Is Facebook Holding Your Page Hostage?

For those of you with a Business Page on Facebook (FB), it has come to my attention that FB has decided to withhold Pages' posts from all but 1-2% of those who "Like" their Pages UNLESS the Page owner PAYS to have their post or Page seen. It's a new world, and shareholders now need to be pleased; profits need to been seen, and FB is stooping as low as it can to accomplish this. 

It has also come to my attention that for the money paid to Boost or run an Advertisement, FB pays random people (seems often in a certain part of the globe where labor is cheap) to "Like" the Page or post. These paid "Likers" then never return to interact with the Page again unless the Page pays again. These fake Fans often have artificial or no profiles, no friends, no wall posts, or comments to the random photo they might 'decorate' their main page with. Their "Likes" are random and lack cohesion (example would be sMacVision, a Life Insurance page from another country/language from theirs, a Book Club, a local Zoo, a Grocery chain, another country's TV show, a Vegan Living Page, and Hunting Club, and a Buddhism site). They usually don't comment, either, since many don't speak the language of the Page.

I have chosen to stop paying for the scam for some time, now, and have seen the resulting falling views/comments/likes, as many have, so FB has stepped up their game, thinking if they squeeze hard enough, money will come out of me and other Page owners. Let me announce that they are wrong. I run an honest business, unlike FB. I am not a wealthy person with unlimited funds to advertise my Page. I am a struggling artist who would be doing what I do whether or not anyone ever took the time to visit, like, or comment. While I want people to take the time, I don't 'need' others to stroke my ego in order for me to exist and do what I love, (but I am so grateful to those of you who do visit more than you know!) and certainly won't pay for them.

I invite you to Share this on your own Business Pages if you have them, or on your own Wall for your friends who do can see them, and when you visit other Pages you enjoy following, please share this info as well.  Feel free to cut and paste, if you'd like.

It is very important that we not let FB get away with treating its customers this way, and at the very least not to think that if they continue to, that we will have no other choice but to accept it and pay.

I Recommend

Save 25% off your order ($35 minimum) in the sMacshop on Etsy until Dec. 18, 2013.  Happy Holidays to all, and if you haven't yet, find me on Facebook.

Evolution Of A Doodle 2014 Calendar

Two pages from my Evolution of a Doodle 2014 wall calendar.  Almost sold out.  Get yours today from this shop.

Hello Fall

Summer came and went, and I didn't even do my usual every month to month and a half post - - shock and horrors!  So, here's something to fill the gap, before I miss Fall, too.  The photo above aptly describes the space of time between here and my last blog post, and there's a little background story I'll share.

I do a series of photos (snapshots, actually, no artistry involved) which my personal Facebook friends see, in an album called "Post No Bills".  This is the phrase that is stenciled onto every panel of the wood walls which surround construction lots here, in NYC.  The walls are normally painted a specific shade of blue (I guess to make it less ugly, although lately I am seeing variations; greens, black, and brown - but those aren't as common) and stenciled with the 'warning' in white to alert the public not to use the walls as a place to post advertisements, announcements, posters, stickers, art, whatever.  The opposite generally happens, nonetheless: they get massively covered with urban decoration.

Recently, though, I started seeing the words "Post No Bills" altered by some humorous graffiti artist(s).  There were things like just a letter change: "Post No Balls".  Then it was a whole word change: "Post Buffalo Bills".  Then it was more than one word: "Post Cow Bells".  And finally all three words: "Pass Two Beers".  I'd see older graffiti get altered, again, first by a letter or two, ("Post No Balls" > "Post sNo Balls") and then by full phrases, the point seeming at this time to be more about changing what was to something else.  I'm guessing the theme is anything, as long as it's different, regardless of whether or not it makes any sense, and it just might be a good enough theme to try in life when things seem to be too stagnant.  Do what moves you.  Don't try to make sense of it, just go in whatever organic direction you are drawn to.  You just might inadvertently provide humor, or beauty, or inspiration for others around you to do likewise, and at the same time find a new path for yourself.

NYC Walkabout

Still walking around at night with a camera.  I always shoot without flash, and handheld, capturing the mundane, yet beautiful in the quiet.

sMacBook Vol.2

It's here.  More on Facebook.  Link is over there on the right.

Setting The Scene

There's something about a vintage car parked on a NYC side street.  It just feels right, and looks as if it belongs to the scene.

Holga Magic

Captured on a grassy hill with sea views, somewhere in a very remote part of New England. I credit the medium film format as well as the plastic Holga camera used for the resulting magic.  This surely doesn't occur with digital, unless an 'app' is applied to the photo.  Happy Weekend to all!

Red & Gold

I seem to use these colors a lot.  This is a page from a new book I've put together.  More over at the sMacVision Facebook page.

Conley Kewpie Box Camera

It needed some work....

Some details.....

The sharpy-sharp problem (as I defined it)  [note: thanks to the wonderful Michael Napper!]......

 The solution I invented to keep the diopter on the camera [Michael sometimes uses tape.  The leatherette on this camera is so brittle I feared doing that, and, well, I'm a girl, and I wanted something pretty and versatile that I didn't have to worry would slip.....

Focusing with my new contraption will have to be experimental.  These are the first test prints just scanned last night!  They were just posted in an album titled "Kewpie Camera Test Film" on my Facebook page.

Evolution of a Doodle

I started with a little ball point pen doodle the size of my thumbnail, scanned and enlarged to roughly 5"square....

Removed the white background layer in Photoshop, and printed out on old paper.  On this, I did some light coloring.....

Re-scanned, and edited in Photoshop where I digitally painted more than 20 new versions.  Here's a detail of the latest.....

To view the whole thing and other versions, see on the sMacVision Facebook page, it's open to the public.