Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

For a long time now, I’ve noticed that engagement on my personal Facebook page has been dramatically lower than in previous years. No one comments, likes, or shares. People tell me all of the time that they don’t see my content (and when I point out that they could seek it out, they don’t.)

What is shadow banning?  It means that a user’s content is partially or fully blocked in a way that doesn’t seem obvious. So my content is still there and others can see it if they visit my Facebook. But it doesn’t appear to them, no matter how good a fit it is with their interests. The hope is that I’ll stop posting content.

It is a way to chill speech that does not support Facebook’s algorithm or Meta’s values.

I joined Facebook in June of 2007. I’ve always been an active user – checking in, linking, sharing content, creating hundreds of albums, interacting with content created by other people. My following grew quickly until I stopped accepting friend requests. Facebook maxes out at 5,000 for a personal page. So I created a professional Facebook page for my blog and one for me.

I also used meta’s Instagram, first pushing posts through to my personal FB account and then to the page set up for my blog.

For context, this is the following on my various platforms as of Sunday

• Facebook page for blog – 144,302 followers
• Instagram – 96,035
• Twitter/X – 8,694
• BlueSky – 4,500
• Threads – 5,466
• TikTok – yes I’m there but the trend does not continue

Twitter had been hanging in the 8-9k range for years. BlueSky and Threads are relatively new to me, so that’s a decent showing.

But Instagram and the FB page for my blog have exploded in the past few years. In April 2024, I had 3k followers on Instagram. Over 18 months, that grew by 93k. On Facebook , my blog page had about 60k followers in April 2024, so it more than doubled in that same 18 months.

Do some comparisons of Pittsburgh famous folx using IG and FB pages to see where I fit into the social media ecosphere (burghosphere?) It is a little surreal to be a middle aged disabled white lady gaining this much of a following.

My blog views are up as well – averaging 1k unique visitors per day. And I know why – I create AND curate good content. Since 2014, I’ve been committed to amplifying other content creators, other voices.

So how to explain my personal Facebook stalemate?

Tonight, I decided to go back and take a look. It seems things cooled off in July and August 2023. Hmmm. A few things happened then. One involved TERF’s targeting me with a lawsuit, messing up my Wikipedia page, posting vile things, etc. The other was the set of circumstances I call the #decommitment that you can read about here.

I was so busy dealing with the fallout of both situations that I didn’t notice the impact on my Facebook. And I’m not sure it matters – it isn’t like there’s a shadow banning overlord to whom I can appeal. They don’t acknowledge shadow banning anyway.

I did try posting the same content on my personal Facebook as on the blog Facebook to see if there’s a difference. Of course there is. My personal page is not registering almost any engagement no matter what I post – cat pics, videos, newsy stuff, fun questions, links, no links, buried links, pics of a lynx – just nothing works.

My history with Facebook has been tumultuous. I’ve been banned quite a bit for my content. When I started my blog Facebook page, I had to fight to use the word lesbian in my profile name. When I was helping the Pittsburgh Dyke March, same battle. Russians hacked my Facebook. A friend of a friend had a coworker who was dating an intern at Facebook and she got me some email addresses that helped.

It has been an uphill battle to use my voice on this platform. And now I’ve lost that opportunity – for nearly two and a half years. It is great that so many people engage my blog Facebook page, but most of those are folx I don’t know. I can communicate with the world, but not my actual friends. The page strips me of my autonomy – I can’t turn off comments, for example, creating a wild west of terror that I cannot manage.

This is a small issue in the litany of Sue Kerr’s woes or the woes of the larger LGBTQ+ community, of course. But it is a chilling turn of events. I’ve been silenced on the largest social media platform in the world either because of TERF’s or because of my mental illness. Or maybe just because I’m a mouthy bitch.

It does have an impact. I feel more isolated, cut off from friends. Most of my content creation and curation is one-way. I don’t want to be followed, I want to interact – to engage people.

There’s nothing to be done. Facebook holds all of the cards and I’m not asking anyone to call in a chit to address this, that’s foolish.

How can you help? I can’t think of anyway unless all 4500 of my friends sought out my content on Facebook and began engaging. I’m not removing content that is anti-racist or resists Nazis. I could go back and respell white as hwite or hwuit or some other variant. But would that work?

Fortunately, I control this platform. ↕️