Facebook just released a new feature that helps with privacy and spam, but also could get you in trouble if you’re using a personal profile to market your business. I’m very excited about this new feature, and you’ll find out why in a second.
On the big FB, I always recommend against using personal profiles for business reasons. For one, it’s against their terms and conditions. Secondly, Facebook pages offer a lot more viral options and useful connect-ability for a business. People argued against me, and didn’t like the fact that one couldn’t directly go out and add people to your list.
I never paid much attention to this (as I saw what REALLY happened with this kind of feature when I was using MySpace for marketing). I figured people who were dead-set against using content to attract people would learn the hard way how social networking really worked.
However, it looks like Facebook is going to teach that lesson much quicker. The company has added a new feature to the Friend Request popping up a statement that says, “If you send a friend request to a stranger, it will be considered spam, and your friend request will be blocked temporarily.”
The person you sent the request to then has the option to approve or deny you. If the person you send a friend request to denies you, then you will be placed on a temporary block of friend requests. If you get a certain amount of these, you will be banned on Facebook (which includes your email address).
So, not to say I told you so, but if you’re using a personal profile to promote your business it’s really time to get on a Fan Page. Pages offer so much more opportunity than Profiles and you don’t want to run the risk of your business getting banned from the website all together.
Think about it. If you send so much as one friend request from a personal profile (that you’re using for business) to someone, who then denies you and marks you as “spam,” your account will be flagged, reviewed, and probably banned for violation of terms of service (using a personal profile for business). Do you want your business to be banned on Facebook?
I’m really glad that Facebook is stepping up to the plate and taking these privacy issues very seriously. If you used MySpace at all for internet marketing, you already know how bad it can get.
– Jerry Nihen
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