Facebook has been acting a bit strange lately. Or at least, “different.” I started noticing that one of my “fan” pages consistently gets very sluggish and unresponsive, at least until I respond to a “notice” that tells me that if I pay $3 to “boost” my post, 1,100 more people can see it.
Looking a bit deeper into this, it would appear that if I pay the $3, then 1,100 more people might see it. I don’t see any way to verify this. Also, it appears that “up to 1,100 more people” actually means “up to 1,100 people” period — if you don’t pay up, nobody will see it.
This is the “Kiss of Death” message from Facebook. You might as well delete that post unless you are willing to pay up.
I’m not the only person who has noticed recent changes in Facebook’s behavior. Jeff Bullas, in a blog post entitled “This is Why Facebook Is Treating Us As Fools” does a bit more analysis of what is going on over at Facebook. I recommend you read that post.
Facebook has, up until recently, been one of the most cost-effective venues for advertising available. Back when I wrote about Lancaster’s Law, I predicted that this would not always be the case. Well, that prediction has come true. Facebook has decided to treat its advertisers the same way Google does, namely, with extreme contempt.
Right now, there is no really viable competition for Facebook, although there are some folks attempting to occupy that niche. One that shows some promise is Steemit.com, although it is far from obvious to me that Steemit is going to succeed in toppling Facebook.
You can get a Steemit.com account for free, and I have applied for one. If they make it big-time, I stand (along with other early adopters) to gain a lot. If they flop, well, I guess I’m out some time and effort. Rather than go into any detailed analysis of what Steemit is and how they operate, I would encourage you to look the site over, and maybe look at any of several dozen YouTube videos explaining the Steemit concept.
As I said, I’m not convinced they are going to topple Facebook, but it sure would be nice if they did. I wish them lots of good luck.
P.S. While I’m no more a Microsoft “fanboi” than I am a Google “fanboi,” I would also encourage you to give Bing.com a try, if you haven’t already. Bing is still the closest thing to viable competition that Google has.
