Today I tried to solve a tiny, a rather technical and boring problem: a cryptic Facebook “About this content” panel nagging that it “could not find a Facebook Page” for my own domain.
It was bollocks really because the domain has existed for more than a decade (almost 16 years in fact) and is 100% verified…
This should’ve been a 2-minute fix. But, as is often the case these days, it turned into hours of going round in circles.
And that, more than the little icon itself, is the story.
When Simple Problems Become Impossible Quests
All I wanted was to share a blog post from my own site, on my own profile, without Facebook implying something was wrong with the link.
Instead I found “solutions” that only apply to older versions of Facebook, half-answers written for business users rather than people just blogging under their own name, and conflicting advice from Facebook’s own help content, YouTube tutorials and blog posts that all said something slightly different.
I even tried Reddit – but still no progress.
At every turn I could feel the same thing: the tools got more complex, but the explanations didn’t keep up.
Search Is Drowning in Its Own Success
For years, Google was the place you went to solve problems like this. Type in what’s wrong, find someone who’s had the same issue, follow the steps, done.
Now the results pages are padded with suggestions to ask AI (and more and more AI answers if becoming the default ‘guesswork’), “people also ask” loops and those AI summaries that confidently say sod all of any use. Genuine, specific answers are buried under SEO fluff and affiliate-bait. Outdated tutorials still rank because they’ve got links, age and “authority” on their side.
And about the AI answers; just like any LLM, none of them will ever politely admit “sorry, mate, I don’t know”!
The paradox: there’s more “content” than ever, but less actual help. You get floods of words, not outcomes.
YouTube: From Tutorials to AI Slop
YouTube used to be a gift for this sort of thing. Search for a feature, find someone sharing their screen, step through it with them. Sorted!
Now, too often, you hit Shorts that are pure clickbait with zero context, AI-generated voiceovers over stock footage repeating help-centre text word for word, and “hack” videos full of hype, promises and suspiciously vague steps (aka bullshit and bollocks).
You end up scrubbing through ten videos that all show different interface versions, none of which match what you’re seeing today. And the content creators (erm, I mean time wasters) don’t give a monkeys that your question wasn’t answered – they got your watch time!
Facebook: Feature Creep Meets Human Beings
To be fair, Facebook’s problem is slightly different. Over time it’s tried to become a social network, an ad platform, a streaming service, a business tool, a commerce platform and a creator toolset, all at once.
Every new feature added another layer of settings. And another library of help that has become overwhelming.
So now you’ve got profile settings, page settings, professional mode settings, ‘Professional Dashboard’ ‘Meta Business Suite’, business and ads and domain settings, privacy, audience settings, safety, brand-safety and “suitability” settings. They often overlap, contradict, or quietly replace each other.
The average person has no chance of understanding where anything lives, never mind how it all fits together. And don’t even waste your time asking Facebook support for help!
My harmless little icon turned out to be entangled with business accounts, domain verification, page associations and meta tags on the site itself. All of this, just to stop Facebook frowning at a completely legitimate link.
The Bigger Signal: Tools That No Longer Respect Your Time
The pattern across Google, YouTube, Facebook and a growing pile of AI tools is the same. They optimise for engagement, not resolution. They reward volume, not clarity. They keep bolting on features without pruning the old ones.
The result is an internet that’s technically richer but practically poorer. You can find an answer, somewhere, eventually.
The cost is your afternoon.
For most people, that cost is too high. So they either give up or accept whatever half-arsed answer appears first and hope for the best.
Why This Matters for the Rest of Us
If you build websites, write content, or run a small business, this decay hits you twice.
- As a user, you’re losing time fighting systems that should be helping.
- As a creator, you’re competing against AI slurry and shallow content farms.
The temptation is to respond with more of the same: more content, more channels, more noise. The better response might be the opposite – fewer pieces, higher quality, real empathy, and ruthless respect for people’s time.
Because right now, the bar is well and truly on the floor.
If something on the internet actually helps someone solve a problem in under five minutes, it feels like a minor miracle.
Got Questions? You Might Find the Answer Here
Why is it so hard to find useful answers on Google now?
Google’s results pages are increasingly filled with ads, AI-generated summaries and “people also ask” loops that push genuine answers further down. Outdated content still ranks well because of accumulated links and domain authority, while newer, more accurate answers struggle to surface.
What is AI slop on YouTube?
AI slop refers to low-effort videos that use AI-generated voiceovers, stock footage and recycled help-centre text to fill search results without offering real solutions. These videos often rank well but waste viewers’ time with vague or outdated information.
Why has Facebook become so complicated to use?
Facebook has expanded from a simple social network into an ad platform, business tool, commerce platform and creator toolset. Each addition has brought new layers of settings that overlap, contradict and replace each other, making it difficult for ordinary users to find or control basic features.
How can small businesses stand out when the internet is full of low-quality content?
By doing the opposite of what most content farms do. Focus on fewer, higher-quality pieces that genuinely answer real questions and respect your reader’s time. Practical, specific, honest content stands out precisely because so much online material fails to deliver.
Is the internet actually getting worse or does it just feel that way?
Both. The volume of content has grown massively, but the proportion that’s genuinely helpful has shrunk. Search engines, social platforms and video sites now prioritise engagement and ad revenue over helping you find clear answers quickly, which makes the experience measurably worse for anyone trying to solve a real problem.