Facebook Is Not The Boss Of Me

Some of you might have noticed that I tend to post only my blog posts to Facebook.

In a moment of disgust, I deleted Twitter all together. I never liked it anyway. Facebook is more problematic because I know so many people there who are actual friends and not "networking friends".

I'm sick of Facebook for the most part. Their censorship and bias is cringe-worthy even to someone with a centrist viewpoint.

But it got me thinking about what's really at stake. I hear people complain about Facebook all the time. Everybody knows it's taking and sharing our information to Facebook-friendly app developers and associates, (including tracking information), but nobody does anything more than grumble.

We forget that WE have the ultimate power, but it's only our power if we use it. So this is what I've done. Instead of allowing Facebook to take from me, I take from it.

I use its platform to post my blog posts. I sometimes comment on people's FB posts (but only if I have no other way to communicate with them). I will not click on any Facebook ad. Ever. 

If it's something I'm interested in, I'll use a separate private window and search the net for that vendor. 

In short, I use Facebook, but I don't let it use me. I don't want it to know anything more about me than it absolutely has to. To be fully transparent, I do respond to people who mention me or reply to my posts, but it's rare for me to go farther than that unless someone has lost a pet or gained one.

Most of you won't go through that trouble. You might think it gives you visibility for your books or products, but do some research before you blindly hand them credit. Have you really sold all that much through Facebook? 

My analytics show that most of my reach comes through Pinterest, Google and DuckDuckGo searches. In all the years I've tracked my traffic, Facebook has never come up as a significant contributor.

I am on MeWe now. Although I have a few friends there, many still prefer to post on Facebook because they get more interaction. 

It's hard to stop the addiction when you're rewarded with all those smiley, laughing, and oh-wow faces for every little thing you say. 

Really? You're happy that someone gave you a thumb's up? 

That is the extent of Facebook's reward system and in exchange they get to know your likes, dislikes, work, hobbies, food, the cars you drive, your sexual preference, your politics, religion, education, and your buying habits. You gave away too much for that smiley face. You deserve better.

All I can say is that change starts when one person stands up and says: No, I will not let you use me.

So this is me, saying no.

I've had several new people ask to friend me in recent weeks. I stopped accepting anymore friend requests since it won't do them any good if I don't interact. 

If we're friends, we're friends even if I don't use Facebook to say it. If you want to talk, you probably have my email address, or we can talk on MeWe, or my blog. But I'm distancing myself from Facebook. It's not the social platform it used to be. Judging from its trajectory, it's getting frighteningly worse. 

If for some reason Facebook decides to keep me from posting my articles, I will leave it entirely. I don't need it as much as it needs me.