Screw you, Facebook. We’ll experiment on YOU.

I see Facebook as a necessary evil. It’s where most of my friends who live in my computer hang out, and as a writer, it’s a very large part of my social media platform.

Facebook, however, thinks nothing about experimenting on us. We are, after all, just a commodity. They’ve already started tinkering with Page views, so that unless you pay to play, you might have thousands of followers, but less than a hundred, if that, might see a given post.

They are a business. I get it, they need money to keep the doors open, and as a business, they can do business however they want.

Now go read these two articles. Go ahead, I’ll wait while you do.

I Liked Everything I Saw on Facebook for Two Days. Here’s What it Did to Me.

I Quit Liking Things on Facebook for Two Weeks. Here’s How it Changed My View of Humanity.

So I’m starting a little social experiment/rebellion. Starting now, and until September 14th, I’m going to do my best to NOT like ANYTHING on Facebook. I’ll comment, share, etc, but I will resist the urge to click that little “like” link.

I’ve even started an event for it that will run from September 1-14. I want to see if enough of us join together and STOP “liking” stuff on Facebook, if both our feeds will be the better for it if we’re actually commenting instead of just “liking,” and if we can somehow mess with Facebook’s algorithm in the process.

Hey, they didn’t have a problem experimenting on US, why shouldn’t we experiment on THEM? And it’ll scare you when you realize how ingrained a habit it is to just click on that little “like” link than to actually comment.

I’ve also heard reports that if you “like” things, those will show up in your feed, versus if you comment on stuff, it doesn’t show up (as often). So that might mean you interact in a more meaningful way AND protect your privacy.

So who’s with me?

Here’s the link to the Facebook event. Please don’t use the “invite” feature, please SHARE the link instead, to your wall, profile, groups, etc. (I don’t want people “added” to the event if they aren’t interested in doing this.)

Maybe if we can get enough people to participate it will make enough of a dent in Facebook’s algorithm to make them perk their ears and LISTEN to us for a change.

Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/793086174089598/

And here’s a hint, if you still want to “like” something on Facebook without clicking the “like” link or having to “comment,” type this in the comment line: (y)

That is the code to give you the thumbs-up icon. 🙂

If you DON’T like something, type:   :poop: into a comment and it’ll give you a poop icon. 🙂