Is Facebook Really A Social Dilemma?
Have you noticed one or two Facebook acquaintances taking a leave of absence from social media lately?
If so, it’s probably down to “The Social Dilemma,” a documentary that has raised many questions about the problems with social media.
But is Facebook really so bad?
Should you be deleting your account and going cold turkey on the scrolling altogether?
And what could impact could that have on your business?
Let’s investigate the questions together and see if Facebook is really as bad as some say.
Is Facebook Really A Social Dilemma?
What Is The Social Dilemma?
The Social Dilemma is a documentary that looks at how social media works, and how it has changed our lives – and minds – in the last decade or so. Let’s just say, this film does not place social media in a favourable light!
It looks at how the big social media companies manipulate users by implementing algorithms encouraging addiction. There’s also plenty of time spent on how these same companies harvest our personal data to target us with ads.
Former engineers from Facebook, Google, and Apple dish the dirt on the disturbing science behind it all, and the entire documentary is frightening enough to make you want to throw your phone out the window!
Is Social Media Really So Bad?
While the documentary rightly has many of us questioning our social media consumption habits, the companies themselves aren’t really to blame.
We are responsible for our own actions, regardless of how addictive or attractive our habits might be! We don’t get mad at chocolate companies for making their offerings so damn irresistible, after all!
A wakeup call for anything that makes your life less fulfilling or unhealthy is a good thing. We can all use The Social Dilemma to understand just why we are so addicted to scrolling, and work on creating balance in our lives.
Yes, Facebook can be a huge time-suck, give you FOMO, make you feel like everyone else’s lives are better than yours, and keep you stressed (depending on what’s on your feed). Plus, there are definitely issues with cyberbullying – particularly for kids.
But, if we approach social media with caution and use it, rather than letting it use us, we can take the good and ditch the bad. Especially if you embrace it in a business sense.
Why Facebook Is Still The King Of Social Platforms
The truth is, love it or hate it, Facebook is still king. An estimated 1.73 billion users log on every day, and 2.6 billion use it at least once a month.
Although it launched in 2004, Facebook has adapted and evolved with the times to the second-most visited website (after good old Google) and the leading social platform on the planet.
It has become one of the most used websites in the world, with people not only browsing it in a social sense, but also to validate the credibility of businesses they might choose to work with.
Facebook Is A Fantastic Business Tool
There’s no arguing with the numbers. If you have a business, you need to be where your potential customers are, and most of them are on Facey! Globally, 80 million small businesses had launched Facebook Pages by 2018 (Facebook, 2018).
Your business Facebook Page helps you get found and showcase the products and services you offer. You can easily funnel traffic to your website from there, too.
This platform allows you to build your brand and connect with a vast audience. And it gives potential clients a quick and easy way to suss you out (via online reviews) and ask for more info – via instant messaging.
By creating great organic content, you can also interact with your audience on posts, and build engagement. Plus, of course, there are a range of analytic tools and insights to help you tweak your posts and marketing.
And then there’s Facebook ads. We all know the power of their targeting. How many of you have seen an ad pop up for something we were talking about only minutes before? It’s spookily accurate – which is good news for businesses! You can use those tools to get your business in front of the right eyes.
Be A Responsible Facebook User
So, as you can see, Facebook is still an incredible tool for businesses. If you approach it in the right way, it can enhance your life instead of making it worse. The key is to treat it as a tool, not an all-consuming force.
Focus more on delivering value for your audience and getting genuine engagement rather than the vanity metrics of likes and followers, and you will have a much healthier relationship with the king of all platforms.
And yes… once you’ve got your marketing and business stuff sorted, it probably is a good idea to put your phone down and head out for some real face-to-face communication once in a while. It’s all about moderation!
If you would like to make sure the time you spend on the Facebook platform counts, then you will need a strategy for how you intend to use it. That is exactly what I can help you build.
I specialise in building sales and growing your business organically (that means you don’t have to pay for Facebook Ads if you don’t want to), so that you can get a great return on your time investment.
Why not jump on a free strategy call with me to see if we would be a good fit to grow your brand and generate sales without any of the social dilemmas coming into play!
>> CLICK HERE << to book a convenient time to chat now.