Goodbye Facebook

This has been a long time coming, at least four years, but as a business and also from a personal perspective, I and Baa Baa Brighouse have decided to bid goodbye to Facebook.

This graphic was shared on Facebook recently and it struck a chord.

For too long I have allowed ‘friends’ to enter my life and home via social media only to later reveal themselves as being not very good friends. The reasons are many – differences of opinion on Brexit, underlying racist or homophobic attitudes, a tendency to support politicians or those in a position of power who subscribe to such attitudes and more recently, Covid-19 and their opinions on face masks, social distancing, the necessity of lockdowns – the list goes on.

One by one, I’ve quietly unfollowed or blocked people and, if I’m brutally honest, there are now just a handful of friends and family I keep in touch with via Facebook.

Facebook itself seems to be flooded with advertisements, so much so that I have to actively search to see if friends have posted updates. But more than that, it is flooded with disinformation perpetuated by anti-scientific conspiracy theorists  and those with extreme right-wing views that I can no longer, in all conscience, continue to support and subscribe to such a platform, particularly when it compels me to try to change the minds of friends who are influenced by such nonsense and ought to know better. I just don’t have the head space for it.

Unfortunately, because of the way Facebook works, I am unable to administer a business page without having a personal account, so both will have to go.

However, when less than 5% of the 1,605 people who follow the Baa Baa Brighouse Facebook page sees my posts, I think that’s a hit I can afford to take.

For those still interested in all things woolly, you’ll still be able to find Baa Baa Brighouse on Twitter and Instagram and of course, I’ll continue to send newsletters to our subscribers and our website will still be here.

So, I’ll give it until Sunday November 15th to give people time to read this and then I shall wave goodbye.

Take care,

Elaine x