Introduction
As a business, if you need to sell products or services, Facebook is a "no-brainer". With more than a billion users, as an ad man, I can create an ad that target 30 years old married republican midgets that loves Harley Davidson and sell him a custom tailored leather jacket. I'm telling you...it's paradise for the people on the selling side of the ledger.
But I have growing concerns about this giant media corporation I am sending money to. I am here to ring the alarm and give you an opportunity to change the direction of where things are going right now.
Who Am I?
Hi, My name is Renaud. I am a 30 years old marketer who sold for at least $3M dollars of products and services on Facebook in the last 2 years. I am proud of the products I am selling and I love what I do. Unless you work for the government, the only reason most people have a job is because someone, somewhere, is selling something.
Facebook has made the headline and there is a growing concern in the tech community about the media mogul. If you think, like me, that this is an important discussion to have, I invite you share this post to your friends and family. Together, we can make a change.
Here is my top 3 concerns about Facebook
1. Facebook is Attempting to Control the Conversation
Facebook allows people to share their life, opinions and beliefs to people they know. But what if Facebook had a bias and kept on silencing opinions it doesn't like? Just think about the collusion with Germany to censor conversations regarding mass-immigration or the Gizmodo article about how a former Facebook worker came out and said that they routinely suppressed conservative news and finally the news about how Facebook banned Canadian Libertarian for saying it targets conservatives. These are just the tip of the iceberg.
Even thou, as we see on campuses across the country, many people openly ask to censor or ban speakers with opinions they don't like. I, and many others, still believe in the free and open and marketplace of ideas. We believe that when differing opinions are allowed to compete against one another, the best position with the best arguments will gain widespread adoption. Just like it is in the scientific community.
Technically, a private company can do whatever it wants on it's own platform. There are no laws against it. But if you care about free speech, we have a duty to defend it and to let Facebook know that we are pissed off.
2. Safety and Privacy
As a Facebook Ad Man, I have a front row seat to a lot of the information Facebook users are giving away for free. The scary part is that what I have access to, is only a fraction of the information available. Algorithms are currently being used to do things we believe are only possible in movies. Remember Minority Report with Tom Cruise? Well now, it's a reality as you can see yourself in this article. Pre-crime tech is here...thanks to Facebook. The next step is a bill in congress.
What if an opinion you have right now can flag you as being a potential treat? Even worst...what if an opinion you have today become a concern for the authorities in 5 years from now?
You must think I am a conspiracy theorist at this point but this year, Mark Jongeneel, a dutch business man got a visit from the police after posting an anti-refugee post on social media.
3. Properly Rewarding Users
What if I came to you with this deal:
- You create content for me, for free
- You invite all your friends and show your content to them
- You give away all of your personal information
- If you are a business, you will have to pay to acquire fans and then pay again to reach them
- I, in exchange, give you this platform and I make money from the above.
Would you tell me to go f*** myself? Probably. But that's the deal you and I are getting right now. This is screwed up and in 2016, there should be a better way to do this.
What Am I Doing About It?
For my job, I will have to keep on making my clients happy by using the best tool available today. But as a user, I am moving on. I wish people do the same. Ultimately, it's the users that gives value to Facebook. And voting with our feet and attention is the best thing we can do.
Maybe this migration will catch the attention of Facebook and force them to change their ways.
But Where Should I go Instead?
Well, I have to confess that I've fell in love with Steemit(the platform you are on right now). This very young social media platform is growing very fast and it is by far the most promising platform to fix the issues that I've outlined above. I invite you to try it for yourself. It's especially lucrative for the early adopters like you an me.
Conclusion
Please comment below, I would love to keep this conversation going. If you are also worried like I am, please let people know about your solution. If you are a steem user, share why you've chose to move here. And finally, please share this post and let people know of the raw deal they are getting on Facebook.