Turning-Off-FB-Comments-Bob Davis Podcast 869

Turn Off The Comments

First of all if you use FaceBook for friends and family good for you. If you’re a political-social content creator, engagement through comments may not be a great idea these days. Learn more in Turning-Off-FB-Comments-Bob Davis Podcast 869.

Is It Really All About Engagement?

It’s especially relevant that social media experts tell businesses to seek out what they call ‘engagement’. Likes. Shares. Especially comments.

Political Social Content Creators Beware

These are great suggestions for wilderness guide services or seamstresses and hardware stores.

In contrast for content creators in the political and social sphere comments can be a huge problem. Listeners and subscribers know I have long had my issues with social media. Especially my favorite whipping boy FaceBook.

Take Action

After years of struggling with abusive, bullying and ignorant comments on my FaceBook business page I recently took action.

Unique Challenges

Content creators in the political arena have unique challenges when it comes to engagement. Especially on FaceBook. It’s time to talk about doing something about trolls, bullies and ignoramuses.

How’s Your Feeds?

Has suppressing comments on my page had a negative effect on engagement on my website or on my feeds? Learn more in Turning-Off-FB-Comments-Bob Davis Podcast 869.

My Way Or The Highway

Moreover is this a free speech issue? I say when it comes to social media pages, your role as an administrator of your page takes precedence. It’s your way, or the highway.

What Kind Of Engagement Do You Want?

Certainly I talked to advertising and social media experts before making this decision. In the end it comes down to what kind of engagement the creator wants. Do you want clicks to your website or more FaceBook likes.

No Snark Zone

Even more, users seldom bother to read, watch or listen to content. In contrast they don’t seem to have any problem dishing the snark on the content they didn’t read, watch or listen to, anyway.

Lock It Down

What does a creator do? I’ve decided to make commenting on my pages very difficult unless I know you personally.

We Have To Solve This Problem

Seems like it’s necessary to point out – again – that social media has become a fertile ground for manipulating the masses.

New laws and breaking up the social media giants won’t solve this.

We have to.

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Turning-Off-FB-Comments-Bob Davis Podcast 869

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Free Speech-Social Media-Bob Davis Podcast 829

Facebook Bans

Lots of talk about social media and free speech these days. Facebook just banned several top content creators. Learn more in Free Speech-Social Media-Bob Davis Podcast 829.

Byzantine Policies For Advertising

My personal struggles with Facebook’s byzantine rules for advertising my podcasts is especially relevant. In addition I provide some ways to circumvent the rules I am sure the Russians have already figured out.

Who Decides What Free Speech Is?

Moreover the question of whether the constitution or a company determines free speech, is key.

Alex Jones and Louis Farrakahn…Strange Bedfellows

Facebook banned Louis Farrakhan Alex Jones, Paul Nehlan, Mllos Yiannapoulis, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Noomer last week. Twitter banned actor James Woods. Who’s next?

Russia Russia Russia

Some say this all started with Charlottesville a couple of years ago. Even more alleged Russian ‘election tampering’ through social media has really got the social media companies running scared.

Silicon Valley In The Dog House

A litany of testimony in front of House and Senate committees from big Internet companies and the threat of antitrust enforcement have Silicon Valley billionaires shaking in their sneakers. In a way I almost feel sorry for them. Politicians used to love social media. Now Zuckerberg’s in the doghouse. Details in Free Speech-Social Media-Bob Davis Podcast 829.

Opinions Are Suddenly Frightening and Dangerous

Consequently one wonders whether people in this country will ever be able to hear an opinion they don’t agree with, without being ‘triggered‘, or thinking there’s an international conspiracy against them.

What’s A Mother To Do?

Certainly users can block, mute or unfollow unsavory characters and people they don’t agree with.

However this isn’t enough.

Gag Them! Shun Them! How Dare People Express Opinions I Do Not Agree With!

As the result of their crimes, offenders must be gagged. Even more, permanently prevented from having their say. This is the corporate version of free speech, backed by a roiling mob.

Try Banning The Backlash

Finally the real truth is you can ban someone from expressing their opinions or entertaining, but you can’t ban the backlash. Sooner or later competitors to these companies will emerge. Content Creators will find other platforms.

In conclusion and in defense of Facebook, getting them to let me advertise podcasts has been clunky and frustrating…

Not impossible.

Moreover some of the worst trolls hide behind anonymity. In this sense, I can understand why ‘registration’ and ‘authentication’ is now part of the process for media businesses on some platforms.

No Longer A Democracy

There will be challenges to gaggings. Some of those challenges will be based on the first amendment and perhaps equal protection clauses of the fourteenth amendment.

And there should be.

I may not agree with your crazy conspiracy theory or your opinion, but I defend your right to tell the world about it.

Without free speech, we are no longer a democracy or if you prefer a representative republic.

THAT is truly terrifying.

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Free Speech-Social Media-Bob Davis Podcast 829

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American Cultural Revolution-Bob Davis Podcast 745

These days the United States is fast becoming a place where you cannot speak your mind. A country founded on free speech faces mob rule. Learn more in American Cultural Revolution-Bob Davis Podcast 745.

A Sea Of Nonsense

Furthermore misinformation and disinformation fill the sea of our thought. Even the news sounds like conspiracy theory. Everything is personal. People expect tolerance but give no quarter.

One Slip Up

Especially relevant is the reality that one slip up can turn a friendly conversation ugly. Consequently I wonder if we’re living through the early stages of what the Chinese went through in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Sure seems like it.

Abuses

During those years in China millions of people suffered a wide range of abuses. Public humiliation, sustained harassment, resettlement and worse. Historic relics and artifacts were destroyed. Religious sites ransacked. Sound familiar?

Political Minefield

Our world today is a political minefield. Stripped bare of decorum and decency. Long gone are the founding concepts protecting the rights of political minorities through free speech and republican government. They have been replaced by the unpredictable grievances of the mob, and its solutions.

Enemy Of The People

Finally the mob doesn’t necessarily have to follow a specific political direction. While one side is driving people out of restaurants the president is telling the country the ‘press is the enemy of the people‘. More shouting and demands.

Labels

Most noteworthy is the penchant for labels that make the old republican and democrat divide quaint. Alt-Right, Democratic Socialist, Populist, White Nationalist, Conservative, Liberal, Right and Left, up and down in a dizzying tornado of deadly serious nonsense.

Setting The People Back Decades

When the Chinese Cultural Revolution finally ended under Deng, the party recognized it had set the country and people back decades. Perhaps the only reason China wasn’t torn apart by Mao sponsored mobs running amok is because it was and is a tyranny. Maybe that is our future.

This Doesn’t End Well So Grow Up

In conclusion, this doesn’t end well. I know it seems like years but Trump has been president for only a year and eight months. Eventually some test will come up for Donald Trump. The question is whether our politics these days can weather it.

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American Cultural Revolution-Bob Davis Podcast 745

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