I’m not one for wild conspiracy theories, but I did briefly wave my fists in the air earlier and wonder if Facebook is funded by Russia (I don’t actually think it is, it just doesn’t work very well).
Here’s my rant…
I’m organising (with the help of many other good people) a charity fundraiser for humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
I set up the event page – all good, and went to invite people… Turns out Facebook has banned me and also me via my organisation The Imaginarium (a community interest company, I will add) from inviting people to events.
Now, if I just blindly spammed people fair enough – but I don’t. I either invite people from a list SUGGESTED BY FACEBOOK, or I invite people from lists of invitees/attendees of similar events. Also – as a DJ, it is part of my job to ensure, for the sake of the promoter, that I make people aware of the event. Similarly, when I am the promoter, it is my job, for the sake of the venue, to make people aware of the event.
So honestly, what do you do.
The final straw was that when I looked at the event early this morning, its image – a Ukraine flag with some info on it – had been replaced with the poster for a previous event that had nothing to do with this. I hadn’t been near Facebook since I’d last seen it, and the image had been fine the day before.
I struggle with Facebook anyway. It’s full of old people arguing about vaccines and Brexit, or having a go at their ex-wife and it makes me sad. What makes me sad is that it didn’t have to be this way. I mean on one level, social media can be really nice. Keeping in touch with someone you went to school with when you were eight, the old lady who used live across the road, old teachers and lecturers, someone you met in the other side of the world… that’s nice, right?
But socio-political division, uncouth arguments that should never be in a public forum and endless actual spam advertising… no. A reflection of human nature or capitalist greed? Or a mixture of both?
Anyway, I want to promote our fundraiser and help people, so please Facebook, sort it out!