Why I Left Facebook a Long Time Ago

In social media, WE should be the ones sharing…

I noticed a trend with Facebook that led to my decision to delete my account permanently.

I wasn’t the one truly doing the sharing, Facebook was trying to do the sharing for me. Too much focus on the news feed and ads, and not enough focus on being the platform people use to connect and share themselves.

But once it started charging money to allow bigger brands access to the audience of people who decided to follow the brand, the final straw had been broken.

I wasn’t one of those big personal brands (someone on par with Mark Cuban for example). But the “money-grubbing” mentality behind charging to access an audience built by a brand’s presence was enough to convince me that Facebook was a little too interested in shareholders.

I’m not interested in that type of “deal” in exchange for any data Facebook gets to use of mine.

That, combined with it’s ever reaching philosophy of testing the edges of privacy with its users, and you have the makings of a data farm, and we’re the cattle.

When I use a social tool, I expect to be the one in control of what I share, and I don’t need the network’s help in doing so. Facebook has crossed that line with its spam-like, tabloid-feeling news feed, and Twitter is walking right up to it recently.

I also don’t need another inbox, or chat program… already have those. Facebook is supposed to fill a valuable function, and right now, it doesn’t.

This opinion doesn’t totally exclude Google + or Twitter, but for now, those two networks have a better “deal” for me overall. Please don’t change that.

If you haven’t already read about it, Facebook really crossed the line with a creepy psychological experiment they conducted TWO years ago. Here’s the Twitter hashtag so you can check it out.