Why I am Leaving Facebook
Lise
I’ve been doing some social media housecleaning over the past several weeks, and it’s now finally time to address the platform that has kept me in a persistent state of discomfort since I joined in 2016.
There are several reasons I have not been enamored with this application, but it is not for lack of effort on my part. I do generally try to give things (and people) a few chances before passing judgement.
Some of these collected impressions are minor compared to others— but they have all played a part in my decision to bid Facebook farewell.
Stay in Touch With Family
I joined initially to keep in touch with a family member who was going abroad for an extended period and suggested it would be easier for her to post to Facebook than send out group mails.
Fair enough.
I was somewhat reluctant, but could see her point and decided to give the platform a chance.
After 6 years, I’d say I’ve given it a fair shot, and can honestly conclude that it hasn’t managed to win me over - quite the contrary.
Navigating Through a House of Mirrors
I am convinced the platform is purposefully designed to be confusing and non-intuitive. It’s like trying to navigate your way through a house of mirrors that keep changing position – it just never seems to get easier.
For example: logging in presents you with a mish mash of impressions where it is not immediately apparent whether you are viewing a post from a friend, an announcement from a group, a random reel ‘Facebook thinks you might be interested in’ or a cleverly designed advertisement.
This seems entirely intentional.
Another example is the constant change of features; new are rolled out, then removed, and maybe brought back again. Despite numerous concentrated efforts, I have never been able to find any useful, helpful, or clear instruction on how things work.
A Paradise For Trolls
Trolls and fake accounts seem to thrive on Facebook, and I think I might know why.
It is possible (and apparently very easy) for any single user to create an entire catalogue of false profiles.
Really, Facebook?
One has to wonder why is this even possible.
The Targeted Advertising Lure
If you have a small business (like I do), money is tight, time is (always) precious, and results are pretty much life-necessary when it comes to marketing and advertising.
Enter Facebook’s ‘created-to-help-you-succeed-targeted-advertising’.
I’ve seen a plethora of struggling artisan businesses fall for the lure of ‘growing their audience’ and ‘increasing sales’ with these targeted ads.
I did a little research on that.
My results: buying ads on Facebook only really seems to work if you have unlimited resources. For smaller businesses, it is mostly a bottomless pit of expenses (and precious time wasted).
My own experience of buying targeted ads was – to put it diplomatically – educational. I began with a modest effort (in an attempt to get an idea and feel for how it all worked), but I spent oodles of time struggling to find any useful instruction and the end results were so disappointing, I felt certain I had done something completely wrong.
Instead of hiding the fact in embarrassment (as we humans tend to do when things don't succeed), I decided to reach out to my fellow artisan business colleagues and ask about their experiences.
The negatives outweighed the positives in spades.
I started asking in 2017 and continued asking folks regularly. Admittedly, I didn’t keep records, but a guesstimate is roughly 2500 indie beauty businesses contacted/asked with direct feedback from between 450 - 500. As I recall it (and I’m being real generous here), less than 10 indie beauty folks/companies reported a positive experience.
Sometimes I would create a small poll in a group — sometimes just post a question, and sometimes join an ongoing discussion.
Close to everyone had the same experience: too much time wasted and money spent with no results to speak of — all accompanied by a feeling of failure.
The most common comment: ’I probably did something wrong’.
Funny how we tend to blame ourselves first, isn’t it? I can’t help wondering if Facebook is aware of that.
Out of curiosity, I also asked folks with larger businesses (also in other fields). The feedback was markedly different. One fellow (with a rather large company) was kind enough to share with me that they saw optimal results when they used about 15k (USD) a month.
Fifteen thousand dollars a month.
That's an annual budget of $180.000 for advertising on ONE platform.
I'll just leave that tidbit of information right there for all you artisan businesses contemplating Facebook’s targeted advertising.
Because We Care About You (Well, Not Really - Just Your Data)
Facebook’s constant prompts to congratulate friends, explore other groups or sign up for events ‘that may interest’ coupled with pop-up memories and the signature ‘we care about you’ have, of course, always been an expertly designed illusion.
Regardless of what you may choose to click on, Facebook keeps careful track.
In fact, every visit is meticulously monitored with detailed logs of every single comment or ‘like’ - all archived and ‘stored safely’ in a place where users have limited access and no easy way of reviewing their data, let alone removing it.
