This is a classic false dichotomy, that either a business serves the public or it makes money.

The either/or is untrue.

Facebook is both a big, “evil,” profit-seeking corporation and a brilliant platform for two-billion people to connect on a personal level, sharing photos of weddings and babies, participating in life together.

To the extent that news reports love to trash FB over Russian hackers, Cheryl Sandberg’s missteps, and a myriad of other small failings, they miss the big picture that 1/4 of the world uses the platform for human connection.

Focus on the 1% failing obscures the 99% success of Facebook— it’s about human connection in a disconnected world.

And yes, it does make “profits” while doing so.

That said, I seldom use the platform, because I don’t fit in that space. I feel like a square peg in a round hole.

I prefer the complex discussions of a podcast or listening to an audio-book, or a long-form medium article. I prefer to go very deep, and Facebook usually hovers at the surface of relationships.

Maybe that’s my failing, and the failing of us all, rather than that of the company. I’m not willing to be vulnerable on the platform, and most others aren’t either. Kids and cats and Christmas trees, rather than substance. . .when I do share, this is what I post. . .what I think the world wants to see rather than what is in my heart of hearts.

There are exceptions like Shawn of the South and Humans of New York, those who share, who go first, who bare heart and soul.

I haven’t made that leap, and I were honest, it’s be cause I might be rejected, I might be shunned.

I might not be liked.