How the heck is a person suppose to network, meet and make new friends and expand their horizons when the leading social network around the world BANS them from sending friend requests? Can anyone seriously, calmly and rationally answer me that question?
I'm sure you've realized I'm talking about Facebook. I love my Facebook and I would never do anything to get kicked off or cause other people harm or be rude to them. That's just stupid any way. And I'm not that kind of person. I'm on Facebook to reconnect with old classmates, family members long ago lost or not seen since I was a kid, other friends from other social networks and groups I've "met" over the years and to meet new people, make new friends and grow my new business. Isn't that what "social networking" is suppose to be? I really am curious about the answer because I guess I really don't know. I always thought that's what it was for...
It all started mid-January, I'd been sending requests to people from other social networks, one in particular is my weightloss site SparkPeople. They have a Facebook page and I'd been adding various people from there to add to my weightloss support. No harm, I thought. The people will accept my request if they want or not, up to them. One day I sign in to Facebook and I get this annoying popup that says I've been banned for 7 days for sending friend requests to people I don't know. WTH? Really? Isn't that how you get to know people...by "friending" them and getting to know them? Again - the question, isn't that what a 'social network' is about?
So 7 days later I get my "privileges" back and I was a bit more careful. I only added a few new people after that. 3-4 requests in a weeks span, ALL accepted. Yet, one morning I log in and another annoying popup telling me I'd been banned for 14 days for sending requests to people I don't know. OK now I'm getting flipping mad! I'm a good person, I'm a nice person and it's not like I'm stalking people or spamming them. I am truly looking to meet new people and make new friends. So why the heck is that so wrong?
Anyway - I go the 14 days, get my privileges back again. So I'm a little more cautious I only send out 3 requests to people who ASKED ME from another site to send them a request. I even sent them a message along with the friend request making sure they knew it was me and that they asked me to friend them. Two of them accepted right away, one I was waiting for when ... Yep, you guessed it ... ANOTHER annoying popup; this time telling me I'd been banned from friend requesting for 30 days! A whole freaking month! Facebook grounded me for a month I'm livid! Anyway - the next day after that, the one request/message I was waiting for responded/accepted. I'm really really confused - yes, I will admit there were some requests sitting out there in cyber-space that hadn't be accepted. I chalked it up to "live and let live" they didn't want me as a friend or weightloss support person. No big deal. Not everyone has to accept a friend request if they don't want to.
What I don't understand and I guess probably never will, is why the heck Facebook powers that be, would take away my ability to add new people to meet, mingle with and grow my network and support system. I just don't!
Yeah yeah, I know there are more fish in the sea. Twitter, Google+, Yahoo, blogs, YouTube etc, but my social network preference is Facebook. I'm loyal, I'm honest. I try to always follow the rules and never make waves. I hate confrontations. I hate causing a scene. And I really don't want to debate or be controversial. Like I said, I'm usually pretty docile and just go with the flow. But, this time I just had to speak my mind. I'm really ticked off!
I've been told to reach out and get people to come to me vs going to them. So maybe in retrospect this blog post is doing that. If you are reading this and we haven't "met" online before...Would you be my friend and send me a Facebook friend request please? You can find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/amy.leever
Was that begging? I don't beg...much!
I have a theory about one thing that might be happening. There's an option under a friend request approval that you can click labeled "I don't know this person". My guess is that they don't recognize your name as the person they talked to or just don't realize your intentions and clicked that option. I thinking this is FB's way of cutting down on using it as a marketing tool or just plain annoying people. I know you meant well but..I don't see their policies changing any time soon.
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