Cursed are the Administrators
A very quick gripe about (some) Facebook group admins
Remember the promise of Web 2.0? How we were all going to create and curate our own content for the benefit of all, generating a social library of all things human, sharing and supporting, encouraging cats to keep being funny and people to go arse-up on the frost? It was terrific.
And naturally, it got hijacked by capitalism.
What began as YouTube and Facebook selling ads and ransoming content has filtered its way down to the ‘community’ pages, and nowhere is it more apparent than the Facebook groups that we immigrants use to seek support in a foreign land.
For the first year or so of living in Spain I found quite a few pages that were most helpful. You’d post your question to the group and before you knew it you’d have a dozen well-intentioned answers from people who’d once had the same question and through trial and error answered it.
In the last few months I’ve noticed a seismic shift. Having attracted thousands of followers, the admins of some Facebook groups have imposed a pseudo monetising gateway on the content. If someone asks, for example, how to fill in NLV form 790-052, or how to get an appointment for a residency card, or if anyone can recommend a good tax agent in my town, SOME administrators jump in with “We recommend you speak to Carlos Jones of XYZ laywers for the advice you need.”
Then they close comments on the post.
So, the very purpose for which the page was set up – social support from peers – has been pulled from under us, with the beneficiary effectively gaining access to thousands of potential clients for their affiliates. It’s digital marketing 101, unfortunately. Create leads, generate clicks, engage engage engage.
And unsuspecting newcomers to the group, on searching for answers to their questions, are given the same answer – which is, you won’t find it here, but Carlos can help at a very reasonable price.
Anyone else noticing this trend? It’s really pissing me off. It’s why there are no cookie settings on my website, why the guides I’ve written are all free, with no strings attached. I plan to keep it that way.
