24 hours from now people are abandoning the Facebook ship in hopes of sending it plummeting to the depths of irrelevance…. but will it really? I’ve seen all the posts from my friends announcing that they’ve recently joined a social media app named “Parler”. They’ve shared their new username so that the rest of us can connect with them “over there”. I’ve followed most of you and if I haven’t…. it was merely an oversight and you can hit me up and follow over there if you desire. I’ve been on Parler for about 6 months now. I’m familiar enough with it that I can share some information.
First let me tell you… it’s NOT Facebook and it’s NOT Twitter. It hasn’t been around nearly as long and it has kinks and bugs and issues that they are working out. It’s not as easy to navigate as what you are used to…. but change is good sometimes, right?? It will crash occasionally from the massive influx of people hopping aboard but they are working on that too. Be patient with them. They got slammed a few months back when everyone was at their wits end with Twitter and headed over to their platform. I feel certain that 24 hours from now…. the same thing will occur.
So…. are you really going to sign off for good from the Facebook “platform” ?? Meh… I’m a skeptic… I’m thinking you probably won’t. Not permanently anyway. You have photos & “memories” that will probably draw you back. I left Facebook for 2 months this past spring. I was so frustrated and angry with their “censors” that I logged off. I walked away and I must tell you…. it wasn’t all bad. Yes, I missed out on my friends pictures and posts but the peace I had for those 2 months from not dealing with the asshatery that Facebook was throwing at me was actually pretty nice.
Why did I return?? The BLOG. Believe me… it wasn’t my first choice to sign back on. I weighed my options and discussed my issues with a couple of people that were helping me “find my stride” in writing and it came back every single time to them saying… “You have to go back”. They weren’t telling me that because it was the only way to get my BLOG seen by people because that is absolutely not true. The BLOG has taken on a life of it’s own away from Facebook and is routinely seen by 500+ and as mind blowing as it sounds…. it’s seen on average in 10 different countries every time I post. So… Facebook isn’t the “lifeblood” of my BLOG.
The reason that they insisted I return had more to do with my character. Do I write truthful things? Do I believe what I write? Can I defend what I write? That in a nutshell is it. If I answered YES to all of those questions, then I cannot let random faceless censors silence me. I can’t cave to the crap that they were putting me through day in and day out by disabling my account and locking me out. IF I as one simple random citizen out of millions… let them silence me… then I’ve allowed Facebook to win a battle that they are NOT entitled to win.
So… I put my big girl britches on ….logged back on… and began posting. My experience has improved a bit… only because after months of watching their “games”… I’ve become attuned to how to beat them at them. It’s a daily contest and most days… I win.
But…. that’s my story. The thousands of you out there that are walking away now have your own unique reasons. For the ones of you that aren’t walking away and you are standing there bumfuzzled about why people are choosing to distance themselves from each other simply due to politics… I’m laughing at you. Your head is in your rear end if you think the mass exodus is based on politics. It’s NOT….. it never was and it never will be. Politics didn’t “drive a wedge” between people. Facebook did that all by itself.
Let me enlighten you to WHY people are walking away. Facebook is a social media PLATFORM … or so they claim to be. They use that term for legal purposes and tax purposes and other complicated purposes….but they aren’t really a PLATFORM anymore. They haven’t been for a while. A platform is where anyone can post anything anytime they want as long as it’s not pornographic, inciting violence, or being used to purposely doxx a person (share personal information such as address, phone numbers… etc). Other than those things…. it’s supposed to be a free for all.
What has happened to Facebook over the years?? It grew an agenda. It realized the power it had and decided to use every ounce of it to control the posts & converstions of its users. It put in place algorithms that hide things that went against their “group think” narrative that they wanted to promote. Yes, political views are part of it… but honestly… it’s one out of about 10 parts.
They silence religious beliefs, they remove posts about our education system and they hide posts about medical breakthroughs. They’ll lock people out of their accounts as “punishment” for violating their random rules and there is NO way to appeal it. You are banned because they made a decision and you have to accept it.
Here is an example of their agenda driven censoring….. IF I were to post an article that states a school is choosing to offer classes on civics and history in place of classes on inclusivity … Facebook would label it as “sensitive content”. IF I posted an article about a school that is offering inclusivity classes in place of civics and history…. the article would circulate with no warnings. Of course… BOTH of those stories can be true. Private schools can offer different classes to their students as they see fit… but Facebook doesn’t see it that way. The truthfulness of the stories is irrelevant. It’s the narrative that they censor and they see it as promoting a story they don’t want promoted.
