Facebook Doesn’t Owe You Anything

English: Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, during his European Tour. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He said I have a defeatist attitude and told me that I disappointed him. I won’t lie and say I am sorry he feels that way because I see no reason to be sorry for having an idea that contradicts his.

You can call me what you will but I see no reason to believe that a petition is going to make Mark Zuckerberg and company change how Facebook works.

The source of distress here is tied into the changes Facebook has made in their news feed algorithm and the impact it has upon the status updates that businesses place on their pages.

There are people out there who are angry because they believe the change happened because Facebook is trying to force businesses to purchase advertising or risk not having their messaging seen by those who have liked the page.

Facebook Is The 800 Pound Gorilla

I didn’t sign because right now Facebook is the proverbial 800 pound gorilla that can do whatever it wants. I haven’t seen much if anything in their history that suggests a petition to change their businesses practices will work.

But I also didn’t sign because I have never placed all my eggs in the Facebook basket.  I don’t own the Joshua Wilner page because Facebook owns it.

That is no different than any one else or any other business and it is why I have always encouraged people/businesses/clients to use it as part of a cyberspace outpost and not as your hub.

If you don’t own the site you are at risk of losing data and hard work. Facebook can shut you down without warning for violating their Terms of Service and there is no guarantee you’ll be reinstated.

That doesn’t mean it will happen or that it won’t. It is similar to why you purchase certain kinds of  insurance.

You are not buying it because you expect to be in a car accident, natural disaster or robbed. You buy insurance so that if it does happen you are protected against loss.

In the online world we protect ourselves by creating a self hosted website and by funneling the data from those online outposts to our websites.

Facebook Doesn’t Owe You Anything

You can argue that the users are customers and that the customer is always right. You can say that without us Facebook wouldn’t have a product to sell and that this is why we have leverage.

Except leverage only works when the other side recognizes that you have some and I don’t see it here. Unless you can demonstrate how this has a negative impact on Facebook’s bottom line they aren’t going to change.

You’ll have to demonstrate how very large groups of people are no longer using it and thus far I have yet to see a petition that spells out how they can prove the negative impact.

We like to think Facebook owes us something and think that because we use their services on a regular basis we should be given something but that is not how it works.

Facebook is a free service and when you pay choose to use a free service you accept certain conditions such as changes to algorithms and or policies that you might not appreciate or approve of.

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By Joshua Wilner

Hi, I am Josh Wilner and I am happy that you have decided to visit my corner of cyberspace. I am a writer/marketer/friend and family man. My professional background includes more than twenty years in working with businesses to help them do a better job of connecting with their existing and prospective customers. More specifically I have worked with companies of all sizes from the Fortune 500 to the new start up to help them build, develop and grow their social media and marketing plans. I love spending time with my family and friends. I enjoy music, reading, writing, playing sports and laughing.

6 comments

  1. Hey Josh,

    I’ve been thinking about what happened to me with Google AdSense, and they shut my account without notice or without explaining anything. And that was more than 5 years ago. I bet Facebook will do the same. So, like you, I’m thinking that we can use Facebook, but we shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket. We own our blogs, so we better build a community here.

