Facebook: Social media servitude?

There’s been an almost intolerable level of chatter lately about Facebook’s privacy policy and whether the new media giant is unfairly exploiting its users’ personal information for profit. Dan Fletcher’s TIME article, “How Facebook is redefining privacy,” is a an especially thought-provoking read.

I would like to point out a different — albeit related — aspect of Facebook’s business model: Facebook has roughly 500 million people working for it, yet pays them nothing.

The implications of the social media revolution hit me one morning when I came down to the kitchen and saw Amy eating her yogurt and cereal while flipping through a relative’s snapshots on Facebook.

This is what “new media” means. Where a newspaper might have accompanied breakfast in days gone by, consumers now turn to an electronic page while munching their blueberries. And much of this new media is social: The content is created by our friends, relatives, and acquaintances.

As Amy flipped from one photo to the next, and the next, and the next after that, it occurred to me that Facebook was racking up page views — also known as “impressions” for the ads that appear on its pages.

Brilliantly, though, Facebook does not have to create much of the endless content served up though its website. Unlike a newspaper, which would have to hire photographers and photo editors and pay them salaries or wages and benefits, Facebook’s users shoot photos themselves and spend hours uploading and tagging and captioning them for no money.

Sure, the quality of Facebook photography is often poor — mostly flash-lit snapshots — but personally knowing many of the people in the photos makes them interesting nevertheless. Every person with even a few friends, relatives, neighbors, classmates, or coworkers on Facebook has a built-in, reciprocal audience. Where newspapers and TV shows used to have to find an audience and build it, social media supplies its own. Facebook users even invite others themselves, as opposed to the old model of publicity campaigns.

So what lesson did I draw from my wife’s photo-flipping? Simply the importance of having your own virtual space. When the space is your own — not Facebook’s — you have the option of generating ad revenue for yourself. You can choose to collect visitor data or not. You can even make text bold or italic if you choose — which is not possible on Facebook.

For example, while I had no photos on Facebook to speak of, I had spent countless hours and $25 per year to share my photos via a Flickr pro account since 2005.

No more. I resolved to create my own photos section on my own website. Right now, most of the shots date from 1999 and 2000, but I’ll keep adding photos as I find time, and the ones that are up are already earning money. I was quite surprised to see how many people Googled “johnny cash dollar bill guitar” or some variation thereof. Elvis Presley’s microphone gets its share of views as well.

New media content is like equity. Over time, you can build it up — and existing content can increase in value. I posted my mom’s pierogi recipes one Chistmas, then watched that entry gradually become one of the most popular items on my site as visitors linked and shared the page month after month.

While Facebook content can have a very short lifespan — usually falling like a leaf to the bottom of the news feed before vanishing entirely — content on your own site can stay up forever if you let it, and many people do.

With your own space, you can present your content any way you choose. I prefer my photos on black instead of Flickr’s white background, and I want them larger.

Now that no one uses the yellow pages anymore, many businesspeople realize the importance of a Web presence and they figure a Facebook business page will more or less cover that base. Before long, though, some of them end up spending more time feeding Facebook’s insatiable appetite for content than they do conducting their own business.

How truly useful is the content you post on Facebook? Does it show up well in search engines? Can you create a handy URL whenever you want to point to specific information? Can you determine which keywords brought a visitor to you in the first place? And what if one day (as is often rumored, but so far untrue) Facebook decides to charge $19.95 per month for access?

Yes, it takes more work to establish your own site, and it costs a little money — but not so much of either as you might think.

At my favorite Web host, BlueHost.com, a year of service costs under $100. It takes three minutes and a credit card to sign up. (Yes, I am an affiliate.)

Then, if you want a powerful but easy system to manage your content, install WordPress into your new site. There’s a button in your control panel that does it for you.

Boom — you now have your own space for your own content. With virtually no other modifications, you have everything you need to post images and text in either blog format or on static pages. You can accept comments or not as you desire.

Yes, it’s very vanilla. Want more? Want to learn the endless ways WordPress can be customized to your every preference, as taught in a very entertaining and understandable style? Get Chris Coyier and Jeff Starr’s Digging Into WordPress, available in either PDF or book form. It’s one of the more expensive books I have ever bought, but it has paid for itself many times in recent months.

At the dawn of the Web, many users naturally established a “home page.” Then, when social media exploded, everyone started spending all their time in these public spaces instead. Now they feel exposed and exploited and lacking in control.

Like a bar, Facebook is a useful hub for social contact, but it’s no place to call home. When you find yourself performing chores for the owners, you might want to reevaluate how you’re spending your time.