FACEBOOK IS GOING DOWNHILL .... FAST

By nature I've always been someone to give the benefit of the doubt and this is what I've done with Facebook for three to four years.   Although some people use it as a forum for their every move and thought(bless their hearts), I think it has a place and is a fabulous meeting place for friends and acquaintances.

Lately I've noticed something is changing and doing so at a rapid pace.    I'd like to know why, despite having all my settings in place, that my wall is smothered with photos and messages from people I have never heard of.    How did that happen?   And ......... more to the point, are my postings appearing on the wall of total strangers as well?    The fact that it is happening is evidence that supporters of Facebook are placing themselves in a vulnerable position.    Or, more to the point, Facebook is placing it's supporters in a vulnerable position.   I thought at one time that I could limit my exposure in Facebook to those people who, by mutual agreement, wanted to be my Facebook friends.   Well, it seems those days are over and now every single posting is no longer exclusive.   Not good, not good at all.

Today the financial news is smothered with Facebook's  public offering for a allegedly staggering $100 billion.   http://marketday.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/15/11703181-poll-shows-most-users-distrust-facebook?lite.      I would say that it should be a cold day in hell before they get that right.    Investors have to look at short, medium and long term return on their money and by all accounts, Facebook's future growth could be more than a bit iffy if they are growing at the expense of the integrity of their product and the security of their supporters.

So I probably sound like I got out of bed on the wrong side today - but here's the thing that really has made my snarky.   Up in the top right hand corner of my home page is a little gold tab that says
"1 COUPON".   Everytime my cursor goes near this tab, a drop down window pops up announcing Savings Slider.   It seems that this tab is here to announce to me - without my asking - what coupons I can make use of today.   Lord have mercy!   This drop down has a settings option which allows you to select to not see it for 1hr, 4hrs, 24hrs or forever.   No guessing which one I selected - and guess what, it won't go away.  

So, not only do I have a bunch of people I don't know crashing my Facebook page, I now have to battle some coupon promotion drop down and I DON'T DO COUPONS!    

So what to do, what to do.    I don't have the time, energy or interest to attempt to contact Facebook.    Taking a cold, hard look  at this situation, I do use Facebook to promote my photography.   If there are a bunch of people on my wall whom I don't know, at least the message is reaching them - not an entirely bad thing.    In the interim, though, there's these other things going on - so it's a tradeoff.   I'll have to think about this...........  

Sneekpeek

Sneekpeek.   One of the many images being selected for the next photographic book.   This third book will be a celebration of the colors which surround us in nature.     Watch this space as I start working with my publisher.   VERY exciting!

Fabulous orchid photography available in time for Mother's Day.    (Available in prints or framed).   Visit MyTerraTree at the Imperial Farmer's Market, Sugarland, TX tomorrow 9am to 1pm to see the full range of orchids, butterflies and refraction photography.    In addition, my book "Illuminating Texas" is once again available for purchase.  

See you there!