What do we do with a problem like Facebook?
My thoughts on Careless People, by Sarah Wynn-Williams; an exposé on her time at Facebook.
You might have seen me talking on my Insta stories about the book Careless People, by Sarah Wynn-Williams. The book is a whistleblower exposé of her time working at Facebook as Director of Policy between 2011 and 2018.
I have talked about it A LOT, because - quite frankly - it has shook me to my core.
I don't think any of us were under any illusions that the senior team at Facebook/ Meta were working from a place of altruism, but to hear a first hand account of the reality of what goes on there;
The bullying and sexually inappropriate behaviour that is tolerated - and encouraged,
The way they lied to congress about data sharing with China - and the lengths they went to to get the platform live there.
The fact our children are targeted with ads to make them feel even worse about themselves, at the exact moment they delete a selfie, or make reference to depression/ low self esteem
has left me feeling a deeper sense of conflict than I have ever felt before about how we run our businesses and the power we give to these people who cannot be trusted with it.
Careless people by Sarah Wynn-Williams, an exposé detailing her time working at Facebook (Meta) as Director of Policy between 2011 and 2018.
About Careless People:
Before I dive into the question on everyones lips “Ok, so WTF do we do about it?”, let's get into a little of the background.
You may not have heard about this book.
The author wrote it, got the deal, did some promo and got it published, before Meta even found out about it! (That in itself is no mean feat) Once they did find out, however, they took immediate action and the book cannot be promoted at all, ANYWHERE.
Which is why you won't see her doing interviews, or posters in the train stations or the sides of buses.
And if that doesn't scream that the stories are all true, then I don't know what will.
I reluctantly devoured this audio book. It was like a morbid fascination, like when you see an accident on the motorway and don't want to look, but can't help yourself.
Every chapter made me feel more conflicted, and brought the reality of our over-reliance of these platforms into full 4k vision.
That said, I would recommend you read it - if you have the capacity right now.
Ok, let's get into it….
What do we do, now that we KNOW?
Let's start this off by saying - I do not have all the answers.
Our businesses (and let's be honest, probably egos) rely on social media. We skip the Ts+Cs updates without a clue what we are consenting to, and willingly give them data points on every area of our lives from our shopping habits, to travel plans, to moments of celebration, and moments of darkness.
I think we are all guilty of thinking 'I really don't care who knows that I shop in Tesco and go to Spain twice a year', but that really is burying our head in the sand….
We need a total rethink. A new content model for the future, that doesn't rely on how many trends we can churn out, or how much ChatGPT's crap we can make look pretty.
We get so focussed on the numbers that we forget our true objectives;
to grow our business
to get more leads
to further our impact
to work less
Whatever yours is, you might think that spending half your day on social is getting you closer to it, but is it… really?
And when I truly examine my own 'over-reliance' on it, I have to ask, what is reliant on it? Is it my business revenue…. or is it my toxic dopamine addiction?? 👀
I was talking to my good pal Matilda Lucy about this last night. Matilda works with brands to evaluate what real growth looks like for them, whilst reducing their reliance on social - Meta, more specifically.
And she said this “it's hard because the reach on social is unmatched but most brands don't actually need to reach millions of people”
And there it is. It hit me like a ton of bricks…. who needs to reach millions of people?? If you are a coach, or service provider, or even running courses - how many people can you work with at a time?
Almost certainly not millions, not even hundreds. Tens? Maybe.
And this is the kind of rethinking we need.
We are told we need social media to run our businesses - there is a whole industry of people making their income from telling us that, maybe you are even one of them.
But do we?
Or do we need it in the way we have been engaging with it for the last few years? Because I don't know about you, but the sheer VOLUME of content these days is making me dizzy.
So here's what I will be doing:
Consciously reducing my time consuming
Creating and posting strategically
Finding ways to actively disconnect (only have apps on my laptop, not my phone)
Hosting and attending more in person and virtual events
And… telling everyone to read this bloody book!
We tell ourselves that social media has made growing our business easier, but is that really true?
Or has it just filled our lives with more noise, more conflict and more confusion than before.
Im not saying reducing our use of it is easy - or even entirely possible - but with a shift in our understanding of the part it plays in society and global politics, and a reality check in what we truly need it for, it will be easier than we (are told to) think.