If you’re a journalist, researcher, or editor using Facebook, you may want to heed this warning from one of our own, a reporter in Vancouver.
For an inexplicable reason, last week Facebook disabled my account.
They say they have a policy of not permitting harrassing, threatening, obscene messages, or spam.
I of course didn’t do any such thing. I have always clearly identified who I am, who I work for, and so forth. Been completely transparent. Each message I have sent has been individually written, not “spam”. (I actually haven’t used Facebook that much.)
I have “appealed” my disabled status to Facebook. They have now responded that I am prohibited - they don’t tolerate anyone sending UNSOLICITED MESSAGES!
I’m not sure what we, or I, can do about this. Facebook won’t reveal to me what the message was, or to whom, which caused them to disable me.
I have responded to them that of course many journalists use Facebook for this purpose. And I have never harassed anyone. Anyway…this is just to warn you all who DO use Facebook for finding people - beware!
A bit later…
The PR person decided to re-instate me.
She said I had been “disabled” because I had posted very little information about myself, no photo or profile available, and WAS ONLY USING FACEBOOK TO “SOLICIT” contacts. That I wasn’t using it for private purposes (eg to connect with my own “friends”). Which is true.
So the lesson is…
- Make your photo and even profile available - if you are going to use Facebook for journalistic purposes; and
- have your own friends.
She warned me that if I only use Facebook to solicit people for ‘business purposes’ I will be disabled again. Journalists are NO EXCEPTION.
Guess to keep clean I’ll have to start messaging you all on the Facebook cbc network.
But this does have implications for those who have Facebook accounts and who only use them for finding people for CBC stories. Be warned.
Are you using Facebook for journalistic purposes? If so, do you find it valuable?
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Account disabling seems to be a sudden interest of Facebook staff, and one that is being executed in a very inconsistent and haphazard manner. I read one blog post a few weeks back by a person who was disabled, then told that the policy under which his account was disabled was not available to the public. If anyone needs to wash out some of the kool-aid feeling that Facebook is going to become the address book for your online life, this is about as good as it gets.
Interesting. It’s not the first time I hear about such problems with Facebook. Valleywag (an online mag gossiping on geeky stuff), released several stories about privacy and harrassment on Facebook in the last couple of days. Available here.
I also use Facebook to chase sources, but I now wonder if we won’t become too reliant on it in the long run.
Are you really surprised Facebook did this? It is a social networking site not a resource for your job… not yet anyway. CTV reporter David Akin is also very active on facebook - he’s even one of my ‘friends’ - but his messaging is limited to the people who join his group not everyone on his friends list. Also he actually gives a bit back to the people on his list by cross posting from his blog, sharing pictures from his stories, and generally using it to network.
In this case it seems that this particular reporter may not have been as active and thus the only messages sent were to solicit potential leads and sound bites for their stories. The reporter even admits to not being very active. When your not active on a personal level it is easy to confuse the personal from the professional. What is legit usage and what is taking advantage.
Something to consider!
I use Livejournal and a few other messageboards. For people whose first post is to promote a band, we assume it’s a record company staff member. If a Livejournal poster is posting a bit off-kilter, and they have no journal entries or friends, we assume they’re a troll.
It sounds like Facebook is being a bit heavy-handed, but I can see the logic behind what they’re doing.
And what about those FACEBOOK people who advertise their houses or other things for sale on the site? Isn’t that soliciting?
I have a personal facebook account and a separate professional one. I found it useful for covering the provincial election. I could add candidates and political sources to my professional account without them seeing all my personal information photos etc. It let me keep tabs on their campaigns, send message etc. It sounds like the difference from my account to Paisley’s is that I am actually filling up my professional account with information (office contact, what my job is etc) and adding friends. I have also opened up my professional account so that anyone in my local network can see it, to make me more approachable for people who see me online and want to discuss a story etc.
The only downside is that it confuses some people who are trying to add me in my personal life.
Yesterday I defended Facebook as a good source for reporters (and others) to find breaking news. In fact, I sent a message to the CBC chiding them because they temporarily blocked personal blogs and websites such as Facebook, MySpace and others. Now I feel that Facebook has let me, as well as my journalists friends, down. I understand that Facebook doesn’t want ’spam’, but I’ve never encountered any of my journalist friends using Facebook for any form of spam nor behavior that would warrant account disabling. I have seen them use Facebook as a form of information, and a way to spread media to us who use Facebook to gather breaking news. I would hope Facebook revisits their position, and realize how journalists actually increase the need for people who want to use Facebook for more than just entertainment purposes.
Respectfully,
Dingo Brennan Stewart
I was being sexually harassed on Facebook. People were emailing me even though they weren’t my friends nor were they in my contact list. I complained to Facebook about it and then they disabled MY account. They told me my name sounded fake. It is not fake. THey want me to scan and email my government id to prove that it is indeed me. I do not feel that I should go out of my way, scanning my id (I don’t have a scanner) to get my account back. They are extremely difficult, rigid, and untimely in regards to addressing my emails and concerns. I get a one sentence, standard email from them and they take about 24 hours+ to get back to me. Horrible experience. I have lost many contacts and friends because I have no other way of contacting them. My fault; I should have recorded their emails as a backup. Hope nobody else has to go through this. Boycott Facebook!