Why you might think twice about building on FB

Something happened today that deeply concerned me.  It deeply concerned my for my  personal online security.  It concerned me for the future of facebook and it concerned me for direct sellers.

Today I was forceably logged out of my account.  When I attempted to log back in I saw this.

There was no way for me to by-pass it.  I immediately ran a scan on my system to ensure that I did not have a problem.  With little recourse, I clicked “Clean this Device”.  Facebook downloaded a security program to my computer.

It is a legitimate facebook process as I could see the update in my activity list.

Finally, a message appeared saying that there was absolutely no problems with my system.

There never was anything wrong with my system but isn’t it a clever way for facebook to write itself into my very operating system.  To what purpose, I can only imagine.  Facebook already collects tons of data from our cookies and searches to market to us.  What is it looking for now?  I have no idea but I  will spending New Years Eve removing it.

Secondly, it concerns me for the future of what was once a wonderful platform.  It used to be an incredible place to connect with old friends and became a wonderful place to build a business.  I know, I built my training and coaching practice on line.  I have also always had the foresight to pick up the phone, mail cards and see people face to face… thankfully.   People will not put up with this level of intrusion.  The exodus from facebook began sometime ago.  This will only drive people away further making it an even less effective place to build, connect and share.

Finally it concerns me for Direct Sellers who have put all of their eggs in this basket.  They put away their phones, their pens, hand written cards and in person events.   They have invested full bore into the social media phenomena and it owes us nothing.  We have no agreement… no partnership.  The rules change constantly and they never cut in our favor.

Here is a serious question to ask yourself, if Facebook went away tomorrow … would you still have a business?  If not, I would strongly encourage you to spend sometime in your 2018 planning to fix that.

I am your friend and I am here to help, even when the message is unpopular.

Michelle