Tonight is a perfect example of how the Facebook timeline (a.k.a. let us show you what we want to show you and not display the news from the pages you opted in to follow) is majorly flawed.
I logged in, which I’ve not done in a few days, and the timeline displayed posts from the past few days. I switched to the “most recent” display option, same thing and nothing from the past 9 hours.
You may be asking, “Where does the major fail come into play other than Facebook not allowing me to see everything?”
You see, we have this little thing called a BLIZZARD getting ready to hit Indianapolis in the morning. One that is predicted to bring 10-15 INCHES of snow to most of the area along with high winds. It’s something people ought to know about.
Schools are already out for Christmas Break, but the city and numerous other places are already closing tomorrow. Driving on the streets is not encouraged, and you’ll likely get stuck if you try.
But on Facebook not a single post that shows up in my timeline mentions this, and none of the statuses of the media outlets show up at all. For people who’ve not read a paper (with old news), or turned on a TV or radio on CHRISTMAS DAY, and have only checked Facebook, this is less than helpful.
Social Media is supposed to be the wave of the future, but ever since the Facebook IPO hit Wall Street they’ve went from thinking like a bunch of confused monkeys (which wasn’t helpful either, but at least they were less controlling of the content channel) to a bunch of controlling traditional media moguls (which doesn’t work in the digital age).
Thank goodness for Twitter, email, other Social Media streams, and if you must use Facebook, the best tool on the market, HootSuite (which shows you everything in order).
If you’re in Indy and reading this, be safe out there tomorrow and over the next week as the snow sticks around.
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