Most people have a number of accounts on Facebook. Those who have multiple accounts usually use them for advertising purposes, rather than stealing identities. Because traditional advertising costs money and quite frankly, it is not very effective at all.
I have been one of the persons who created a Fb account many many years after it became popular. I was reluctant to get on a network where it is easy to post stuff when you’re angry or happy or your life events happen, because if it's easy, we will do it. Think of Amazon. I buy stuff off Amazon because it's so hassle free and so convenient. The amount of information that is out there and the amount of information that is stored about us by Facebook is unbelievable. However, for commercial purposes only, I kept the accounts alive and used them as they were needed; we have a couple accounts for our firearm business (as more often than not one of them is banned for saying the truth or posting pictures of a project), and I had (not have, HAD) one well behaved account, for promoting our bakery and our photography businesses. No political posts or firearm posts made their way on that account. Recently I have gone back in the history of the account, from the beginning of time, and deleted everything that had even one hint of right political views on it. No posts of anything political linger on my wall.
And then, yesterday came. Facebook decided that THAT one particular account, the one that is perfectly well behaved according to the left's standard, needs to have a phone number attached to it, a picture, and an ID. You know, if I want to use it again. The reason why this bothers me so much is that I have paid through this Facebook account for numerous ads for both the bakery and the photography business, just 2 weeks ago. For them to have my bank details eliminates any reason to have any doubt that I am a real person. I am using the same name as the name that is on the bank card – so logically, an actual human-being had checked my ID at the bank counter. Otherwise, I could not make the payment towards Facebook! Knowing all these and still asking for a copy of my ID (which will then later be “encrypted and stored for up to one year”) is not only ridiculous, but it is transparent. Transparent as to what their purposes are. No, I will NOT hand out anyone from Facebook a copy of my ID. It is absolutely wrong and I will not agree with this practice or comply with it. There is life after Facebook.
I see the struggle that we’re about to face regarding our bakery and our wedding photography businesses. I do not expect them not to take a blow. And quite frankly, I think that I should have known better than to rely and build our portfolio on social networks, even if everyone is on Facebook; because everyone is off Facebook as well. However, this ID thing is a landmark that I am not willing to trespass. And things going as dark and bleak as they are in WA state, maybe it really is the right time to say Good-Bye to Facebook.
I know there are many networks out there that are trying to compete with Facebook. I do not intend to relocate my businesses on any of them. They are even more fragile than Facebook. I don’t think they have the platform, the numbers of the financial power to compete, at the moment, with the great social giant. Google will take care of that. However, giants do die. And if their death is not caused by competition, it is caused, sooner or later, by an implosion. The system eats itself from the inside out. And in Facebook’s case, it is the best ending of an era.
People’s reactions when this sort of thing happens still baffle me. Facebook is not a constitutional right that we have. It’s not something that we were born with as a fundamental and unalienable right, like the right to protect ourselves and to pursue happiness. To begin with, it is not a right, it is a service that someone made available for us for "free" - as in, at the price of trading information about ourselves. Facebook is just a virtual reality which, with success, has replaced the real world or has changed the way we perceive the real world. The more I think about it, the less I like it. Even if there wouldn’t be any violations in regards to my rights, I don’t think I like the world Facebook created.
So if you find our wedding photography page or our bakery page on Facebook and can’t get in touch with us although you text us, it’s because we don’t have access to them anymore. Just… contact us directly, like our grandparents used to contact each other.
As to the Brubaker Arms Facebook page and attached accounts, we will still be connected to you and speak as long as possible about our rights. But if one day the groups are locked and you don’t have access to our pages at all anymore, look us up on our website. You’ll probably find a notice regarding how they’ve shut us down.
We need to be aware that this virtual reality dream will not last forever (thank God)! This is merely a season, a craze that lasts for one generation or two, but people are realizing more and more that the negative effects of virtual reality over-score the benefits. And people are not willing to pay the price. Sadly, there is Instagram, there is Twitter, there is LinkedIn – there are too many virtual traps to be able to get writ of them all at once. But fear not, someone will press the red button at one point, and everything will be reset.
The question is, when will we wake up and what will we wake up to? What will our world look like after Facebook? I believe most people are so dependent on screens that they will not be able to handle real life. They are not even prepared for real life, they are not equipped for anything else but for Facebooking. And I believe there will come a point when we will all ask ourselves, what have we done to this beautiful world and to ourselves?
Our bakery (1911bakery) does not have a website yet; but this event makes the website become a priority. The bakery had a very active, very loved page on Facebook. Apparently, it is gone. However, you can find our baked during our office hours (Wednesday – Friday) in the showroom at the new facility. For our gunsmithing shop customers, the baked goods are complimentary, as they last. For the non-customers, the baked goods have a decent trice tags. And feel free to place your large orders for weddings or events.
Our wedding photography business, Brubaker Arts, does have a webpage, you can find it at www.brubakerarts.com If you know anyone getting married, looking for a good photography service, get in touch. My husband is a great gunsmith and the gunsmithing shop is what we pour our lives into. At the same time, I have always ran my own businesses (since I was 5, literally – but that’s a story for another post), so I do need to have my own little toys that I play with whilst we’re busy arming you all. Just come by the showroom and say HI once in a while, taste our cakes and enjoy real people and real conversations. We designed the showroom as we did with the desire to have it become a conversation lounge where people can connect and get to know each other.