Like a timely chess move, during March 2023, the social media presence of IABC is moving off of Facebook and onto a platform called MeWe.  Those who sign up for a free account can access our new social media page  here.  

Why Are We Moving?

It's actually rather simple:  Facebook is predatory and cannot be trusted.  This is not a conspiracy theory against FB, and it's not breaking news.  Just because we have gotten used to FB (like a frog in hot water) does not mean we are wise to continue.

If you haven't seen the following two short videos, I urge you to watch them.  These in themselves will be enough reason.  

The following 2.5 min. trailer is for the 2018 docudrama, The Social Dilemma. Both the trailer and the docudrama are well worth watching.   

The following video, "The Twisted Truth,"  is 13.23 minutes and is also worth watching.  

Beyond the videos, it's also because of my personal experience on the FB platform that we're moving.  It's an understatement to say that I've been dissatisfied with FB from the start of my signing on with it over a decade ago. ("Hate" is a word I try not to use, so how about this:  I abhor it!)  I hold the FB platform in contempt for several reasons that are now notorious among millions of former FB users, and millions more who are still users: 

1. Tracking algorithms (clearly, FB is not alone in this), 
2. Big brother censorship at the mercy of FB [for these two reasons alone, I have used FB very little],
3. Manipulation of what I and my FB friends actually get to see,
4. Annoying ads, and
5. Other manipulative tendencies by FB.   

Collectively, these are not minor things.  And because of them, I've been leaning toward this move for several years.

The straw that broke the camel's back for me happened yesterday, when I posted my blog article, Groupthink.  When I sent a link for this to my FB page, FB shadowbanned it, which means they targeted the post so that it was not delivered to my recipients except as they saw fit to sprinkle it among a few.  It can happen to anybody at any time.  When they do that, they don't tell you.  In fact, they always make your post appear on your own page so you think it was sent out as normal to all your friends.  But you can't tell, except that you might notice a drop in responses to your post.  If you then check with some of your friends, you might find that many of them did not receive it. 

Perhaps FB took exception to my article on Groupthink because FB itself has been charged by insider-whistle-blowers and other sources with Groupthink within its ranks and in its practices.  Or maybe it was my specific Christian content that explored the possibility of intelligent design. I don't know. In any case, and for whatever reason not explained to me, my article (which was not about FB at all, and which was none of their business) was shadowbanned—it was censored. 

Value of Social Media

I want to make it clear that I am not against social media per se.  Clearly, there is a value in it:  Family, friends, pictures, story-sharing, events, news, and more. But the 5 things listed above are deeply invasive, and they are not necessary.

It's because of this that I am moving my own social media presence, and IABC's, to a social media platform that promises to be non-invasive, without censorship, and without ads. It's a platform with 20 million members, which is tiny compared to FB's 2.9 billion.  But most of those people haven't responded to any of my posts anyway.  I have no expectations MeWe will be perfect, but my hope is that it will at least live up to what it promises in it's "Privacy Bill of Rights" (click the link and then the tab at top).

I invite anyone who is willing:  please check out the MeWe platform, sign up for a free account, and then join me there.  I'm not telling anyone to abandon FB, because what others do with FB is up to them. But for me this move will be a good step in the direction of taking back some of the control lost with FB, an invasive platform based on a harmful, insidious, and unscrupulous business model.    

A Few Other Resources

There are many videos and interviews available.  These are interesting:

1. The Rise of Surveillance Capitalism
   2020 A Ted Talk by Mark Weinstein, founder of MeWe
2. Elon Musk: "Delete Your Facebook, It's Just Got Worse"
   2022
3. Best movies about social media dangers

Following are a few videos about MeWe

1. The “Anti-FACEBOOK” Platform: MeWe | Founder Mark Weinstein | Huckabee
   2021  (By listing this, I am not making any political recommendations. This video allowed me to see, hear, and watch the MeWe founder for a few short minutes.)
2. What is MeWe? 
   (Joe Hancock, a MeWe user, walks thru the app and allows you to see how it works.)
   2020
3. Dr. Cassone:  Facebook to MeWe
   (Another user walks thru MeWe and compares to FB)
   2020