I’ll start with a horror story...

A fellow coach recently told me over dinner that her Instagram account, with 7,000 hard-earned followers, had been suddenly and without warning…shut…down.

No reason was given other than, “The account has been removed for violating our terms of use.” And trust me, this coach is NOT someone who’d violate anybody’s terms of use. She couldn’t even guess as to what she might have done wrong. And good luck trying to talk with anyone at Facebook/Instagram – not even a freakin’ bot.

Through a miracle, and only because she knew someone at the company, she was able to get her account and 7,000 followers restored. But she vowed, “Never again! I will never be dependent on a platform that has that kind of control over access to my audience.”

(She then informed all her followers that she’s leaving Instagram, inviting them to join her on an emerging text-based platform, where she has the control.)

Sadly, this horror story is not uncommon, and could happen to any...