Of course there are the many reasons found by just following current news and too the many times over the course of many years that Facebook has made the news but not for good reasons. Quite frankly, the number of these instances are just too many to try to briefly list a few here as examples. Let's just say Facebook has a history of having problems.
And too there are the many firsthand experiences with trying to effectively use Facebook for both personal and for professional reasons. Again the mess with this history of challenges is just too much to try to list here as part of this post. Lets just say there are many reasons for dissatisfaction relating to dealing with Facebook.
~~~
COMMUNICATIONS
It is easy to notice that many businesses and organizations rely on having Facebook pages for their primary, and maybe only, online presence. It is understandable that not everyone would be inclined to have also a website for their business or organization. Facebook does provide a service for such public sharing. It sounds good except that the use of the word "public" is highly misleading.
For those that are involved with managing Facebook content - such as for "public" Facebook pages - by default you need to have an account. And once you are on the inside, so to speak, it is easy to overlook what the experience is for anyone who visits your page who is not a Facebook person.
The experience for those folks leaves a lot to be desired. It is not a good one. The animation below shows how relentless Facebook is for using your so called public page as an opportunity to convince anyone and everyone that they should be on Facebook. They flat out state that to "See more" of your content, the visitor needs to have an account and log in. Even if all your information is meant to be public, Facebook is telling folks that by not having an account that they may be missing out on something. In effect, Facebook is using your page to convince everyone that they need to join Facebook. Basically Facebook hides and holds your content in limbo so that they can advertise for themselves in very intrusive ways. And even if a visitor does select "Not Now" for opting out of logging into, or signing up for, an account - Facebook will not go away and will not take no for an answer. It is relentless in its efforts for using your content for its own benefit.
~~~
STUCK WITH THE ABUSE.
For myself I have no choice. If I am to continue with providing suggestions and assistance to others for being engaged in public ways I cannot simply delete my Facebook account and move away from it. Personally I would welcome the opportunity to do so and divorce myself from the Facebook experience, though this is contrary to what is generally suggested for anyone interested in providing content in public ways. Having a website can be nice, though that may not be the best solution for everyone. Though Facebook has been the biggest fish in the pond, there are other social media avenues and other online methods of expression that could be, and maybe should be, considered as alternatives for effective public sharing of your content.
There is really no happy ending for this post. I guess that regardless of what avenue is chosen for online expression, it will come with challenges. And for being specific to Facebook's so called public pages, it is good to recognize what this really means for your visitors and what their actual user experience is. And to be aware of how efforts will be made by Facebook - using your content - to try and capitalize on those visiting and inquiring eyes.
~~~
So if there are options beside just using Facebook, I would strongly suggest pursuing them. For being able to separate yourself from an abusive situation, it is good to have options for not having all your communication eggs in one basket.
~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment