Tybee Island, GA.
Facebook is going to the dogs. Admit it: you knew, when you accepted that friend request from Grandma, that the End was Nigh. But really: it’s not the older demographic, nor the fact that the yoots are deserting Facebook in droves that is making the day-to-day Facebook experience much less fun: it’s Facebook itself.
Much has been written about Facebook’s policy – the dreaded “algorithm” – of strangling engagement in an effort to move business and fan pages towards a pay-to-play system. I’ve talked about it plenty on the Local Kitchen page. I’m not here to debate it any further: I think it’s a dumb policy, as a business strategy, not only because it pisses off the very raison d’être of Facebook, the content machine – us – but because I think it’s going to have the opposite of the intended effect. With the exception of large corporations with deep pockets, people, business & fan pages alike, are simply not going to pay to distribute content to their fans: there are too many other social media networks out there that are free. Hence, business pages on Facebook will move from conversational tidbits and witty comments to more formalized paid ads: not something I’m interested in seeing or promoting. Those pages, like mine, that wanted to converse with their community, not advertise to them, will search out other platforms to accomplish that goal.
Cocktails on the porch, Greene Square, Savannah, GA.
Since there’s really nothing more boring than, “Boo hoo! This free social media platform is not behaving the way I want!” I’ll stop there. This post is just to let you know that I’ll be moving away from interacting on the Local Kitchen Facebook page, and will instead be spreading the love to Twitter, Instagram and a new tumblr. I’ll maintain the Facebook page, and will continue to post links to new blog posts there, but questions, quips, interesting links, and pictures of my lunch will be scattered across the interwebs, for now. And for those of us who can’t stomach the thought of one. more. platform. to manage, I’ll try my best to regularly post round-ups here that highlight the best of what’s been going on in the Local Kitchen Web World in the past week.
And on that note, did you see these crazy-fabulous bird illustrations made out of food by Anna Kevile Joyce and Augustin Nieto? Or how about these food maps of foreign countries by Henry Hargreaves and Caitlin Levin? And I know I’ve shared these before, but the microbiology cross-stich from Alicia Watkins cracks me up every time. (Although you probably know that the Red Shirt cross-stich is my favorite.)
In other news, several of my favorite people have reviews up of Marisa’s new book, Preserving by the Pint (stay tuned as I have a review & giveaway pending myself!). See reviews by Juila and Joel and giveaways from Autumn (hurry, Autumn’s ends today!) and Kate.
Lastly, a thank you. The only reason I keep this wacky space going, and bother to share the workings of my scattered brain on various platforms across the internet, is that it’s fun to interact with you. I hope that we can continue to find ways to chat, and laugh, and share cooking tips and frustrations and great stories, and have fun on this amazing playground we call The Web. Happy Monday!
localkitchenblog.com 
You’re doing what I wish I had the nerve to do. Bravo! I’ll continue to look forward to your posts, wherever they may be.
Thanks, Sarah! I think it will happen organically, for everyone, over time. Facebook probably isn’t going anywhere any time soon, but I’d rather put my energies into something that allows me to actually talk to people. 🙂
That’s it exactly. I just want to cook, write and chat with people about food– and only two of those things are happening consistently. Your tumblr has me thinking…
I was invited to join a Facebook food group and they were very welcoming….at first. Then I posted a Meatless Monday recipe with quinoa and one of the founders of the group, went on to say how it’s not sustainable and blah blah blah, never commenting on my dish but going on about how she won’t buy it anymore. I found this to be rude. If you are going to bring up those sort of subjects, I feel that you should start a new thread, not go off topic and take away from my dish. I pointed this out, very politely. I was told it was a group for sharing and caring….but then I thought about ALL of the food that could be deemed political, even avocados and limes. Next thing you know, there is a statement about not allowing blogs posts into the group. THAT’s basically where I post all of my food. I left the group. I have no time for precious people that get so offended, it wasn’t like I was eating snow leopard and baby seal! However, I am at the point where I get a ton of comments and engagement on my food posts on my personal page, I’m not even bothering to convert any of them to business and mix my food posts with my personal posts. It seems to be working. It doesn’t put butts in seats for my business but it does keep me relevant and give me “street cred” with my cooking should I ever write a cookbook.