If I were the cynical type, I’d view collecting this much detailed information as a massive study in human behavior more than anything else. One has to wonder how much data a social media platform really needs to collect from its users.
But then again, if I wanted to offer tailored, targeted advertising to those with a big enough pocketbook, perhaps I’d be collecting everything and the kitchen sink.
Logging Every Move — Even After You Log Out
The app conveniently updates automatically, but somewhere along the line, new features have been (quietly) introduced that I can only perceive as an extreme invasion of privacy.
I recently learned that, apart from monitoring every move while you are logged in, Facebook continues tracking all of your “off Facebook activity” after you have left the platform.
Read that last sentence again.
If you don’t believe me, go into your settings and look for “off Facebook activity”.
I wonder how in the world that is even legal.
We’ll Protect You From Anything We Don’t Agree With - For Your Own Safety
Finally - much to my consternation - it has over these past 2-3 years become increasingly necessary to communicate in code (!!) when it comes to certain subjects/words for fear of being put in ‘Facebook jail’ (a term for being denied access to ones account for a period of time) or if you ‘transgress’ repeatedly, being shut out completely.
Some people might categorise this level of monitoring and control as flagrant censorship.
I am some people.
Now, I understand the need of careful monitoring of profiles and groups that may be inciting hatred and violence or are cyber bullying others, but Facebook has taken it upon itself to ‘fact-check’ and selectively censor
Cancer survivors discussing their own health care
Therapists and formulators discussing cannabis-based ingredients
Scientists discussing and sharing documented facts and studies
Any mention of the word vaccine in any context
Facebook even admitted (in court) that their ‘fact-checking’ was based solely on their opinion. (REF) (REF) (REF) (REF) (REF) (REF)
If they were a little more up front about things, they might at least call it ‘opinion-checking’, but to me, they really don’t seem to be very up front about a lot of things.
And because the invasive surveillance and increasing censorship seems to be getting more heinous with each update, it’s high time for me to exit.
We Hate to See You Go, So We’ll Just Hold on to Your Data as a Memento
As I write this, I have already been into my settings and clicked ‘delete this account’. I also ticked ‘Continue’ when met with the message ‘this will permanently delete your content and messages’.
Yes please, permanently delete my account, content, and messages.
And one would think that would be the end of it, wouldn’t one?
But no.
After going through all the necessary steps to remove myself and my data from the platform, here is the mail I received from Facebook.
In case you are reading this on a small device and can’t read the text in the photo, here it is:
Lise,
Your account is scheduled for permanent deletion.
Facebook will start deleting your account in 30 days. After XX XX, 2022, you won’t be able to access the account or any of the content you’ve added.
To cancel the deletion of your account and retrieve any of the content or information you’ve added, go to Facebook.
Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t see where it says Facebook is going to permanently delete my content or messages at all. All I see is that I will no longer have access to the content or information I added.
Wouldn’t one assume from this wording that the content will still be there?
This is a typical example of what has been my Facebook experience. They seem to specialise in unclear information, first stating one thing, then stating another – ultimately creating doubt.
Some people might even go so far as to describe this kind of communication as gaslighting, because the result is the same.
‘I probably did something wrong’
‘I probably forgot something’
‘I must be a bit slow’
‘It’s probably me’
Looking Back
Looking back, I think the best way to describe my experience with Facebook is that it has felt like being in an abusive relationship — empty promises and mixed messages (that create confusion and doubt) coupled with an increasingly suffocating feeling of being monitored and spied on.
They say Facebook is ‘free’, but their price is unacceptably high for me.
I know I won’t be missing it the teensiest tiniest bit.
Hindsight is notably cleverer than foresight.
Chester W. Nimitz
Why I Didn’t Leave Sooner
The LisaLise group on Facebook was the reason I stayed much longer than I expected to. The group was full of wonderful, helpful, and inspiring people where we discussed formulating cosmetics, making extracts, and working with botanicals in all kinds of ways.
Happily, many of the group members have decided to join me and continue the discussion in our online community at Formulators Kitchen, (where no one is tracked, bombarded with ads, monitored or censored).
If you think this kind of community sounds interesting, please click here to read more about becoming a member.
Thanks for reading.
