My Love Of and Cynicism Toward Facebook – On Promoted Posts

I love Facebook.  But I’m also a cynic.

My Love Of and Cynicism Toward Facebook – A Video On Promoted Posts

I’ll keep the text short here and allow my video above and the Facebook video and Mark Zuckerberg’s statement about it below to do most of the talking.

Bottom line right up top: Facebook should serve to my newsfeed by default every single post from every one of my friends and from every business or brand page to which I’ve given a like.  This would honor their stated position that they’re all about connecting people (specifically: “We honor the everyday things that bring us together and celebrate people everywhere opening up and sharing.”)

Instead, they’re withholding posts from us (through EdgeRank).  They dictate which posts we see and which we don’t.  They provide controls to manage our feeds, so we should get everything by default and pare it back on our own.

Now, they’re selling the opportunity to reach us not just to those business and brand pages, but also to us!  To me it says “hey, we’re perfectly able to show your posts to all your friends, but we refuse to … unless you pay us for the privilege.”  To be fair, these paid posts will also extend beyond your immediate friends, providing some form of value.

Today’s Facebook Home Page

The New Facebook Branding Video

Mark Zuckerberg’s Statement about the Video

Conclusion

The video and Zuckerberg’s statement, in my view, run counter to the idea of withholding posts from fans and friends who’ve connected with one another.  Further insult comes from selling that access back to individuals and brands.

If Facebook is really about opening up, connecting, and sharing, the environment would be more open and access to every post from friends and brands would be available in my newsfeed by default.

I hope they don’t make me join the growing chorus of people talking about Google+.

As I’ve said – I love Facebook.  But I’m also a cynic.

Agree?  Disagree?  Let me know!