Burn it with Fire!

It all started innocently enough. I was scrolling through Facebook as I usually do in the mornings, checking my posts for comments, engaging, etc… There was a post in The Troll Market, a group that I often post to, about whether the group should allow AI ‘art’. My clever response was “Burn it with Fire! 🔥

OK, so Facebook doesn’t understand that trolls are vulnerable to fire? Is this an algorithm flagging the phrase or the emoji? Did some user not understand and report it?

Here is the problem. I use my Facebook account to promote my art–being locked out means that I can’t respond to questions or comments! So I can’t direct someone to my Etsy shop where they can buy a miniature or figurine! And Facebook is threatening to restrict or disable my account!

Having spent advertising money and countless hours building a following, I can be shut out–not for any real reason–clearly, it is a mistake– and all of the boosted posts and effort is made worthless!

There is now a danger to posting or commenting at all, because any random comment in a thread anywhere can potentially lock me out of my business. This 24 hours has been a cold splash of water in my face! I realized I have zero control over what Facebooks algorithms can do to me, and how they can hurt me.

The potential customers that I interact with on Social media are using Messenger or Direct Messaging to connect with me. Not email, not telephone–they use the tools built in to the social media platform. So I don’t have a way to contact them if they are not on my email list.

I realized that I need to be posting my work here, not Facebook. I can still share a link, and invite those social media followers to discover this blog….