Since 2016, I have been making a podcast about WordPress. It’s called WP Builds.
It became, and still is, at the centre of what I do. It’s very important to me.
Soon after starting the podcast, I decided that I’d set up a Facebook group to go with it; a place where I’d share episodes and continue the conversations which were raised in the audio.
I have no idea why, but it grew really quickly. With almost zero effort, over 3,000 joined and started to hang out there. It was vibrant, it was fun, educational, and most importantly, it was polite.
I’m not too sure why, but the people in that group acted with respect towards one another. There was never a time when I had to ask someone to reign things in, or delete a comment. Perhaps this image, which was at the top of the group, helped?
Anyway, it went well.
However, I started to realise that for myself, social media platforms were not aligned with what I wanted from life. The gaming, and selling, of people’s attention did not sit too well with me. Add to that the fact that they seemed to be excellent at creating anger, hatred and distrust, and I decided that they were no longer something that I wanted to support in quite the same way. Some platforms appear worse than others, and Facebook appears (to me) to be the worst of them all.
I stopped going into the group. I stopped participating, and the Facebook algorithm picked up on this. It stopped promoting this group and instead promoted other, more active, groups; which is understandable.
The group became an empty vessel. It existed, still had over 3,000 members, but it had no life, and no purpose.
This is how it remained until today.
Today I removed all members of the group (that’s a whole other nasty thing – you have to remove them one at a time), and shut the whole thing down.
I know that almost nobody reading this will bemoan the lack of this group, it has been of no use for years.
But…
If you were in that group – thank you.
If you helped it grow – thank you.
If you helped someone with their WordPress issue in that group – thank you.
If you were polite and kind – thank you and may you be thus elsewhere forever.
So it’s gone now, and it was time.
The WP Builds podcast is still alive and well, and doing what it was always meant to do… be a podcast. Not a part of a social network, or something with a grander vision.
I’m grateful for anyone who listens, and politely ask that you continue!
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