A few weeks ago, I crossed an important bridge in my relationship with Facebook.
That bridge leads to Google+ or some other social service.
Oh, I will still use Facebook, but I am no longer "liking" Facebook. In fact, if I could I would "unlike" it.
Why you ask? Well, I will tell you (that is what columns are for, no?).
I have a community page at www.facebook.com/ DottoTech. People have liked the page. They have joined the community because they like to keep up with the topics we are talking about on the radio show and podcast, and they want to know when I post a new "howto" video, or are interested in winning one of the incredible, super prizes we regularly offer. They ask a few questions, make a few suggestions. All in all, it's a nice place for people who follow my stuff to gather.
The issue that causes me so much concern happened out of the blue as I posted an update on the Dotto Tech Community Page wall. It was nothing profound. It was a "this week we are talking about the Internet" sort of a post, and as I submitted it I was met with a dialogue box that asked me if I wanted to "promote" the post to more of my followers, and if so I could pay for the privilege.
Say what?! Pay to promote the content people have subscribed to of their own free will? Charge me for my followers to see what I post? I think not, Mr Facebook and your billions of dollars. Nay, never in a thousand years.
Here is the issue: You join different Facebook groups because you are interested in the group or in their cause. You join to keep abreast of the news and posts by that group. You trust Facebook to then deliver that content to you in your news feed. You trust you'll be shown what you are interested in, not what someone pays to show you. That's the purpose of the ads that ring the core content on your Facebook page, which I have absolutely no problem with.
To undermine the, dare I say, purity of the feed is wrong, and smacks of greed and a lack of moral fibre. Anyone who thinks I am mistaken about Facebook's motivation need only to see the followup "pressure" Facebook applies in each of my community posts now. There is a percentage attached to each post that I believe only I can see, which tells me what percentage of my followers have had each post promoted into their feed. So the bottom line is even if you are interested in a group or topic, you may see the posts from that group in your feed, but if the author pays Facebook, there is a higher likelihood.
Note to the editor: This is not a good idea, please do not try and charge me for better placement in the paper. I will not pay, and in fact I do believe there will be a general uprising from the public should you choose to follow this questionable practice. Facebook is on a very slippery slope. Other massive online properties have lost the public confidence, lost their mojo and are now struggling to recover. Yahoo is a shadow of its former self, eBay is no longer the darling of the online community. There are options waiting in the wings and they have just pushed one more person to explore their options.
Google+, what's up?
