Yesterday (October 4th, 2021) Facebook and all its apps went down mysteriously for more than five hours. The world stood still. Well not exactly. The world was different though. And a lot of businesses that rely on Facebook for their business realized something — they shouldn’t put all their eggs in one basket.
With more than 3 Billion users, Facebook is a juggernaut. In some parts of the world Facebook and the Internet are synonymous.
This is why relying on a platform that you don’t own or control is dumb. Yes, that’s blunt, but that’s the point.
When you rely on a service that gives you an audience, but can also moderate and even take down your content on a whim, you need to have another avenue to interact. The outage, for which we still don’t have an explanation, at the time of this post, proves that companies need to have a homebase that they control.
When a business, or anyone, for that matter posts on social media, it is RENTED space. When a business posts on their own properties, it’s OWNED space.
Facebook isn’t beholden to its users. It answers to its board and investors. Granted I think both of those groups also want answers.
Enter the trusty website and digital marketing tactics like search engine optimization.
When a business invests in their website they’re able to control the experience. When something goes sideways the business owners can get help to get it restored. With SEO and a little sweat you can get your voice heard better than on these networks.
In the end there is a moral to this story. Own your content, post on your own blog. Then share the content to your rented spots. Make sure you can contact your visitors and customers without needing these networks. You’ll be happy you did.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
