Zuck Me Sideways

The joy of socials, again: a brief rant. And, I need your thoughts on something ...

For something that’s supposed to make our lives better*, social media can be a proper pain in the arse.

Yesterday, Facebook suspended my account for breaching some unspecified community guidelines. Although I appealed that decision, within a couple of hours my account, far from being reinstated, had been deleted completely.

(Why? I have a theory, and it’s led to an idea I’d like your thoughts on. Keep reading!)

I know I’m lucky, because I don’t rely on Facebook. If it were my primary means of social contact, or if I ran a small business or a community of interest which depended on it, I’d be screwed.

But y’know what? Sod ‘em, because I’m really enjoying being on Bluesky.

Bluesky is rather lovely. Everyone seems thoughtful and interested in one another. You’d like Bluesky. And I’d really like it if you joined me there. Click here to learn how.

Don’t worry that you might not know anyone, because you know me already, and you can find me here. And Bluesky has this thing called ‘starter packs’ where, with one click, you can follow a whole bunch of people who are recommended by someone, or who have things in common. I’ve made a couple of starter packs, one for Shropshire people that I’m updating as more sign up, and one of people who know stuff and who have interesting things to say. I’ll add a Hello You Family starter pack soon.

Come and join me? And tell your friends? Share the links above, or just share this post with them using this button:

If you know people who followed me on Facebook, could you tell them that they can find me on Bluesky, and here on Substack? (I’m on Instagram too. TikTok soon, maybe.) Here’s a button to use to spread the word about my Substack:

Why did I get kicked off Facebook?

Here’s my theory: I read a lot of articles, blog posts and so on. Every morning I’ve posted a bunch of links to these items, wherever I could.

This, I think, is what might have pissed off Facebook’s AI.

Compiling the daily links is fun but time-consuming. I’ve come up with a better way of sharing the good stuff with you.

So, how about this idea?

Rather than the Daily Big Bunch O’ Links, I’m going to put them all in a Substack post and send them to you, once a week.

My plan is to post the Big Bunch O’ Links every Sunday morning, so you have something to read over your toast and coffee.

Would that work for you? I hope it would give you something to look forward to on a Sunday morning.

Tell me what you think

I’ll hold fire on posting any more links this week, and the choicest of the ones I would’ve shared will instead go in the first Big Bunch O’ Links this coming weekend.

If you’re already looking forward to it, or if you think this is my worst idea since the Blastercast (don’t ask), let me know? Comment or send me a message using these:

And if you’re not already part of the Hello You family, get yourself subscribed!

Thanks for being there, I really appreciate it. The next episode of Hello You will be with you on Friday morning.

*I know, it’s not really supposed to make our lives better. But we can tell ourselves it’s supposed to make our lives better, to try to feel better about the grip it exerts over us. Its true purpose is to harvest our data and sell it - therefore, us - to big corporations. Remember: If something is free, you’re the product.