We've given away a huge part of our digital souls with the promise of “If people interact more, it should lead to a stronger community.” Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said that quote on a conference call. You'd think that was a statement from 2009. In fact, it was said on Jan. 31, 2018. Which should show you just how either out-of-touch these social media leaders are, or they are purposefully misleading us. Or both.

The trajectory of Facebook, Google and Twitter is heading straight into the sun. Those of us and those credit unions who've hitched their wagon to these digital overlords are the ones who are going to burn up. The leaders of these technology giants (that word isn't big enough … behemoths? Goliaths? Godzillas?) have led us and themselves into a media situation they refuse to define. While they skirt the issue, our time and engagement has become a true commodity at their disposal.

The issue, as you may know, is challenging the statement: Are you a media company or a technology company?

Zuckerberg and other digital pioneers emphatically say no, they are not a media company.

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, in an interview with Axios last fall was asked that exact question. Her response: “At our heart we're a tech company … we don't hire journalists.”

OK. Fine.

But, doesn't that entire answer fly in the face and completely ignore the fact that Facebook is one enormous reason why the media landscape has changed with Facebook Publisher and other media enticements – and in fact, how we consume news today? Facebook, as Zuckerberg stated (see obnoxious quote in the first paragraph), was built to create a stronger community.

What he doesn't say is that brands, media companies, news organizations, mom and pop shops, and credit unions are funneling a lot of cash into Facebook to at least have a better chance of being seen.

Oh, by the way, Facebook changed the News Feed rules in late January; and that's probably not a good thing for credit unions that are trying to get more audience engagement with members. According to a Facebook blog post, “Because space in News Feed is limited, showing more posts from friends and family and updates that spark conversation means we'll show less public content, including videos and other posts from publishers or businesses.”

In short, (until they change the rules again) your credit union content could be worth as much as a friendship bracelet I made at camp in 1978. Of note: I'm terrible at crafts. It broke in less than a day. In that same blog update, Facebook officials clearly stated, “As we make these updates, Pages may see their reach, video watch time and referral traffic decrease.” Uplifting, no?

During my daily tech news readings, I found this quote from an EVP of a huge digital advertising agency – here's what he had to say about investing your marketing dollars into Facebook's universe: “You never want 90% of your business from something you don't control.”

What's the true form of social media? You know, like the “vinyl” days of social media? Those are the sweet, sweet original content-producing platforms of podcasting and blogs. The last bastion of nearly controlling all of your content. For the years that those two “social” forms of content creation have been around, the same three rules are true – your only investment is time, equipment and website development.

Don't get me wrong, it's not hurting you or your brand, yet, on those other social media platforms to continue to post your credit union content. I'd just consider treating 2018 different digitally, by taking a radical step back from the usual way of posting and interacting on social media. Head back to the “old school” form of connecting – ON YOUR OWN website!

IKR? Your own website. Crazy.

It's probably been a few years, but I bet at some point your credit union developed a blog or even an “About Us” section of your site. Think about starting up that blogging engine again and bringing your content back home, where it belongs. And, more importantly, where you'll actually drive real website traffic that you can monitor and you can know is true, instead of Facebook's or even Twitter's sometimes suspicious analytics.

One absolutely wonderfully-executed example of this is HuffPost's Highline digital property. According to the site, its mission is fairly simple: “Highline is a magazine that only runs cover stories – big, ambitious pieces intended to change the way you see the world or influence the course of policy. Think of it as a new digital home for an old journalistic tradition.”

HuffPost has spent the past few years developing this exclusive content area and many journalists are seeing it as a potential new media model where you can own the content instead of relinquishing it to a digital mothership.

Podcasts, while hosted on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher, are fine because you can imbed those links and a media player into your site. I know, I know – I sound like I'm giving a presentation from 2011, but these digital moves to your credit union's website are still as solid as ever. And incredibly reliable. Podcasting and blogs are real, personal and the true voice of you and your team.

I've always believed in highlighting the personal and personable areas of the credit union people who are out there working every day for your members. You're tired. You're excited. You want a beer. You have news to share and people to recognize. Use your own website to share these things so we can see and hear your voices, words, photos and videos.

The need to define social media has the technology giants in a bit of a pickle. Are they a media company? Are they a technology company? Are they an advertising agency? Are they just a normal corporate behemoth made up of several conglomerations – which would mean, according to the Supreme Court, they are a person? Confusing? Yes. And clear as day? Yes.

Michael Ogden is executive editor for CU Times. He can be reached at mogden@cutimes.com.

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