and we're back

**all links in this post link to either news articles or twitter users - all would be considered SFW and while  they all mention rape, assault and other acts of violence, they all do so in context.**

We've been doing some more work behind the scenes here, defining and redefining what we are hoping to accomplish by turning our hobbies into a business. Like all small businesses, we struggle to find balance and harmony. After a absolutely manic, and ultimately disappointing March, we took the month of April to refocus and restructure. We are taking the changes slowly and trying to follow the flow, our hope is that everything will be seamless and you, our wonderful and loyal customers, family and friends, will hardly notice.

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I took a break from Facebook and would quite frankly leave all together if not for my large extended network of family and friends in Canada. My reasons are many, on top of the "Facebook is a time vampire and I am leaving" I was also frustrated with their confusing stance regarding breasts (okay for ogling; not okay for baby feeding) and women (okay for ogling, sexually assaulting, and physically assaulting; not okay when celebrating their own bodies). My FB vacation, and subsequent re-immersion into Twitter, happened to happen just as @EverydaySexism began highlighting some of the truly horrible pages out there, which advertisers had no choice about running next to.

As you likely know, we have a Facebook Page and for a time we experimented with using Facebook's advertising tools. While, in my opinion, the money we spent on FB ads and 'sponsored content' would have been better spent on paying one of my kids to shout our website address from the roof of the house, I don't regret the waste as much as I regret putting ourselves in the position of being a cog in that machine.

I am not sure how much longer our Facebook page will exist, I have stopped updating it and am not sure how we'll proceed. I like the idea of being in touch with so many people at once, but when I think about how I use Facebook and look at our stats, I think posting on a Facebook page is a lot like standing on a chair shouting while people bump past on their way to something else. Sure, someone might stop and listen a moment, but chances are in 5 minutes they'll have moved on to the next bright shiny thing. (And yes, I admit that Twitter is similar in theory, yet in practise Twitter is more like stopping and chatting with someone on the street).

So, there you go. Come find me on Twitter - I've got @_getpainted_ for business stuff and @notthatkate for personal stuff.

As for Painted Bunting's future with Facebook, I'll need to get back to you on that.

(kate)