Facebook is actively interfering in what people post and see. They are waging a war against millions of people. They have algorithms set up to hide posts about religion. They hide pictures users post of events they attend. They are sneaky little rats too! They allow you to post things but behind the scenes, unbeknownst to you, they remove your post from your friends newsfeeds thereby preventing it from being seen. If you are “one of the chosen” that have ended up on their watch list… they will fire shots across your bow daily by making your own newsfeed useless (filled with posts from 2 weeks earlier). The censoring is a well oiled machine for them and you can sit and watch it occur in “realtime” on your own feed as I did.
They hide posts about politics… yes…. but they hide more….. much much more. If you are on their “watch list” they will censor anything you post. I watched them remove a post about my furry roommate’s allergy issues. IF none of this has impacted you directly and you think that millions of people are overreacting by jumping ship, then you haven’t been paying attention. Your silence on what is happening to your fellow friends is encouraging the social media overlords to keep it up.
The mass exodus doesn’t have anything to do with whether you are a red hat conservative person or whether you are a proud liberal blue flag waving person. If you think that is the crux of this massive exodus you couldn’t possibly be more wrong. It’s not about politics… it’s about freedoms. Facebook was one thing when we all signed up for it…. it has become another thing entirely. It is a massive publishing operation with thousands of editors scanning for things that they don’t like.
I wrote a blog exactly 6 months ago (May 13th) and I said… If you don’t like differing opinions, “you will be very pleased with the Facebook platform in the coming years because it will consist of one agenda and one like minded way of thinking. There will be no dissension allowed and decency will be determined by their censors”.… YES…. I feel a bit like Nostradamus. I told you that what we are seeing today was headed our way. I’d like to pat myself on the back for that, but I’d rather shed a tear because that prediction coming true is a tragedy for us all!
A platform is supposed to let you post pictures and words about anything you find interesting. Any subject on this planet that you are passionate about, you should be able to share your views. It could be about animals or sports or religion or politics… it doesn’t matter what it is… you should be able to share it with the world via your social media account. Facebook now has censors so deeply embedded that THEY make the determination about what can be shared. That is wrong any way you try to slice it or spin it.
If you still believe that Facebook is just a happy little gathering of friends and family in cyberspace to share pet, vacation and family photos…..you really are blind and dumb.
Mark Zuckerburg and his posse of goons are some of the most powerful people in the world now. They massively overshadow the media when it comes to influence and news sharing. They have the ability to steer conversations in certain directions that can effect people across the globe. Ask Hong Kongers about that and believe me… they will give you an earful!
Facebook has the ability to take a news story written by The NY Post and label it as misinformation and plant seeds of doubt in the minds of millions. They have the ability to take words spoken by world leaders and label them as sensitive content thereby prohibiting people from hearing or reading them. They can take speeches given by religious leaders any where in the world and label them as violating decency standards. Their operation is massive and so far their success has been phenomenal.
It’s unfortunate that we’ve all become so reliant on the little blue “F” button on our phones and we check in numerous times a day to see “what’s going on” with our friends, families and pets. But… the reality is…. you are only seeing what they allow you to see. You have no ability to “un-label” anything. You have zero capability of setting your newsfeed in such a way that it “shows ya everything”. Nope…. that is LONG GONE.
So… if you are leaving to prove a point to Facebook that they can’t do this to you anymore… more power to you. I’ll stand beside you and fight the fight! But… might I suggest using the same device you are on at this moment… to do something else??? The email address of your senator or congressman seems like a good thing to find. Let THEM know that you are frustrated beyond belief! Tell them to DO SOMETHING about a social media “platform” that is no longer a platform! THEY are the only ones that can bust up this thing. They are the only ones that have the ability to truly guarantee your freedom to post whatever you want.
I’ll still be on Facebook 24 hours from now and I’ll be there for the foreseeable future. I’ll make use of my Parler account more frequently and I’ll connect with all of you over there too. I’ll post the BLOGs on Parler beginning today.
I strongly suggest that if you are outraged…. use your outrage to demand real change. If you aren’t outraged…. then you can go back to hiding your head and living in your rainbow unicorn world while the rest of us attempt to make the future of social media safe and fair for you to use.
Good Day to ya! Wash your hands AND QUIT TOUCHING YOUR FACE!!!!
The DoubleMdaily Blog 