Social Media Moves From Fun to Investment

BUSINESS BASICS

Camden Smith

DREAMFly Marketing

Facebook has become a bad version of the “Spam-a-Lot” musical rip off of Monty Python’s movie “The Holy Grail.”

People using Facebook for personal communication with friends and family have long complained about unwanted spam messages and mail on the popular social media website. The issue now arises for business owners who are beginning to feel the pinch on their own Facebook accounts.

Facebook is the second most visited website in the world. In an effort to protect its users, developers have consistently rolled out significant tracking tools of spammers or people sending unwanted messages and mail to other Facebook users.

Last week, Facebook notified me that my personal account, a non-business account, had been suspended for violating community guidelines and had been identified as a spam account. In order to keep the account active, I had to sign off on the community guidelines.

It had been more than five months since my personal account had sent out any friend requests so I filed a complaint with Facebook, but because some of my friend requests went unanswered the help desk said that identified me as sending “spam.”

So many of us accept LinkedIn, Google Plus and other friend invitations and then when the same people try to connect with us on another platform, we fail to recognize the name and identify the user as spam.

My advice to every Facebook user and business page manager is to know exactly who you are connected with online on all social media sites. You may be connected with a person on Google Plus and speak with them frequently, but the minute you deny that person’s friend request on Facebook they could be identified as a spammer, an unwanted and unknown contact.

While many marketing firms and social media gurus sing Facebook’s praises, I believe the extremely strict spam controls are causing confusion and a disconnect with millions of users. Dozens of friends who own business have complained about the same issue.

Facebook has become a vicious cycle of account shutdowns for many times innocent users who simply sent a friend request to their neighbor who then decided not to accept the invitation for one reason or another. If too many requests go unanswered or are denied by the receiving party, Facebook often suspends the Facebook account between 14 to 30 days preventing further friend requests.

Spam control seems to be out of control. Business owners using the platform need to watch accounts closely and heed this warning that sending out massive friend requests could in fact shut down your account.

Be cautious, responsible and respectful and learn Facebook’s constantly changing set of rules.

Camden Smith, owner of DREAMFly Marketing LLC, has more than eight years expertise in branding and marketing strategy and 13 years in public relations. Formerly a WINK-TV reporter, Smith is an award-winning PR strategist and lives in Naples with her husband. Visit Smith at http://dreamflymarketing.com.