (Yeah go check you email address on your profile). What is next? I know a lot of folks who use it on their smart phones...they link the number etc etc....how long will it be before they have some control of that too? They even ask you for that info when you sign in and make it seem as if you do not have your phone linked up to them something may happen or you may not be able to recover a password etc. etc. etc. Remember folks this is how it all starts....

I have seen a rapid decline in the amount of "likes" per week and interaction from others who have "liked" my page. I know some of this is caused by rapid movement of the news feed (especially if you have a lot of active friends and such) I also know that some folks are only on facebook a few times a week, thus they would not see all the content anyway....but I notice a huge difference! I also check those "insights" from time to time and have noticed a huge difference from the ones I printed a few months ago....and I had way less "likes" back then. Change is hard.....and after things get to a feeling of normal and we are used to the way it is now this may be all mute? and We do not have a choice anyway....if we want to use facebook and interact with everyone we have built up, we must play by their rules....or wait for the next big social website....which will happen at some point. Google tried, Twitter is confusing and Myspace is the way of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker (gone but not forgotten, at least the lessons are not forgotten). I am sure there is some way to make a statement to facebook...they opened up the door by becoming a publicly traded company and must play by the rules of a corporation and regulators.

I am by no means an expert on this stuff....only wanted to get some stuff out of my head! I may be totally wrong and will take the guff if I am. I just think they ruined a good thing....for them and for us! We spend way more time on that interface when we get content we asked for in the first place. When I get a lot of interaction with folks I spend way more time on facebook....when the interaction has been low (lately) I find myself just checking on it a few times a day.  As an artist, I run a small business, I want folks that chose to see my content to see it. I want to spread Color and Love to even more folks. I am a mellow, laid back dude that loves art....very easy to please....I do not ruffle to many feathers unless thing just do not seem fair and right. I just wanted to get this off my chest and get back to spreading Color to my friends and fans!!! I wrote this to give you something to ponder.....and maybe look at how your facebook life has changed. Do we all need to say goodbye to it and build up our Google+ sites? Do we just deal with it with a smile or a frown? Do we do something about it? Do we ignore and just let things be? or should we all just spend less time at the computer and more time creating and living life in the real world?....Who knows?....it is all up to you to decide...I am just bitching!!!!!!!

Peace and Love to YOU!!!! (that is if you even see this?.....watch out for the facebook police!!.....It will be interesting to see what my facebook metrics look like on this one!!!!)

Please Please share this post!!!!!!!!!! I really want to hear from you also....I want you to post some comments.....(you do not have to sign up or anything).....I just want to hear some of your stories and thoughts......Please Share!!! I would love to hear from many folks!!!! again Peace and love to you and thank you for taking the time to read my Rant!!!