Another blog status update post… aka “I couldn’t think of a better topic in time for Tuesday’s usual post.”
The blog’s Facebook page is shuttered
Longtime readers know I’ve had a Facebook page for the blog off and on over the years. I figured having a spot on Facebook would at least serve as a token mainstream social media presence. That said, I also shuttered it a few times, after being disappointed with its results.
The most recent relaunch was in 2023. As usual, I had lackluster results. I only had a few dozen followers, and Facebook’s post throttling meant even those users likely rarely saw my posts. Admittedly, said posts also started to slack off, as I found posting on Facebook to be an easily-forgotten chore.
Last week’s Meta announcement that they plan to roll back hate speech regulations (presumably to curry favor with Trump and his followers), plus recent plans to use public posts for their AI machine, was the last straw. I decided to just shutter my page for good. I even took the extra step (at least for now) of removing the Facebook share post button from the blog, though I doubt it was seeing much use.
As for a Facebook replacement, I don’t have anything in mind. I’ve tried Tumblr, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, and those didn’t work well. I don’t want to record video, so that rules out YouTube (and the blog’s dormant page there) and TikTok (whose fate as of this writing is unclear). Ideally, I’d also like something not run by a billionaire, or is at the risk of being bought out by such. Thus, for now, I’ll stick with Mastodon, Bluesky, and Pixelfed, plus the site’s newsletter.
Facebook (and social media) traffic: what traffic?
Checking the site’s traffic statistics, in 2024, Bluesky drove twice as much traffic as Facebook to the blog. I note social media overall drives only 1% of traffic; almost all of the site’s traffic comes from either Google searches or direct links.
I still have a personal Facebook profile for family and online friends who won’t use anything else. Otherwise, I’d delete that, as well, and be completely Meta-free.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
