Once upon a time Facebook was a wide open platform. It was new and exciting! Early adopters of Facebook quickly discovered its practical uses for business and used the power of Facebook to do pioneering work to become successful online entrepreneurs.
But all good things must end . . . or at least change . . .
Recently Facebook has incrementally added more restrictions – some of these are very subtle. For instance, last night when I logged in, I was greeted by an unusual message. Immediately upon logging in, a message popped up in my face stating that I had been “reported” for requesting to be friends with someone who didn’t know me (or who was not my friend). I was required to acknowledge Facebook’s “policy” before I was allowed to proceed any further and go on to my own page. The funny thing is that I don’t send out many “friend requests” at all!
Does anyone know exactly when this new policy was implemented?
Another thing I noticed is that you can no longer “tag” someone in a photo without their permission.
It hasn’t always been this way . . . once upon a time when Facebook was new, you could invite anyone who was on Facebook to be your friend. With over 500 billion users, this was the power of Facebook that first made online entrepreneurs see dollar signs! Facebook represented a huge pool of customers (sitting ducks?) all together in one place.
Which brings up an interesting question – what exactly is a friend?
We all have people we know from being online that we wouldn’t know in person. In this way the Internet has enriched and enhanced our lives. Otherwise we would not have a way to meet people who live in other states, or who are not close geographically. Like-minded people who share common interests can join online groups together. By seeing what people post in their comments and blogs, you can get a pretty good idea of who someone is, even if you’ve never met them.
So is this truly a friend? There are different levels of “friends” – people you have known your entire life vs. people you have just met, for example (but this is a topic best saved for another post!).
So how does Facebook actually know who I know? It has algorithms, true. But I have lived on both the east and west coast (disconnected geographically) as well as in several cities in the great state of Texas. So just how exactly does it know who I know and who I don’t know in-person? And who is Facebook to make that decision for me?
Because you can’t do some of the things you used to do anymore, people are getting resourceful.
Recently I “liked” a business page – it was a hotel in a far off land that I have never been to. The administrator of that page in turn, made me an “Admin” of the hotel page. After that, every time the hotel page updated their status, that update showed up in my Newsfeed. It was a sneaky (and a tad underhanded) way for the hotel page to get more views on their page, as everyone I am connected to could see those updates. I checked and that page had about 50 admins! Why? Probably because Facebook no longer allows people to “Friend” people they don’t know!
So what’s your take?
Have you noticed, and if so, do you like the new Facebook changes?
Do they affect you?
Will these changes restrict your ability to use Facebook for business?
Are they important?
Karen, I think the person you wanted to friend reported you to Facebook. Forget them. As for the places you like suddenly showing up on your personal page, I’ve noticed that, too, until today. Today I had decided I was going to shed some of them unless there was a real personal reason to keep them. BUT, I couldn’t find any of them. Weird, huh. Facebook is game playing, but then they always have. It’s called testing or tweaking, but it just good old changing their mind. And just when we women got so tired of being vilified for doing that. Good work.
Thanks for your insight Ann – I appreciate your perspective!
FB changed their privacy policies not long ago. Like Ann said – the message is a result of someone reporting you as basically spam. Don’t worry – it’s bound to happen with so many people trying to connect.
The tag on the picture – it’s on the person’s privacy settings: one can say who’s allowed to tag them.
Karen,
Wonderful post. I agree with so much, but didn’t realize you were notified over friendship rejections etc. Honestly, that shouldn’t happen, but nothing we can do about it.
Facebook has too much craziness in the changes they are consistently doing that I’ve somewhat stopped posting to my personal page and I do not friend everyone to be their friend. I do like being a part of groups and stick to those places mostly.
FB is nothing but change all the time. I really don’t like their policies, but I am hooked into the family connections and our blogging tribe. I am seriously considering removing all activity except with family.
Alicia is right, the individual can set their privacy settings to prevent someone tagging them in a photo.
The Facebook Platform is really cool and I use it because it is the best way to connect but in all honesty I hate Facebook the Creator is a A-hole and it is to restrictive. Great post I like Google plus better.
@John, I like Google + also, but the reality is that until it offers games like words with friends and farmville, it will never have the reach of the general public to match Facebook. Your preference will depend on your marketing goals.
thanks for share!
Hi Karen,
A few weeks ago, I got a message on facebook saying I sent friend requests to people I didn’t know. I went to a facebook forum and found out many people got this message when they hadn’t even sent friend requests. I don’t know if it was spam or not, but I thought the point of facebook was connecting with whomever you wanted. If I were only able to be friends with people I know, it would be impossible for me to have the 630 “friends” on my page.
I don’t why facebook keeps making changes, especially since people are getting more and more frustrated with them. I don’t like the new timeline. I think it strange – the photos are always huge and it takes too much time to get to the post bar if you want to write something on a friend’s page.
What I do like about facebook is outlined in my blog article. Please read it and leave a comment:
http://bareyournakedtruth.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/facebook-the-naked-truth/
Nicole
Author of Naked Desires, a poetic diary straight from the heart.
Hi Nicole,
Thank you for reading and responding to my blog. I agree with you 100% – I thought the point of Facebook was being able to connect with whomever you wanted, not just people you know (which is more like Linked In). If you are reported as “spam” for every friend request you make, then you will not be able to build your business very well by connecting with others. In fact, it will completely negate some of the current techniques taught by Social Media gurus on business building!
Thank you for your comments.
Karen
Karen,
I just saw your response…sorry! You’re most welcome. Thank you for starting a great conversation. 🙂