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Social Media — the Modern Day Double-Edged Sword
I write this with the full knowledge of the irony that I’ll be posting it on my social media sites. Social media — like it or not, it’s here to stay. The creators of such websites as Facebook and Twitter will have us believe they did it to better the world or to offer voices, known and not-so-known, a vessel through which they could be heard. Of course, in the movie “The Social Network,” it’s alleged Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook to pick up girls. Today, he denies that and says he did it to make a better world. Either way, they aren’t mutually exclusive. I’m guessing one can consider finding hot chicks on campus a way to better one’s own world. I digress. Billions of us use social media now and, we do it with a false assumption. We assume that when we post something, those connected to us will see and be able to consume it. It’s not a bad assumption if the purveyors of these sites were honest with us. They aren’t. The lie is simple, come to my site, post to a page we give you, invite your friends, family, co-workers, classmates and they’ll see what you post. You’ll see what they post. Good deal, right? If that really were the formula, the site owner would still make huge profits off of advertising sales. The more of us and our people who spend time on the site, the more eyeballs on the paid ads. But, that’s not how it works. In reality, it’s a bait-and-switch scheme. I’ve often thought that after some people hit huge financial success, their outlooks change. Zuckerberg and others who started Facebook are billionaires. So are the folks that started Twitter and Google. Why not ride the wave and enjoy the benefits? Because money becomes less of an objective. And, I believe, a certain level of guilt kicks in. The idea that they started these sites to offer you and me the ability to freely speak may be partially true. The idea they started the sites to make money is certainly true. But, now that the money is a given, those who run and own the sites need a new objective: control the message. Test out my theory. Post something anti-Trump and see how many likes/retweets/shares you get. Then post something pro-Trump and compare. Use the same hashtags and verbiage. Just make sure one is pro the other anti. Now some proof. Am I a conspiracy theorist or is there reality behind this notion? Here’s what’s real: I have over 360,000 followers on Facebook. I grew it from nothing to where it is today. I did it through posting pictures, memes, videos, original content and a small amount of advertising early on. Some days, I’d add 1000 followers or more. Facebook wanted more original pictures, videos and status updates. The more I posted, the more I pushed the page on my radio show, the better for us all. I gained more influence, my followers got great content they might not get on the radio show, and Facebook got more eyeballs to see their advertisers messages meaning more money for them. Then suddenly the growth stopped. Word of “algorithms” came to the surface and how they changed to direct eyes where Facebook wanted them to go. What the heck is an algorithm? Facebook — and Twitter does this too — decides what you do and don’t see in your timeline. In essence, you subscribe to my page and you’re saying you want to see what I post. Facebook has a different plan. It somehow calculates what it sees as your interests through your clicks then directs more of that content your way whether you like the page or are positive in the content or not. It’s my believe those running the site have taken it several steps further. In fact, I’ve been receiving messages like this:

