Why I Believe Facebook's Walled Garden, ONGOING Link Preview Glitch May Be a BAD Business Model

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There's no doubt that Facebook is one of the most valuable tools. However, when a business monopoly is created, it becomes a real problem. Facebook took over Friendster, and I used Facebook around 2009. Now it's 2024. It's a real problem, and I noticed that link sharing has become unpredictable. In fact, one of the biggest problems that anyone could face right now is that they spend an entire day, or maybe even a week or more, writing an online article. However, instead of getting that beautiful link preview, you get it without it, which can turn people off. People want the previews because they want to know where the link leads. 

Whether I want to admit it or not, Facebook has become a toxic ecosystem that some people opt for restricted access (locking their profile) or even just using Messenger already. The walled garden environment is all about "keep people in Facebook as long as possible". Never mind that when people click that beautiful link, it leads them to an article. It should be like, "I saw this link on Facebook." Instead, we are seeing a lot of fake game ads on Facebook, some pages that just want one's reaction with memes, and the like. The administrators may not have seen the beauty that if they fix the algorithm, Facebook links could potentially mean more revenue. In short, it seems Facebook is valuing interaction regardless if the hundreds of shares are for positive or negative reasons, compared to actually valuing marketing and helping publishers gain traffic or a start!

Remember, Facebook is banned in China. China is a country that's ruled by totalitarianism. Facebook, which helped promote businesses, has now caused some businesses to shut down, either slowly or quickly. We need to think about how this practice is bad for business. Remember that businesses are willing to pay for extra outreach. Sure, people will click the link, and when they do, they leave the page. However, every reach the site gets is money for Facebook. So why is Facebook again not really doing anything about the broken link preview? Is it so there will be more shares within an ecosystem, or is Facebook creating an echo chamber? 

Remember, Facebook won the hearts because of the link preview system. But now, what is Facebook doing? It's undoing what made the platform so viable for a long time. Sharing links on Facebook was done by several people for years. So really, what's Facebook's rationale? If people can't get access to more content via social media or get more reach, the new model itself can be badmouthed overnight.