Social Media Reflections

The Activity Log for my Facebook account reaches back to 2008, over a decade ago. Time flies when you're having fun. I have no idea how many links that enshrines but it's a lot. Unfortunately, finding anything I know is there is virtually impossible because the Facebook search feature is about as primitive as digging around in a coffee can of old screws, bolts, washers and nuts trying to match something I need. The last couple of times I tried it I gave up and made a trip to Home Depot, finding what I needed for under two bucks. It took a bit longer but it was satisfying just to be taking a break.

Only God & the algo-
rithms know how much
information is buried
in this file.

But that's not what's bothering me this morning. I received a notice that one of my Facebook links that was "shared" by a friend has been subsequently shared by one of his friends. That's how the system is designed. As long as we all live in the same so-called echo chamber all is well and good. That's the basis of social media, no?

But there is a problem. When I posted the original link, which was quite good, I added more information in the first comment aimed at tempering some of the harsh implications of the piece. Think of trying to persuade a child reprimanded by an overbearing classroom teacher that although the teacher might be a pain in the ass he or she also happens to be right. So try to remember when something like this happens again (and it almost surely will, you tell your child) she just trying to teach you something. And your job as a student is to overlook her rough edges and stay focused on the point.

You can see what's coming. When the link was shared, my comment was not shared, so by the time it reached the next permutation it had become ammo in a tirade of invective by the friend of a friend, exploiting by omission my exact cautionary point. Omitting the antidote converted an otherwise informative link into a poison pill.

I dare not venture into the hostile territory where my linked item has gone. I know from looking around (his Facebook page, like mine, is open to the public) I can see there is no point in trying to correct anything there. I learned long ago to sense with some people when we will never have a meeting of the minds. The most civil outcome is to agree to disagree, hoping we can agree about other matters enough to politely avoid prickly subjects in future.

My old blog is still on the web.
I lost control of it to a phish-
ing hack years ago, but it's still
available, like a ship without wind,
and still searchable.

Thinking about what I should do, my first thought was to forget about it. These things happen all the time. People say or post stuff, never giving it a second thought, just because it's cute, funny, mordant, witty, whatever. Whoever doesn't get it will either ignore it or decide it's stoopid and move on.

My next thought was to delete my social media accounts and return to blogging where I have more control, not to mention search features by which I can dredge up stuff I wrote over fourteen years ago with a simple word search. This blog has the same feature in the right sidebar, as well as a search field in the top left corner. Too bad Facebook and Twitter don't have a similar user-friendly feature, but I suppose that would make us all even more vulnerable to the slash and burn world that social media has become.

But old-fashioned blogging has been made obsolete by "social" media. And my Twitter account is now the place where I get most of the news. I pay little attention to followers but the four hundred or so accounts I follow get my attention most. That number is about as much as I can manage since many of them re-tweet other tweets as well as content and links that appeal to them. Since most of them are professional journalists I have access to all that's going on the the world.

Most people don't use the embed features of Facebook and Twitter but both actually provide a way to embed posts in other content. I have embedded both at this blog from time to time, and the creation of Thread reader Twitter threads are now more user-friendly. Scroll down at the link for a sample of the latest featured threads. I don't use this feature because I already have more content than I can manage via Facebook and Twitter, but this is yet another place to drill around when you're looking for something to read.

Returning to the main theme, I'm toying with the notion of stopping Facebook posts except for a couple of groups in which I participate -- echo-chambers if you like. The subject matter is circumscribed, the focus of the group is more or less clearly defined and administrators have some measure of control. Also, if I decide to leave the group, nothing is stopping me and there are no hard feelings as there might be if I block someone on Facebook.

Thanks to the tagging system I can link blog posts to Facebook, still follow the accounts of friends, friends of friends and those I "follow."  Facebook remains almost indispensable, but after this morning's experience I need to keep my wordy self more carefully monitored. I can still fire off those great Facebook memes, like sparklers at Halloween, but more serious content should be handled with care.