FaceBook algorithms sending people to FB "gaol"

I agree but I think you will struggle to make the case that for a free service, Facebook owes you anything.

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It’s the only social media i use.Never been to FB gaol.You have just got to be extra careful in what you say.Don’t swear is certainly one have a disagreement with someone you can still post you want to say just don’t go offending people that will also get you into trouble.

Just as an aside, I am greatly annoyed by businesses with only a FB site (and no website). It is much harder to find general information (like opening hours or location) via a FB page. FB is better suited to new or rapidly changing information (e.g. announcements like ‘we’re closed because we’re flooded out’). Businesses should pair this with a website with less volatile content, to provide standard information like where they are, what they sell and when they are open. And of course, websites are not subject to FB gaols!

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I think from the business perspective, building a website costs money. Having a presence on Facething in the case of some small businesses may mean that they can get an online presence without having to pay for a domain name, web development and maintenance, hosting and all the other costs that come with owning a website.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Facething is the best (cheap) way to have a presence online. There are plenty of communities for all sorts of things outside of the main social media sites, and many very small businesses make use of these.

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I don’t think being extra careful will always save you if my experience is anything to judge by. I think you have been lucky so far, and look forward to you reporting the basis for your first rap on the knuckles!

There are also web facing businesses who use FB, LinkedIn etc as a way to facilitate access to their services. The option to register using an email address may no longer exists.

“Facebook Purgatory” or ‘social exclusion’, which came first?

As a POM myself I can only thank people for calling me that - after all, every knows (don’t they?) that it means Perfection of Mankind! :slight_smile:

I’m also an Australian Citizen so which nationality I choose to be on any particular days depends on who’s winning the cricket!

As to TwitFace (my general term for social media) I have avoided it as (for the most part) I consider it a gigantic vacuum cleaner that sucks up time and confuses thought. (I’m a software developer so also have to consider security risks.) My business has done great for nearly 20 years with just a good web site.

BTW, slightly off-topic, but I’ve just finished “Facts … and other lies” (with the sub-title “Welcome to the Disinformation Age”). It’s by Australian author Ed Coper and highly recommended.

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There you go: like I said, it’s affectionate.

On the other side of the ledger, having only a Facebook page means that they lose business from would-be customers who choose not to have a Facebook account.

We just turned into China?

It is a bit different, I think that to state that State imposed based limitations are the same as Platform imposed limitations may be drawing a long bow. If the platform is State controlled/owned it may be the same but I think the FB imposed limitations do not place Australia in the same boat as China. That being said, it is not impossible (and does happen at times) for a Government to impose restrictions that also place limitations on a Platform provider’s Terms of Service and expected behaviour on their sites eg Bullying, Terrorism threats…

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There are differences. It was a rhetorical point / question.

Yes. Expect to see more and more of that - and then that starts to erase the differences.

This overall approach even allows the government to go beyond what it can legally do.

And self-censorship (which is sort of what was actually written i.e. about being “extra careful”) goes beyond that.

It’s all very insidious.

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Not necessarily. We have a number of local businesses that are only on FB and their FB pages are open to anyone, FB account or not. If one goes to such a FB page it asks one to log in but that can be easily dismissed and the page perused.

I’ll add I prefer real web sites, but I also understand the economics and the power of social media as a standalone.

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You are right. It can be ignored.

You get various levels of repeated badgering to log in or create new account, covering over of bits of the window, baulky scrolling. (Maybe it also depends on web browser and version.) If you persevere then you can likely get the info you want. Some would-be customers may just see the demand to “log in or create new account” and move on.

You almost certainly can’t communicate with the business.

My experience differs. One we patronise displays phone numbers, email addresses, services, the lot of it.

There is a bottom bar displayed on Firefox that blocks nothing but as soon as a scroll starts the ‘invitation to log in’ does block most of the screen. A lot of potential customers might be confused or turned off by that log in screen and move on, but it just needs to be closed and once that is done it is as fluid as could be.

The experience could easily be device and browser dependent so we may both be 100% correct in our own experiences that seem quite different.

I meant via the Facebook page v. via a contact form on a web site. In other words, with a Facebook page, communication is one-way (to customers who don’t sign up to Facebook).

… and for me it comes back after a while (don’t know whether it’s time or amount of scrolling / clicking or what).

I hold similar sentiments about FB. Its algorithms to keep you hooked are apparently based on the insecurities of a typical 14 year old girl. Very manipulative. Using it leaves me feeling empty. The simple fact is it is not the real world.

I think they are based on the insecurities of someone who was 14 years old ten or fifteen years ago. Unfortunately for Facething it is not attracting the younger generation, and so it is having trouble growing. Apps like Tiktok are getting the kool kids.

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Facebook is old now. Been around for 20 years. The young kids find that their parents and grandparents are on the plaform. Don’t want that. And snooping.

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I belong to a few craft groups on Facebook, and people have had sales posts rejected and/or been sent to the sin bin, for including words as mundane as “wool”, “black” or “white”. These are part of everyday life, and in no way signify selling a living thing, or anything racially vilifying. But there you go-the algorithm…

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I can’t help but laugh. Black and wool in the same sentence would do it! I wonder how people get away with sharing nursery rhymes etc “eeny meeny miny mo…”???