Leaving BotBook (Facebook) For Good!

I've had a challenging relationship with Facebook over the years as a web developer. Participating in these networks has generally felt like a sell-out move.

I tried again over the last year. It was pretty bad.

Upon logging in, I noticed that its user base had aged greatly. Any profiles that looked young simply looked that way because they hadn't been updated in 10 years. Because, like me, their owners had moved on, but unlike me, left their accounts idle. (I deleted mine.)

Worse, the AI content was a plague. And I like AI when it is used properly. But this was silly.

It didn't matter though. I was just there for this business. So I opened up a page and enjoyed talking to myself on it again like in times past. (Not really. I just scheduled posts for months ahead and left it to run.)

These networks just aren't made for indies unless a worshipful investment of time is put into them. And that's not me either.

Facebook Said: "You've Used Your Two Links! Now Pay For More Links!"

Upon posting an update (a link to a post I created), BotBook told me I had already used two of my allowed links on MY business page, and that I would have to pay for more. (Well over $30, if I remember correctly...) This was genuinely laughable. I can tolerate a lot, but limiting link posting to two and charging for more? Links are the neurons of the internet. They are free. This was too much.

I Wish It Hurt To Quit

That was a comedic moment indeed. It was as though they were saying, "If you want to post more links on our diluted, corrupt, AI-saturated platform, you will have to pay for it!"

Facebook is famously useless to the average person when it comes to paid promotion. But then again, who knows? That might be the point. Exclude average people so the larger companies keep leverage... I'm not a conspiracy theorist, though.

BotBook (Facebook) Is A Dead Man Walking

When I returned to Facebook for the last time, it felt lifeless in a strange way. First off, the synthetic content was most of the experience. Some of it was funny, but I can get that anywhere.

The people, too, had degraded. Most of them had become puppets of themselves, putting on more of a performance than I remembered even in the early years. This is understandable, since a lot of them were competing with huge forces just to get recognized for whatever thing they were doing. But that life just isn't for me.

The Open Web Is Still My Best Place To Work

The nice thing about the open web is that you are still (for now) dealing with a much more open system. Watching the bots in my log shows that Google is still a large player, but AI bots and old-fashioned SEO bots are still doing a lot of work pollinating the site.

Further, propagation still works and has strength, although it's nothing like the old days.

Facebook Is Dead

Facebook is over, man. The sooner the rest of the real users can leave, the better.

Pay for more than two links on my own business page? LOL!