Why Facebook is Robbing You!

I had an epiphany this morning. Facebook is really stealing from us. Not in the normal sense of “Oh, I’m taking your purse and running down the street with it”, but more in the sense, “hey, you own this music, I’m taking it.”

Back up…. How did I get here? I was reading Merlin Mann’s FAQ. He talks about how he has a facebook account but hasn’t checked it in over a year. Also on this page he confesses that he is a “writer” or creator of content. I think the fact that he is a writer and the fact that he hasn’t used his facebook account in over a year are connected.

Facebook takes your content and displays it in a way that they want to. They put it in their look and feel (which I’ll admit is starting to get a bit cleaner, finally), and redistribute it to everyone on your friend list or everyone who if the you let the content be public. Your creative thoughts are broadcast to everyone, and do you see any profit from it? Nope. Do you have control over presentation or how you are represented? Nope.

I’m not including the time or addictive nature of facebook in this conversation. If you consider the time you spend entering comments, or reading others posts, you have even more of a determent to your life.

Starting immediately, I will be taking steps to capitalize on my content, more of it will be here on my blog zacharyc.com and various other local places. I’m also only going to check facebook once a day.