Blog 3519 – 06.23.2025
Friends Are More Than Customers or Followers
I recently got back on Facebook after being off it for many years and so I had to start a new account and try to locate the many friends that I once had on Facebook all over again. The lure to most folks of Facebook is feeling connected with friends and sharing stories and pictures with those that care and who also share their stories and pictures with us.
Yet, Facebook is first and foremost a business model and salesmen and politicians are all about getting and keeping our attention so that they can sell us something or get our vote or approval. Most of the time when someone gets a new friend request, especially if it is from someone they do not know, and often times from those they do, it is about business or politics more than a social contact.
As thrilling as it is to reconnect with family and friends and see pictures of them on Facebook it can be a bit disheartening to see so much of the profit or political motive behind so many of these interactions. Instead of Social Media this construct might better be named Vanity Fair or Market Place.
I am determined this time on Facebook to focus on sharing encouraging words and to try to see the highest and best in myself and others as I participate on the app. I suppose I am selling the idea that friendships, that family, is more than a platform for business and that every conversation does not have to be a sales opportunities and that every out reached hand not just a ploy to make a sell, receive a donation, or get a vote.
I understand the reluctance of even old friends to reconnect on Facebook. For some the sharing of different ideas is a threat to their long held beliefs for others not responding to friend requests is just a way to avoid the constant barrage of bitches and sales pitches. Most of us have experienced more than our share of gripes and bait and switch sales tactics.
My salutation to this daily blog I take as seriously as my promise to deliver free of charge a few words that are meant to be entertaining, enlightening, and encouraging. I may miss the mark of hitting all three each time but hopefully I achieve at least one of these goals every time I take a swing at it. Even the best batters swing and miss more often than they hit home runs or even get on base.
We may not always agree, but that is something true friends come to accept and appreciate. I do not need your money, your vote, or your constant approval. I am no longer on Facebook or writing my blog to collect “likes.” I just want to be and do consider myself…
Your friend and fellow traveler,
David James White
THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND – Andrew Gold
theencouragingword 