"The groups feature inside of Facebook will be overhauled and deprioritized (my emphasis) inside Facebook. That means fewer readers will see group posts, especially group posts that don’t map to local, real-world groups."
Thomas Umstaddt, Jr., AuthorMedia.com
The free flow of ideas on Facebook is grinding to a halt.
FB is going to make it very hard for authors to gather and chat with readers, and readers are going to have a devil of a time seeing posts from authors they follow.
However, there is a bigger picture. Pretty much, ANY groups you are in--unless they're local to you somehow--are going to be buried if not banned. Facebook has purged thousands of groups without warning for "violating" community standards.
This is scaring the daylights out of many of my author friends, but I saw it coming. I mean, come on, man, when you have the hutzpah to censor an American president and foreign governments (Australia), then you have no limits.
NO ONE should be relying on SM to get their voice heard.
I spend hours answering your emails, and I want you to know I am truly happy to do so! I feel like our little-one-on-one chats are more personal than blabbing at each other on Facebook. And I really like y'all! 99.9% of you are like-minded!
So, thank you for your support. And if there are other authors you follow, please make sure you're on their mailing list. They need you.
Can you suggest any ways to stay in touch with people (i.e. authors -- wink, wink) you care about? My author website here offers chat. I'm pondering doing a zoom call once a month. Or, maybe you could gather some friends and we could do a "girl's night" and chat? Thoughts?
Whatever I do, I'm not sitting still to let Facebook and Twitter and whoever else roll over me.
Welcome to the rebellion...
Right you are Heather. All of SM has taken a hard left. As a Christian Conservative, I too was banned from Twitter. Unfortunately I lost several of the prayer groups I was in. Thank you for voicing what so many of us feel.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."