Holding the Fort at Facebook
The case for using social media sites as tools for writing to right the world
I want to weigh in with a Writing to Right the World perspective on the pressing question of whether to abandon Facebook/Instagram as a protest against owner Mark Zuckerberg’s craven embrace of the incoming US regime.
Full disclosure: I have been a regular user of Facebook for many years. I have thousands of FB friends, most of whom I know at least virtually; I have several different active pages and I’m the admin on a few active groups, as well as a member of many groups that I value and visit often.
I got off Twitter even before it became X, and never looked back. I show up once in a while on Instagram, I have some presence on Linked-in, and I’m active here on Substack.
Over the years, Facebook has been my social media arena of choice, and I find it rather alarming to see so many people whose company I value posting their Bluesky handles and bowing out.
Because so far, I have not found it easy to build community on Bluesky.
I follow some friends there, and I have some followers; but so far my Bluesky friends and acquaintances are all mixed in together with a lot of people I don’t know, with all kinds of interests and predilections. The result? It’s rather overwhelming and not very satisfying to scroll through Bluesky.
So back to Facebook, where I’ve been wrestling with this question of whether disappearing from a social media site is an effective form of protest.
At the moment, I don’t think it’s the best way to go.
I’m open to changing my mind about this, but at present, I think that if we disappear ourselves from a given site, we just leave more room for the trolls, bots and bad guys to roam freely.
If we stay, we can potentially make a difference by communicating, connecting, touching people’s hearts and minds, and—crucially—impacting the algorithms that control the feeds.
We know that the algorithms are trained to show us more of whatever we “like” and interact with. Therefore, the more active you are on your social media feed, the more you take an active role in training your algorithmic bot.
For example, if you comment on a friend’s post, you will see more from that friend the next time you visit the site.
If, like me, you want to use a site like Facebook to keep in touch with your far-flung friends, you might have to set aside some time for deliberate searching and connecting—go through your friends list, navigate over to a specific profile, and “like” and comment on a few of that friend’s posts.
Just like magic, you’ll start seeing more from that friend in the future, and they will also start seeing more of your posts in their feed. That’s how it works.
Likewise, you can reject ads and memes and random posts that you do not want to see more of. You can train your friendly neighborhood algorithm according to your own likes and dislikes.
Is this a foolproof method? No.
Can the techmeisters manipulate the algorithms for their own sly purposes? For sure.
Does this mean that we are creating siloes that isolate us from those with dissenting opinions? Totally.
But it also means that it is possible to have a significant impact on the make-up of your feed, and therefore to continue to use Facebook as an incredibly effective, sophisticated tool of connection and communication.
Why is this a “writing to right the world” issue?
Because to make the world better, we need to communicate, to network, to get into reciprocal relationships with others.
Changing the world is a collaborative project, no one of us can do it alone. If you’re writing, you need to disseminate your writing, and there’s no better way to do this than via social media.
Like any other technology, social media can be used for good or for ill. So I say, let’s use it for good, not cede the field to the bad actors!
Find me on Facebook;
Or Bluesky;
Or Instagram;
Or Linked In.
The important thing is, FIND ME! And interact with my posts if you want to see more of them in your feed, or posts like them.
You have the power! So use it—for good!
Yours in the tumultuous sea of social media,
Jennifer
Cultivate your creativity with one of my writing workshops!
My writing workshops in purposeful memoir are intended as creative recharges, a chance to learn and grow with kindred spirits in nurturing places.
I have several opportunities coming up, locally in the Berkshires, online or internationally!
Explore the garden of your life in a special writing workshop series at the Berkshire Botanical Garden starting January 29!
Come meet other writer-gardeners and brighten up the winter season with the creative bloom of memoir writing in good company!
We’ll meet on four Wednesday mornings, January 29 - February 19, on the lovely campus of the Berkshire Botanical Garden, for a series of memoir writing workshops taking off on the theme of gardening.
At two-hour online workshop hosted by Berkshire OLLI, explore “The Many Faces of Love”
In this online memoir class, open to writers at all levels, we’ll focus on generating rich, detailed prose writing, capturing the full range of emotions inspired by Love and spinning them into the gold of a good story, well told.
You’ll learn how shifts in narration, point of view and voice can change the tenor of your story; how to use description to build detailed settings without getting in the way of pacing and plot; and how to get inside your characters (including yourself!), showing them in action in ways that move and inspire your readers.
Come prepared to be moved and to move others as we write and share about Love in good company!
10 am - noon Eastern, hosted by Berkshire OLLI. $15 for OLLI members, $20 for non-members.
Come write and speak your truth with me in this powerful four-session Bioneers Learning online class!
In this hands-on class hosted by Bioneers Learning, we’ll look deeply at some of the major social and environmental issues of our time and consider how outstanding leaders have used creative expression to make a difference.
Inspired by these models, you’ll work on expressing your own ideas with confidence, clarity, and eloquence, in both writing and public speaking, coming away with a portfolio of writing, a recorded talk, and a circle of kindred spirits cheering you on.
Four Fridays, Feb. 28 - March 21, 2025, live online from 12 - 1:30 pm with recordings available.
Meet me at Rowe Retreat Center next May for a purposeful memoir workshop, “Mothering the Self, Mothering the World”
Come on retreat with me in the beautiful springtime setting of Rowe, Massachusetts, where we’ll write to explore our deep connections with our Mother Earth, Gaia, as well as how the potent theme of mothering and nurturing has shown up in our lives.
Rowe is a magical retreat center nestled in the northern Berkshire mountains, with trails through mature forests bordering a tranquil lake. It’s rustic in a way that encourages communion with the land and camaraderie with the kindred spirits in our circle.
May 9 - 11, 2025. Sliding scale tuition and a variety of accommodations on site. I can’t wait to share this special experience with you!
Come Riding & Writing in Iceland with me in June!
Riding & Writing in Iceland!
June 2 - 8, 2025
The creative tonic of Iceland has to be experienced to be understood.
Come experience the body, mind and spirit glow that comes from Riding & Writing in good company in a beautiful place, warmly hosted by our friends Gudmar and Christina at Hestaland.
Click here to find out more and see beautiful photos from my past Riding & Writing trips to Iceland.
Friends, it’s my pleasure and my passion to support you as we stretch towards living our lives creatively and to the fullest.
The motto of my author consulting business is “Writing to Right the World,” and the motto of my book publishing business, Green Fire Press, is “Books that Make the World Better.”
If these intentions resonate with you and you are working on a book, or have one in mind, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Supporting creative people bring their work more strongly out into the world is one way I try to make the world better.
It's interesting to see why people are staying or leaving. I think I'm mostly there my ow memories and for a few groups, including two local ones that have info about what's happening in town, but honestly, 90, maybe 95% at this point of my feed is ads and random stuff picked for me, and often not well. I do like and sometimes comment on friends posts, but they are hard to find. Also, I find that a lot of friends are not that active and haven't been, so it's less interesting to be there. I realized one of the reasons I've stayed is because of the people I've connected with already who I got to know through FB (usually groups). I'm not having as much of that happen now.
This is a great opportunity to make sure you know how to connect — outside of any of these platforms — with the people you want to be connected with. I have a friend who just quit FB, she moved our chats from Messenger to text and spent the better part of a day tracking down email addresses and phone numbers. She had a date she wanted to be off, but if you are thinking about leaving, you could spread out that activity.
Thank you for this, Jennifer. I don't want to abandon FB completely--yet I do see the value of making an impact to disappear for one day or several as a collective action. Practice of a "strike" can show us our power when we move as a large body of individuals. Thank you for your presence and care.