    – Jens

    Reply
    1. TheJackB – Someone complained that this page doesn’t tell you what to expect to find here in this blog so I aim to rectify this with the next line. I am a father who writes about life, parenting, business, politics and fiction. I don’t use an editorial calendar because I don’t map out what I am going to write that far in advance. The primary focus will be on things that relate to children and parenting. But the nifty thing about that is that encompasses a wide range of things. Sometimes I work with companies on their PR/Marketing efforts. If they provide products or services I will disclose it. Here is an incomplete list of companies that I am currently or have recently worked with: Nintendo, Philips Norelco, Subway, Frigidaire and Mattel. Want to know more about me, keep reading. If I wanted to provide a professional description it would looks similar to this: Jack has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from California State University Northridge. He has been writing for print and web publications for more than twenty years, covering a wide range of topics including: business, technology, parenting, politics, education, sports and religion. That is far too serious so I prefer to use something like: The Jack B. is a writer and author of 39 unpublished books and three screenplays. A former athlete and would be superhero he still fights for truth, justice and the American Way. Though he may look like a grown man, don’t fool yourself he is still a boy at heart. When he is not engaged in Walter Mitty like fantasies he is a husband, father and friend and blogs at TheJackB. Hmm…obviously I have since moved from Random Thoughts over to this place, but that is ok. This page is a work in progress which is a good description for me. I’ll probably tweak this on a regular basis so feel free to keep checking back in because you never know what might show up. I am a prolific writer and update frequently so don’t forget to scroll down the page to see what nugget of wisdom you just might have missed. Here is a short selection of posts to get you started. A Father Describes Parenting A Father’s Burden How Sister’s Helped to Train A Father of “Daddy’s Girl” Inside the Blogger’s Studio- A Dream, Er Nightmare The GermoPhobe What I Dream About I am In Love Becoming a Dad Dad’s Most Important Job A Decade of Dad Grandpa Donuts Why Your Post Sucks and Everyone Hates Your Blog A Letter To My Children- Things That Matter A Letter To My Children-2011 Dad Balances Fear Versus Reality Q&A With Daddy Blogger JackB Save The Last Dance For Me- 75 Years of Marriage An Uncertain Certainty Four Generations & A Wedding The Best Thing My Father Ever Said To Me 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer The Story Of A House- The Final Days He Died A Hero Twenty-Five Links That Will Make You A Better Writer/Blogger Thanks for coming by, I hope you like it. If you want to reach me use the contact form or try talk-to-jacknow-at-gmail-dotcom You can also find more information by clicking About Me and reading my profile there. Also, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter using the form on the top right hand side of the page.
      Joshua says:

      Hi Jens,

      I think you are right to be concerned about putting all of your eggs in one basket. If as Rob said you act as a digital sharecropper you risk losing everything.

      If you don’t own your slice of cyberspace there is no certainty that the person/entity does won’t change the rules on you one day.

      Reply
  2. Rob Biesenbach – Chicago – Rob Biesenbach helps organizations and leaders communicate with purpose, power and impact so they can achieve their business goals and enjoy more success. He’s an award-winning communications consultant, an in-demand speaker and trainer, and the author of three fun, practical books that use lessons from the world of show business to help people with their business. His latest book is Unleash the Power of Storytelling: Win Hearts, Change Minds, Get Results, on which this post is based.
    Rob Biesenbach says:

    I just did a post about ending my Facebook business page. I’m not mad at Facebook or feeling betrayed. They’re a business and they’re going to do what a business is going to do and anybody who’s a “digital sharecropper” needs to be prepared for the day when the landowner changes the rules on you.

    Anyway, that post seemed to resonate with a ton of people (on Facebook, actually) who I believe were looking for a good reason to give up their own business pages. There are so many pages that are just not engaging their audiences, but people press on because they feel they have to. (And, as I said, there are many, many business pages that are doing quite well, and good for them.)

    Some of those poor performing pages could be resurrected, I’m sure, with the right techniques. But the question is, why? To get comments, shares and likes? Do any of those generate leads, sales or conversions? If not, what’s the point?

    Reply
    1. TheJackB – Someone complained that this page doesn’t tell you what to expect to find here in this blog so I aim to rectify this with the next line. I am a father who writes about life, parenting, business, politics and fiction. I don’t use an editorial calendar because I don’t map out what I am going to write that far in advance. The primary focus will be on things that relate to children and parenting. But the nifty thing about that is that encompasses a wide range of things. Sometimes I work with companies on their PR/Marketing efforts. If they provide products or services I will disclose it. Here is an incomplete list of companies that I am currently or have recently worked with: Nintendo, Philips Norelco, Subway, Frigidaire and Mattel. Want to know more about me, keep reading. If I wanted to provide a professional description it would looks similar to this: Jack has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from California State University Northridge. He has been writing for print and web publications for more than twenty years, covering a wide range of topics including: business, technology, parenting, politics, education, sports and religion. That is far too serious so I prefer to use something like: The Jack B. is a writer and author of 39 unpublished books and three screenplays. A former athlete and would be superhero he still fights for truth, justice and the American Way. Though he may look like a grown man, don’t fool yourself he is still a boy at heart. When he is not engaged in Walter Mitty like fantasies he is a husband, father and friend and blogs at TheJackB. Hmm…obviously I have since moved from Random Thoughts over to this place, but that is ok. This page is a work in progress which is a good description for me. I’ll probably tweak this on a regular basis so feel free to keep checking back in because you never know what might show up. I am a prolific writer and update frequently so don’t forget to scroll down the page to see what nugget of wisdom you just might have missed. Here is a short selection of posts to get you started. A Father Describes Parenting A Father’s Burden How Sister’s Helped to Train A Father of “Daddy’s Girl” Inside the Blogger’s Studio- A Dream, Er Nightmare The GermoPhobe What I Dream About I am In Love Becoming a Dad Dad’s Most Important Job A Decade of Dad Grandpa Donuts Why Your Post Sucks and Everyone Hates Your Blog A Letter To My Children- Things That Matter A Letter To My Children-2011 Dad Balances Fear Versus Reality Q&A With Daddy Blogger JackB Save The Last Dance For Me- 75 Years of Marriage An Uncertain Certainty Four Generations & A Wedding The Best Thing My Father Ever Said To Me 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer The Story Of A House- The Final Days He Died A Hero Twenty-Five Links That Will Make You A Better Writer/Blogger Thanks for coming by, I hope you like it. If you want to reach me use the contact form or try talk-to-jacknow-at-gmail-dotcom You can also find more information by clicking About Me and reading my profile there. Also, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter using the form on the top right hand side of the page.
      Joshua says:

