I’ve been writing a lot lately here on my blog. It helps that I can now generate unique feature images for my content, thanks to some new features in the Jetpack plugin I use to support my website. I prefer to write here because it’s my space, configured the way I like it, even though my site doesn’t currently get much in the way of traffic, site visits, or likes. It’s still my space, and I prefer to put my writing in a place where I can control it, rather than someone else.
I see a lot of people putting effort into writing on Facebook, and sometimes on other social media platforms. And I don’t mean to denigrate or demean those efforts. But the problem with Facebook et al is that, based on the algorithm of the day, your content might not get seen. Or it might get filtered. Or it might get reported as inappropriate. And we’ve all seen how well Facebook polices their site these days. (In short, they don’t. They let AI take care of it, and we’ve all seen how successful that is.)
And I’ll admit it — just because I post new content to my website doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll get seen any better than on social media. I crosspost my content to Facebook every time I put up an update. Because let’s face it, Facebook is still one of the best places to get seen, despite the finicky algorithms. I just don’t want Facebook to be the only place my content lives. It’s fine for posting links, for sharing, but that’s it.
Unfortunately, click-through rates from social media to my website aren’t great. I used to post the body of my content with the link to my website, just so people would read it. But I’d much rather readers come to me, to my site, to my space, and read and comment and interact. But few people do that. I understand it’s much easier to digest content when you don’t have to leave social media, but I keep hoping I can entice folks to leave it, even if for just a few moments, to come read here.
Facebook has shown a genuine disdain for its users over the years. So, I show my own disdain for them by not putting my content where they can manage it. I own my content, and I’m not about to share that with a platform that doesn’t care about two whits about me.
So, come over! Read! Comment! Interact! I welcome all and sundry. Just keep it polite and civil, else I break out the hammer and kick you out of my clubhouse. I look forward to interacting with anyone and everyone who comes to visit.
