buying the product

 Facebook went public in 2012. That's a mere 8 years ago. The initial stock price was 38 dollars a share but quickly dropped below 18. Today that share is about 217.00 dollars. It is estimated that 2.2 billion people use Facebook every day. To say it is an influential platform is an understatement. Lots of money to be made! That is accomplished of course through the use of advertising. Advertisings' purpose is obvious enough, to sell something. We tend to think of that as a material thing or a service but advertising can also sell an idea. It is the ideas that generate the biggest income stream, in my opinion. There are those willing to invest heavily in the hope of a return, not necessarily in dollars and cents, but in power and influence. It is those that we are calling the censors so many are upset about. Yes, your content is being censored, either allowed , disallowed, fact checked, opinion checked, or you are silenced altogether for a period of time. Facebook jail it has been called. All of that is in response to the investors wishes, what they are spending their money for. I get it, I'm not upset by it for a simple reason, it doesn't cost me a cent. 

 It has been suggested by some that I leave Facebook and join another social networking platform. I won't be doing that for a simple reason, I have invested at least ten years of my time in Facebook. I have established friends, acquaintances, and simply grown used to using the platform. I still enjoy sharing my pictures, poems, and writings. I do engage in the political discussions going on. I certainly don't agree with everything everyone says. As of yet, I don't feel like I'm being censored. As long as I post my opinion in a civil manner, I have been reprimanded for not doing so a few times, nothing I have tried to post wasn't allowed. I seldom share any videos of conspiracy. I post enough theories of my own in that regard. I don't feel like I have any "right" to post anything I feel like. That is because I'm not paying! Should you begin to charge me a users fee or whatever that attitude would change 180 degrees. It is a pay to play world after all. I fail to see why anyone should have any expectation to able to use a platform, one that does cost in the millions of dollars to sustain, for free and at the same time dictate what should be allowed. You're not paying for that system! 

 Tomorrow at 6Pm a mass exodus is supposed to occur. The intent is to tank the stock value of Facebook and send a clear message that users aren't happy with perceived censorship. I get it, I understand that. I don't agree with that. I hope my friends don't desert me and I lose touch with them. I suppose I could just open another account on the suggested platform but with no intention of deleting Facebook altogether, I see no point in that. The only purpose would, or will be, to reconnect with those folks. That action will certainly do no harm to Facebook. I'll just have to wait and see I suppose. 

 Facebook is a social network. I began posting a Good Morning everyday in that spirit. I just like being social. Unfortunately in order to form a society you require members. The larger the number of members, the more diverse that society becomes. With diversity comes conflict. That is inevitable. You can see that played out over and over again throughout your life. If you abandon the society each time conflict arises, you will wind up a lonely person. Consider what content is really being censored. What is it that you wish to say that isn't being allowed? So far, for me anyway, it isn't much. I'm fully aware that Facebook is a liberal leaning platform, it was, after all started by a Harvard student. And what's interesting about that is, it's first intended purpose was to compare peoples faces. You were supposed to post a picture of your face and then others would vote on who was the hottest! The administration at Harvard reprimanded Zuckerberg over that. Well, that's not nice and so he was censored! Today he is making millions of dollars selling advertisement on Facebook. The advertisers are insisting upon getting what they pay for, whatever that "product" may be. Until you are an advertiser you really have no say other than to not to buy the product. I'll be staying on Facebook but not buying the product, at least for now.