      Hi Rob,

      Many businesses aren’t on Facebook for any reason other than they think they should be. I can’t help but shake my head at that because it has always seemed silly to me to do things in business without having some sort of understanding of why you are doing it.

      If you don’t know why it makes it hard to plan and without a plan you are just asking for trouble.

      I think you are asking the right questions–if it doesn’t lead to something you can qualify/quantify it makes it hard to figure out if you are getting a return on your time/investment which makes you ask that same question about why are you on Facebook again.

      Reply

  3. Amen Josh. If you don’t like it, start your own Facebook lol….smart share!

    Reply
    1. TheJackB – Someone complained that this page doesn’t tell you what to expect to find here in this blog so I aim to rectify this with the next line. I am a father who writes about life, parenting, business, politics and fiction. I don’t use an editorial calendar because I don’t map out what I am going to write that far in advance. The primary focus will be on things that relate to children and parenting. But the nifty thing about that is that encompasses a wide range of things. Sometimes I work with companies on their PR/Marketing efforts. If they provide products or services I will disclose it. Here is an incomplete list of companies that I am currently or have recently worked with: Nintendo, Philips Norelco, Subway, Frigidaire and Mattel. Want to know more about me, keep reading. If I wanted to provide a professional description it would looks similar to this: Jack has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from California State University Northridge. He has been writing for print and web publications for more than twenty years, covering a wide range of topics including: business, technology, parenting, politics, education, sports and religion. That is far too serious so I prefer to use something like: The Jack B. is a writer and author of 39 unpublished books and three screenplays. A former athlete and would be superhero he still fights for truth, justice and the American Way. Though he may look like a grown man, don’t fool yourself he is still a boy at heart. When he is not engaged in Walter Mitty like fantasies he is a husband, father and friend and blogs at TheJackB. Hmm…obviously I have since moved from Random Thoughts over to this place, but that is ok. This page is a work in progress which is a good description for me. I’ll probably tweak this on a regular basis so feel free to keep checking back in because you never know what might show up. I am a prolific writer and update frequently so don’t forget to scroll down the page to see what nugget of wisdom you just might have missed. Here is a short selection of posts to get you started. A Father Describes Parenting A Father’s Burden How Sister’s Helped to Train A Father of “Daddy’s Girl” Inside the Blogger’s Studio- A Dream, Er Nightmare The GermoPhobe What I Dream About I am In Love Becoming a Dad Dad’s Most Important Job A Decade of Dad Grandpa Donuts Why Your Post Sucks and Everyone Hates Your Blog A Letter To My Children- Things That Matter A Letter To My Children-2011 Dad Balances Fear Versus Reality Q&A With Daddy Blogger JackB Save The Last Dance For Me- 75 Years of Marriage An Uncertain Certainty Four Generations & A Wedding The Best Thing My Father Ever Said To Me 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer The Story Of A House- The Final Days He Died A Hero Twenty-Five Links That Will Make You A Better Writer/Blogger Thanks for coming by, I hope you like it. If you want to reach me use the contact form or try talk-to-jacknow-at-gmail-dotcom You can also find more information by clicking About Me and reading my profile there. Also, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter using the form on the top right hand side of the page.
      Joshua says:

      Hi Ryan,

      It would be nice to start and build something as successful. Could be fun,

      Reply

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