I love the interaction too. I will post to my fan page but not unless I’m posting to my personal page as well. I’m no longer growing my Facebook fan page, what’s the point? I get more of my personal posts viewed by friends and much more engagement. Facebook has shot itself in its big, greedy foot.
I hear you; I still post now & then, when I’m on my personal page anyway, but it is a bit like whistling in the wind. What’s the point of sharing a good story or link if no one sees it? And not that anyone is seeing my tumblr (I think I have 5 followers at the moment) but it’ll grow. And maybe we’ll have conversations there, or maybe on Instagram, or maybe even Google+? Who knows. It’s a wild, wild Web.
I tried to do Google +, just have not taken a liking to it yet. So many platforms, so little time.
I have really been enjoying your Tumblr, Kaela. Not sure if Tumblr is it for me, but it’s abundantly clear Facebook isn’t. Anyway, cheers to the good things the whole blogging thing brings.
I’m digging tumblr more than I thought I would. I had tried it ages ago, but I think it was still finding its own. Now, I’m slowly finding lots of site I enjoy, and more of the geeky science stuff that I love. Plus, it just feels more relaxed over there: like I can drop the F-bomb without the whole world freaking out. 🙂
Not only you and I ..but tons of other ppl are digusted by this. I really see no use for Facebook..really! But i will continue to use it for business purposes. Thanks for sharing
Facebook algorithms are weird. The most modest status updates spur animated conversation while what I believe is GOLD gets seen by 5 people. They’re strangling my gems.
Don’t you hate that? There’s nothing worse than dropping an especially witty joke and all you get back is [cricket. cricket.]
From my point of view, facebook is dead. I got rid off my account many months ago and I don’t regret…
I love this – you’re totally inspiring me. I took Facebook off my phone last month and realized quickly that I didn’t even miss it… and now when I get on to the site on the computer, I end up mindlessly wasting time clicking on stupid articles that fill up my newsfeed. It’s not even stuff I want to see anymore – I miss seeing photos of friends and family across the country/world! I think it’s time I did the same and just made a stronger commitment to my blog/tumblr/instagram and made it known to my fam/friends that my presence would be more concentrated there. Thank you for writing this!
I only update my blog page maybe once or twice a week. I get a lot more traffic from groups or Pinterest. I never really fell in love with tumblr
I’m new here, and just want to say “Hooray! Good for you!” I’ve never liked FB and won’t use it. I was disgusted to read in the news that they often have child porn and once even had a video of a man raping an infant that got 4,000 likes from the pervs. It also said that 84% of all prostitutes advertise on it. That’s not where I want to go; I’ll be much happier to write a comment on your nice blog when the mood strikes and I have something to say. Thank you. I believe I’ll stick around for some time to come.
I decided not to join facebook when they asked me my age. Their reason: to mold my experience to what they think I would like. The hell with that!!! I can mold my own experiences in the real world and in virtual. I didn’t join. Frankly, I don’t have enough time for twitter, tumbler, facebook, linked in, etc. and to keep up on the reading that I need to do to be a grad student and (hopefully soon) a postdoc. I’ve found that I have to be really selective about what I join. (Linked in: a waste. Research Gate: Very good!) So I will continue to be a fan here. Hope you’ll have links to the recipes. Because I love them! I’ll miss you if you go away for good 😦
Oh, I’ll still keep publishing recipes here. This is the main gig, after all: the rest of social media is just like 10 minutes around the water cooler, you know?
p.s. I told Facebook I was a 25 year-old male. Dramatically cut down on the Botox and IVF ads! 🙂
Yes, but didn’t they sent you all the single women ads? That’s what yahoo did when I did the same thing. . .
Ugh. I hate Facebook too. At least for our business page, the only people who leave comments are trolls or people complaining.