October 23, 2012
It happened today and I don't know how to react.
I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.
I don't know if I'm pissed or if I'm relieved.
I don't know if I'm ready for this fresh start.
Like a reboot of my digital life.
Of course, as a geeky web guy who spends too much time on social networks, I do hate Facebook as much as I do love it.
Many many times I thought about leaving definitively the network, assuming that Twitter would be enough.
But enough is never enough.
It's well known that the information is much more fresh and accurate on Twitter — everyone knows that joke: « What's the difference between Facebook and Twitter? (1) » — and that you also have more direct and immediate response if you're asking for help on the microblogging platform. But.
Without doing so much effort, since 2007, I gathered a valuable amount of contacts, in every domain of my personal or professional life. From Best Friends Forever to "we only met once but had a fucking great time" people, from prospects to clients, from music related contacts to students or interns, Facebook was a great place stay connected with people I might want to chat in a near future.
It's also really funny that this is happening right now, matching this particular period of time in which, in addition of our web design service, we are more and more consulted about social communities, web strategy and online content.
Maybe it's time for me, for us at PLMD or at The Internet Club (remind me to tell you that story about The Internet Club) to think through a new way of spreading content without using the big players. Thinking and studying cases in which smaller communities could also reach an audience, maybe smaller, but with more precision than with the blue thumbs-up button. It sounds a bit like a challenge to me but why not trying this for some times and see what good or bad thing could happen.
Now that I can't post these words on my Facebook account, it will only reach half its "usual" audience (read: the people who I annoy with my multiple posts a day) but maybe it could be a good test to see the real influence of Facebook on the propagation of a story.
(Oh, right, we still have our PLMD (pleaseletmedesign) Facebook page, check it out.)
So, now, please share this post and get this party started.
You could also follow me on Twitter here, that's all I have left.
Note that I'm still wondering why they did that. My posting has never been different these days than it was before. One option could be the "report as a violator" but same here: can't find why. And I'm not sure I'll ever know.
(1) Two weeks.
Written by damien.