Or is it just another of a long line of business’ that is trying to maximize its profits because it has the audience, and the capability to do so?

FaceBook began in 2004 with some Harvard University students.  In 2007 Facebook started to allow business pages.  The company went public in 1012.  As of January 2014 Facebook reports 1.4 billion monthly users.

What’s the point?  Facebook is a business.  A huge business.  A huge public business with investors that expect a return on the money that they have invested.  To give those investors that return, Facebook has to sell something.  Ads, services….something.  No different from any other business that is out there in the world, or in the US.  Does this make it bad?  No.  It just makes it a business, nothing more.

And that sucks for some of us out here in blogging land.  Facebook has changed the way that it does things because it wants to broaden its income base.  It is asking those of us who have specific pages other than the social pages to chip in some cash.  And if we don’t chip in that cash, then Facebook will limit our audience.  They will make some of our posts to not be seen by some of our followers.  Just because they can.  They own the platform that we are using, and since they do they can make the rules.

And we can pick up our toys and go someplace else if we want.  Simple capitalism.  You don’t have to participate in the process if you don’t want to.

Small end bloggers such as myself aren’t hurt that much at this point in time.  It is the bloggers who have pages likes in the 1k and on up numbers that are getting their nuts kicked in.  And for some who have ads on THEIR blogs the loss of a few thousand page visits can mean a bunch of cash.  Because those bloggers are also in business.  And they also need to sell stuff.

You see where this is all going?  That nasty little circle of supply and demand?  With demand being the number of people that see what it is that you have to sell.  Because sales is all in the numbers folks.  The more people who lay eyes on your page, the better chance you have of selling whatever it is you have to sell.  Your book, or some service or another.

It’s all just business as usual for all of us.