Facebook Killed the Internet Star

I have a very tenuous relationship with Facebook. I like connecting with my friends and sharing great stories as much as the next guy, but I’ve also been lured in to use Facebook for business. Like the unfortunate sailors in Greek mythology, I too, have been pulled in by Zuckerberg’s social media sirens. In fact, I’ve helped launch one of the biggest faith-based social sharing sites on the Internet—largely (OK, more than largely) based on the friendly algorithms and reach potential of this book of face.

Really, I should have seen it coming for a while. My recent relationship with Facebook has been tenuous at best—mostly small spats about the typical couple stuff—reach potential, engagement, shareability, squashing of potential—it’s belittling. Of course, all of this certainly signifies one thing…

The honeymoon is over.

No more carefree candlelight dinners, walks on the beach or champagne evenings—it’s all bills and home projects and, “You said you’d pick up the kids!” right now. We’re not breaking up, but we might need some counseling. And counseling, well, that costs money—just like getting your posts to show up in newsfeeds.

According to recent studies—and the collective groans of every social media director—Facebook is becoming harder and harder as it makes the reach for pages smaller and smaller. A recent Times article states:

“Studying more than 100 brand Pages, Ogilvy & Mather found that companies’ posts dropped from reaching 12% of their followers in October to just 6% by February. The tech blog Valleywag reports that Facebook is planning to dial reach down to 1% to 2% of followers eventually.”

Ouch… 1% to 2%. What does that mean for the Internet? Well, it means that most small business that rely heavily on Facebook to get their message to the masses will soon be scrambling to replace platforms, build stronger email lists, face-palming and begging for crumbs on Twitter. Who knows, some of us might even try sharing content on LinkedIn (once we retrieve our passwords) … maybe it’s not that bad—I tend to overreact.

Things change, I get it. Like MTV killed the radio star—Facebook is killing the Internet star. What’s next? If we follow the path of MTV or VH-1 it’s reality shows. Hey, let’s agree not to do that.

For now, sit back, watch your reach fall through your fingers like sands from an hourglass and cue the Buggles, my Internet friends.