FULL STEAM AHEAD

JOURNAL

FULL STEAM AHEAD

26 October 2024

SOCIAL MEDIA has many things for it and against it. Attempts to keep it as an enjoyable and informed platform mean that Social Media is driven by algorithms ~ in other words, artificial intelligence.

About six weeks ago, it seems I crossed the Rubicon when I posted six articles on my own Facebook timeline. They were for my interest only, and no one was tagged. I also regularly visited my Facebook timeline and would remove items that I judged were past their sell-by date.

I thought I was acting responsibly.

I was blocked “for posting too fast.”

But then the problems started. Any attempt to sign in was rejected, along with the most helpful message from FB that they had sent a code to my email. That email no longer exists. FB had been informed of this back in the summer, and it dawned on me that at no time had I been dealing with a human being.

Hence, the removal of the FB button on my websites, along with the X button. The thought of somehow being tied in with that character Musk does indeed leave musky stench.

Both websites are functioning well. And the more that I write, the more I find those two pesky visitors Russia and China snooping around.

What a world we live in!

I have written to FB using their designated email address that, I was informed would be answered within 48 hours. That is now two weeks ago. I’ve not chased it up because I asked an open question via Google as to likely response times from FB. Google replied:


As of September 2024, Facebook has 3.065 billion monthly active users (MAUs) and 2.11 billion daily active users (DAUs). This means that over a third of the world’s population is active on Facebook daily
— Google Browser via Firefox 24 September 2024

I now have a whole new perspective on that old saying “like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

26 October 2024
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LIVERPOOL


© 2024 Kenneth Thomas Webb © 2024 Ian Bradley Marshall

Digital Artwork by © KTW © IBM unless otherwise credited




Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.

He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.

Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.

In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.