Lately, I've been spending more time on Facebook, mostly because I am increasing my promotional efforts for my artwork... and my "business page" is a significant part of that.
Yes, I still have a Facebook account. No, I don't use it very often. However, Facebook has its place in the social media circus, particularly if you are trying to build a business.
The upsides of Facebook — few, as they may be — is that "everybody" is there. Another upside is that because there are so many people who have Facebook accounts, the level of granularity you can get into with very specific niche keywords and tags is way:over and above what you can get most other places.
To wit, I posted a somewhat unremarkable photo with a bit of text talking about my artwork and it did get viewed 2,200 times within the first 48 hours. Much as I can claim that I love Hive and our community here, posting my artwork here is not going to get it viewed 2,200 times!
Which brings us to another thing that Facebook does offer that's decent which is reasonable post analysis with numbers and demographics and stuff like that. It's something they can do — once again — because they have so damn many people there.
Other than the above, all the experience has really driven home is why I was fed up with being on Facebook a decade ago, making it easy for me to transition to Hive 1.0 for most of my online social connection.
The shrill extremism that existed at the beginning of the first Trump presidency in 2016 is alive and well and perhaps even more shrill and extremist than it was back then. The sheer level of unpleasantness people throw at each other is truly stunning. And no, it's not just about lefties losing it."
Kind of makes me sit back and wonder who the heck these people even are. I mean, the way they throw vitriol at each other undoubtedly bears no resemblance to what they would do if they met the same people face-to-face.
But I guess it has always been the case that the world is filled with brave keyboard warriors who can shout with big words when they feel safely hidden behind their computer screens thousands of miles away and forget that there's actually a real person connected to the wires at the other end.
The other thing that's nuts is the sheer volume of advertising — some of it blatant and some of it cleverly masquerading as posts by actual people. Similarly, the volume of AI slop is quite an amazing thing to behold.
And I'm not even going to get into the ridiculousness of what people actually believe on Facebook, or it seems that they believe on Facebook. Which is weird considering the number of people have encountered who are pissed off at Facebook because somehow one of their posts upset somebody who reported it and their account was locked up for 48 hours, or a month, or something.
Of course, a lot of what people are saying about Facebook is just additional lies and propaganda, fueled by their particular personal axes that they have to grind.
Just because you want reality to be a certain way doesn't mean that it actually is that way!
Anyway, I'm probably going to be wading through the crapulence of Facebook for a few months as I get ramping up for the holiday season, and the experience is making me grateful for our Hive community. It may have its problems and its faults and its quirks and idiosyncrasies, but it sure is a lot better than mainstream social media!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!
Comments, feedback and other engagement is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!
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2026.09.05 01:09 PDT
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