Personal sharing vs. achievement sharing

What actually needs to be fixed in the facebook newsfeed.

A few days back I read this - (in re Facebook) 'But the bigger issue is this: people are posting far fewer of their own personal updates - stories about their thoughts, their life, what they're up to - to Facebook. The report says this type of post fell 21 percent during that same timeframe. The decline has continued into this year, though at a somewhat slower pace of 15 percent year over year, according to The Information.' (http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/7/11387604/facebook-personal-sharing-decline-report)

Apparently people are sharing lesser 'personal stuff' on Facebook. Though this might be true on a pure numbers level, internationally - I have noticed that a lot more personal updates are a part of the timeline now than they were earlier. It could be due to algorithm tweaks to make sure that such posts are highlighted, or because people have easier access to updation methods (3g connections, better cameras, check ins)

But I have also noticed that a large number of these posts are not really 'feeling posts' - that prompt from fb which asks you how you are feeling today is more like 'what are you achieving today?'. Most of the posts are people either cooking or baking or popping out babies or trying to show what great spouses they are or have. And I don't know about you, but while I may like most of these posts, I do so ironically. You know, when you know the cake isn't that great or that pasta is just pasta, or those cookies have a fly on them please don't take pictures like this, or your baby is ugly - but I'm still gonna like this post because that's easier that being rude. Don't get me wrong, you do want to be nice to those people, but come on - we all know what excellence looks like and it's rarely on your fb timeline.

What I actually want to do is, in the great Indian parent tradition, tell them 'bahut timepass ho gaya, ab kaam karo'.

And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. If facebook wants to solve this problem of sharing, it doesn't need to push up more and more personal posts, it needs to stop pushing most of these personal posts. Because while people are interacting with them, they are not liking them actually. It's just leading to a subconscious level of dislike every time they log onto facebook because someone else would be touting their achievements, and we will have to like them - or tell people that they are sexy when we all know she's not born with it, maybe it's instagram (or some other photo filtering app). My facebook timeline is now invariably associated with eye rolling or unctuous glee (at seeing how fat someone else has become) - and I'm not sure if facebook intended to be the brand which does this to its users.

What facebook needs to roll out now is an 'achievement filter'. So if you try to upload things like 'I'm so awesome I went to the gym today' there's a pop up which says 'great job, good to see you healthy' but it doesn't get posted. Or if there's a cake, well, cakes are fine. But there should be a limit of only 10 baby pictures per month per account. Because, while achievements are great and they must be shared, it must not be at the cost of the brand environment.

Basically, facebook needs to make this a happy place. Not a simmering pot of resentment towards fellow human beings.

What facebook needs is *gasp* moderation. Because, let's face it, if we wanted daily, minute updates on our 'friends' lives, we would stay in touch with them - not hate like their post half marathon pics while eating a pack of chips.

*Disclaimer - all of the above sharing sins apply to me too. Everyone's cuckoo online. Which is why we need moderation.

The author is a social and digital media enthusiast working at the Times Network. Has a one way conversation on Twitter as @meownologue