If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already figured out that I’m a writer—or at least I claim to be. For a living, I write super awesome blog posts that are distributed on Facebook to an audience of more than one million followers on any given platform.
In my very limited time doing this (compared to other individuals in the industry), I’ve run into this paradox that I think anyone who scrolls through social media on a daily basis can relate to:
Facebook just doesn’t share many REAL things.
I can write “tragically uplifting” posts and publish mommy-blogging rants about, let’s be honest, first world problems until the cows come home. But I cannot for the life of me get people to care about the fact that beyond these American borders, there is a lot of real stuff happening.
People are dying, children are starving, wars are erupting and epidemics are spreading.
It’s happening in our own country too! More people are taking their lives every day by suicide than they are dying in car crashes. Our own neighbors have been stranded without food, water or electricity for more than TWO months! Syrian refugees are being shuffled in by the government while simultaneously being shut out by the general public—and more pressingly, CHRISTIANS!
But no matter what I write, or how I frame it, people seem to always go for the content that doesn’t serve much of a purpose. The stories that aren’t politically charged or riddled with negative reports. And Facebook knows it.
And Y’all, I get it. The media is plagued with an overwhelming amount of negativity. So we share positive things no matter how mediocre or irrelevant they are because sharing the GOOD is better for our souls than sharing the bad.
Don’t get me wrong, the fact that this boy returned someone’s wallet when he found it should be celebrated as good. But as a matter of basic human morality, does his good deed really garner the need for VIRAL attention?
Unfortunately, these days, it seems like we can’t count on anyone to simply do the right thing. So when they do, it’s what we share.
Now that’s not to say that less-than-heroic stories don’t matter either. I love my job, I really do! And I love having the opportunity to share uplifting stories that restore people’s faith in humanity, their faith in Jesus, and maybe put a smile on their face in the process. But Y’all, we are truly missing something here.
Facebook, there’s SO much GOODÂ to share, but we have to set a new standard for what determines GOOD.
Do you know that Facebook only shows you what Facebook wants you to see? It doesn’t matter how moving or pressing an issue is, if Facebook makes more money from someone else, the good things that are worth talking about may never even be seen.