Many of our readers will never see this article….
Imagine with me that every road is now a toll road. This means side roads, gravel roads, highways, everything. Thankfully some roads will be occasionally free. The department of transportation, by some random algorithm, decides which roads are free on which day. So if given a choice between taking a free route and a paid route, which one do you take? You take the free one almost every time.
Now imagine that this algorithm isn’t entirely random. Let’s say the department of transportation has control over which ones are free. And they tend to make a road free if the businesses on that road decide to pay up. This means that the Wal-Mart’s of the world are always going to have their road wide open, while the mom and pop stores are going to be at the whim of whether or not Big Brother wants to open up their road that day.
What I’ve just described to you is what happens to Christian bloggers on Facebook. Tim Challies explains it well:
We may think that when we like a page on Facebook we are indicating to Facebook that we desire to see that page’s content. But it really doesn’t work that way. The algorithm still stands between us and the content to silently and programmatically make that determination. For a content-creator like myself, I cannot count on more than one percent of the people who like my page actually seeing my content (unless, of course, I choose to pay Facebook to extend that reach). The algorithm keeps it from people like you who may wish to see it.
Facebook is closing the highway on Christian content. They’ll post some things. Every so often the algorithm will gracious slide something through. But unless I’m willing to pay them, many of my Facebook followers will never see what I post. Those are people who have signed up and said, “I want to see what Mike Leake has to say today”. And Facebook now says, “I’ll let you have access to the road if Mike pays or if you go out of your way to search for his name”. And who does that? Who doesn’t just scroll down their timeline to see what’s new for the day. But Facebook is controlling what you get to see for the day. They are curating content that you’ve already said you wanted to see.
This is terrible for Christian bloggers. All of us have witnessed a downward spiral in our traffic coming from Facebook. This is not because we’ve all of a sudden become terrible writers. It’s because Facebook is intentionally blocking our content. The algorithm doesn’t like Christianity. It doesn’t like conservative views. This isn’t tin-foil hat stuff. This is something that many have witnessed (see here). And I’ve seen this with my own eyes.
So what do we do?
Don’t let Facebook have this kind of power. I think Tim Challies has come up with the absolute best solution. Start using an RSS reader. It isn’t difficult. Sign up for Feedly and subscribe to the all of the blogs/websites that you want to read. There isn’t a super-secretive algorithm that hides content from you. It updates every time the blogs you subscribe to updates. Check it every morning and you’ll get every single article that you subscribe to. Nothing hidden from you.
We should not be giving Facebook the power to sift through what we do and do not want to see. The Scriptures say what we should pursue: that which “is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Facebook doesn’t use this filter. Take back the power!
Use Facebook to see pictures of people’s dinner at Applebee’s and the cute new tricks your grand kids can do. But it’s not the greatest for having a conversation (social media never has been). And it’s certainly not to be the choice for curating content. They are taking away our freedom of access…and we’re letting them. By using Facebook the way they want you to, you’re essentially saying, “Here, tell me which plays I can drive. Tell me what businesses I can shop at, tell me what places I should turn my head today.”
Now…how to figure out how to get anyone to read this article….
Maybe I’ll have to pay the man to show this one…
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Photo source: here
Leave Facebook! The best thing I have done on social media. At least, let’s not let inertia govern our future.
I’m not on Facebook or any other social media, so an RSS feed would seem ideal for me. As it is, I have three blogs I check daily (this one, David Murray, and Challies) and 4-5 others I check every week or two, but I just use old fashioned habit, lol.
I’m just not a social media type. I don’t have a TV, either, so social media would be a way for me to keep abreast of happenings in the world, but I just don’t want to go there. I like the slow pace of my life, and how many rich, rewarding, face to face relationships I have without all that. But maybe an RSS feed would simplify?
Feedly has been a great solution for me for reading blogs.