This may be my only post about social media because if I haven’t removed myself from them, I avoid the ones I might still have an account for, except for my Facebook profile. I recently deleted my old profile because it was no longer useful. My friends and family had disappeared amongst a deluge of ads and influencers. I like and follow some influencers, but I don’t have time to mark ‘not interested’ on everything else Facebook throws at me (I don’t need a freaking job!) (and I don’t fit in the bell curve any AI is using). I did export everything first, but just to save all the pics from many years’ worth of different laptops and phones.
So, I created a new profile – the one you may have come from – because social media can be useful for advertising to strangers when you’re a writer. I made this one pretty public, with just a few things that are set to friends only or only me. There are still friends and family on my Friends list, but unless I go to each individual’s profile it’s unlikely I’ll see much of what they have to say. It doesn’t even keep me updated on birthdays anymore, because things work differently on the desktop and mobile versions, and each of those work differently than the app. And I don’t truly trust any of them, but I trust the app the least. The mobile version won’t even let me read messages. It very much wants me to install the app instead, including Messenger, but I deleted both of those apps after Messenger told everyone I was dead.
Then, during some process where I needed to receive a code, I had to install WhatsApp to get it. No, dude, you can’t have my contacts, but I’ll leave the app in place in case this comes up again.
And I wonder about Facebook’s penchant for fact-checking posts and putting users in ‘Facebook Jail’ if they post something deemed inaccurate or fake news. It hasn’t been happening as much lately, but I suppose it will ramp up again as we close in on another election.
But they don’t fact-check their ads. Some of the sellers are very sketchy and downright bogus, and I got caught by one that replicated Facebook’s notification bell showing that you have a message. It hijacked my laptop. I rebooted and was fine but later saw it again, once I started creating ads myself. I was able to track down the ad creator, and they had nothing but a collection of those ads in their portfolio. I reported it but haven’t looked to see if they’re still out there with them (I don’t need a freaking job!). It seemed ironic, though, considering that every time I create an ad, its first status is ‘in review’. I’m not believing that, if ads with malicious code are making it through.
It was someone identified as Phelim Nicole gungcha 2081 if anyone’s interested. I blocked them.
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EDITED to add that I saw the ad again and it looks like this:
Notice the fb.us. link. I asked Google who that is:
Be careful out there, people. It would seem fb isn’t fact-checking itself, either. |
Then, as I was running my own ad for Pieces of Heaven, a video ad showed up that I hadn’t created, and it pointed to this author website, but it wasn’t in my list of ads. The video shown was some type of wire connector gadget, and I was being charged for the ad. I dealt with it, but with no help from Facebook. I had sent a help message but the only thing I got was my profile locked down because, it said, they’d noted ‘suspicious activity’. I got back in and the page I’d created to allow me to make ads was gone. I recreated it, then found a phone number in the ad campaign settings that wasn’t associated with me. I deleted it along with my ads, which I had already turned off. I also disconnected Facebook from my payment source because I was still getting dinged with multiple $2.00 charges, in addition to the larger dings from before. Didn’t get my money back but, just by luck, I had caught it soon enough to keep the amount low. I’m sure everyone will insist it was an outside hacker, but I suspect someone internal, especially after finding that bogus ad creator before. But I’m not Facebook’s IT auditor so can’t prove it (I don’t need a freaking job!), but I think there could be some segregation of duties issues going on over there along with other weak control processes (see ISACA if you want to learn more or, if not a nerd, to fall asleep to something).
I will create another ad soon, but I’ll have to keep a closer eye out for that type of thing. I’m sure they’ll blame my ignorance in setting up ads, but the many layers and locations of information provided can be difficult to navigate, and not everything works as it should (e.g. I selected a ‘settings’ option and got an “oops, something went wrong” message. On Settings? Really?)
I understand Facebook’s advertising capabilities were created for those with big wallets and people who understand all the intricacies and lingo of advertising, but it’s not really user-friendly for the little guys like me. But then, it’s actually the little guys- the non-paying, normal users -that they’re selling to the big guys who buy the advertising, and they have a ga-jillion of us to sell to them by now. They should appreciate us more and go back to being more user-friendly.
Facebook used to be cool and was useful for finding old friends and keeping up with far-flung family and friends, but it just isn’t fun for me anymore. It will get even less fun as another election season bears down on us (but that one’s a people and politics in general issue, not FB’s fault).
I’ll try another ad soon. And watch. And delete the new profile if needed. I’ll advertise and market old-school in the meantime. Advertising will only be a small part of it, since I’d much rather any interest in my books would grow more organically, through people who actually enjoy them.
These guys keep me interested and/or make me laugh on Facebook:
- Star Talk (my favorite astrophysicist)
- Jonny Devany (hilarious reels about dogs. And God.)
- Adrian Bliss (a lot of funny stuff, and his costumes and delivery make me laugh every time)
- Elle Cordova (a very funny bit of a genius…and the font TED Talk was a special favorite)
- We Rate Dogs (The dog photos and ratings are the greatest thing, and they help dogs, too!)
- Applesauce & ADHD (because I hate to cook but now that I do it aggressively, I feel a little better about it. She’s a hoot and seems down-to-earth and relatable)
- Also, my hair stylist, a few favorite authors (including my editor, RM Alexander), and some comedians, too, because I do like to laugh.