Troy Posted June 10, 2018 Report Share Posted June 10, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted June 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2018 I fired up my facebook account a couple weeks ago after having it disabled for a couple of months. It is just too hard to do what I do without an account, because so much information I need when researching people is most easily obtained on Facebook. Facebook's structure requires people to include information that is often left off their websites -- better bios for authors, bookstore hours of operations, event details, etc. I still post links, that get virtually no engagement. I've come to terms with the fact that I just don't have it in me make the type of posts required to get engagement of Facebook. On the advice of my students, I have recently begun using Instagram. I've purchased some advertising and even installed the app on my phone. I've created some posts and am experimenting with the platform to see if I can generate some traffic to the website. But I know, unless the traffic generated is great, I will not use the platform. I just don't like engaging in the activities that are needed to amp up traffic. All the sharing of personal minutiae is too much for me... I'm even beginning to feel contempt for the people doing all the sharing. ...this is a bad sentiment, because in the real world I actually really like some of these people. So it is likely I will ultimately disengage from Instagram before I become some online misanthrope. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel Hopkins Posted June 10, 2018 Report Share Posted June 10, 2018 44 minutes ago, Troy said: I'm even beginning to feel contempt for the people doing all the sharing. @Troy LOL!!! I Follow Hashtags not people! Outside of the people I know in real life, I don't follow people unless they follow me and ALSO have engaging content. That personal minutiae , and words of wisdom most folks posts gets on my nerves too! And I hate that facebook owns instagram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynique Posted June 10, 2018 Report Share Posted June 10, 2018 FaceBook is certainly fertile ground for slavishly religious mopes and people who can't spell, write complete sentences, speak correct grammar or know the difference between such homonyms as: to and too, their and there, your and you're, all of which is why it shouldn't be taken seriously. It's also a place for an occasional stimulating exchange, but mostly it provides amusement. Some folks need to be reminded that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted June 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2018 Seriously I need to check myself with regard to the way I view people. If social media bring joy to an otherwise fruitless life for some, who am I to give them grief for it. Mel who you telling! The fact that Facebook owns instagram is obscene. Facebook now determines what people, across the nation's most popular social media platforms, see. The notion that Facebook has a lock on the least educated amongst is really quite dangerous. Whether you follow people, brands, or hashtags ultimately Facebook still controls what we all see. For example, after four hours, I posted this chart on Twitter, Facebook, Goolge+, and just now posted on Instagram. So far one retweet, one "Like on Facebook (that was from @Cynique thanks!) As far as I can tell no one has seen it. I can't track the traffic resulting from the post, because the link was to a different website (where the graphic was created). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer1 Posted June 12, 2018 Report Share Posted June 12, 2018 Facebook is also a platform for the LAZIEST and TACKIEST business owners who would rather use their facebook pages to promote their businesses instead of building their own website from scratch where they maintain total control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted June 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2018 Ah don't be so hard on folk man. Running a business is hard enough, trying to make a website on top of that can very daunting -- especially if you are poor and uneducated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer1 Posted June 12, 2018 Report Share Posted June 12, 2018 Sure running a SUCCESSFUL business is hard work and takes a lot of time. But as I understand it, for most Black people one of the main reasons for starting a business in the first place is so that you can be YOUR OWN master and have total control over your operation without having to be beholden ot anyone but your customers (and the IRS). So it makes no sense to me why a proud independent Black business would SUBMIT themselves to the authority and restrictions of an institution like Facebook. There are people who's entire business pretty much operates through Facebook or Amazon and if they for some reason are banned or dropped from these sites....they're through. My question is, why would you even allow yourself to be that vulnerable and dependent on something you have little control over? I've built and operated several websites before. They take a little time and creativity but they aren't THAT hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted June 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2018 Well I agree with you @Pioneer1, but I completely understand why people do it. I've created many websites myself, and only two are still active (one minimally so). How many of the websites that you created are still active? Creating a website is easy, making it viable over the long term is not. But to your point the moment we set up shop on a corporate platform we are at their mercy. I call it digital sharecropping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer1 Posted June 12, 2018 Report Share Posted June 12, 2018 One of them is still running, although I haven't taken much time to maintain it. I've started and shut down many depending on what business or project I'm working on. Since me and most of those I associate with are usually not skilled enough in building a huge professional website from scratch, I usually use the do-it-yourself website builders with already established templates that charge a yearly fee. Infact, I believe YOU posted on one of them. It was back a few years ago when I was working on a project for Flint and the water problems they were (still are) having up there. But whatever I'm working on, I'm SURE not gonna promote Facebook and force people to get an account with them in order to do business with me....lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted June 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 Yeah I vaguely remember the site. I'm not sure I realized that you were the one who created it. What is the URL of the one that is currently running? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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