Real Estate Blog - Banned by Facebook!

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Banned by Facebook!

PALO ALTO, CA - APRIL 21: (L-R) Facebook VP o...

Straight from my email Inbox

Q. “Mike, if I am in business (let’s just say I’m a real estate agent) do I set up a Facebook profile for my business or do I setup a Business Page?

A. Looking just at the Facebook Terms of Service (TOS) Section 3, Point 1:

3. We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help in order to do that, which includes the following commitments:

You will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications to users (such as spam).

“Mike, that’s easy! I NEVER send out Spam! NEVER!”

Hold on there Buttercup… Do you ever

Update your FB status or post listings on your Wall?
Have your Twitter Stream show up on your Wall. Do you tweet links to listings?
FriendFeed blog posts to your Wall or Notes?

My guess is you answered Yes to at least one of them (I even did). Is your stream as clean of Commercial Communications as the pure driven snow? (not sure what driven snow has to do with it). Yeah, mine isn’t either. In fact this very blog post which is commercial in nature will soon be tweeted, which will be FriendFeeded to my very own Facebook Wall. Some grumpy old guy in across the country who haphazardly added me as a “friend” might just very well interpret that as spam. I’m Guilty as Charged!

Technically speaking that’s a violation to Facebook TOS and your profile could be wiped away in a heart beat with no prior notice. All your “Friends” gone! Could it happen? Would it happen? Maybe, maybe not – but then again, why risk it?

Breaking News:

Facebook Site Governance: Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (updated 8/11/09)

Section 4, Point 2 states “You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain.“

“But Mike, I see everyone else is doing it. Facebook wouldn’t start deleteing profiles”.

While Facebook isn’t Flickr and isn’t Vimeo (both are actively deleting accounts that have commercial content)

Ask Matt Stigliano about his Flickr Account.
See: http://www.rerockstar.com/2009/technology/an-answer-to-where-did-the-photos-and-slideshows-go/

and http://www.socialphototalk.com/flickr-permanently-deletes-yet-another-user-without-warning/

Ask Tim Ayers about his Vimeo Account.
See: http://642blog.ca/2008/07/08/vimeo-online-video-sharing-sucks-video/

There’s nothing stopping Facebook from doing the same thing in the future.

As a matter of fact - Meet Jim Calabrese who left this comment on my blog

Consider the alternative. The Facebook Business Page. It’s easy to start, free to setup. And on Facebook’s site (http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?pages) they even encourage page owners to

STEP 4: MAKE IT RICH AND ENGAGING

The more rich content you add, the more ways users can interact with it and spread that connection to their friends. Post photos of products, employees, and customers. Add video clips of your bar or restaurant in action. ‘Behind the scenes’ content often works well. List an event for your grand opening or in-store sale. Write a note about upcoming promotions. The choices are yours and all these features are free and unlimited.

and

STEP 6: UPDATE REGULARLY

Updating your Page regularly with fresh photos, upcoming events, and thelatest promotions means your Page won’t just look like a profile, it will feel like one, and that will keep users coming back. Facebook users are used to getting information sorted by what happened most recently. If you keep your Page active, which you can do through mobile integrations and applications, you’ll find that your fans are more engaged and more interactive.

You can also send some or all of them messages by clicking “Send an Update to Fans” in the upper-left of your Page (under the profile picture). Updates are useful for sending out announcements like promotions, sales or events.

What’s the difference?

A Fan Page (Facebook Business Page) has Fans. Those “Fans” have “authorized” you to send them commercial communications – a “Friend” has not. There’s so much more reason to have a Page than just this single legal technicality. However it’s vital as Facebook, and doing business on Facebook grows that marketers understand what is legal and what is not. So the real answer is that you need to start with a Profile. That profile should be for you, your true friends, and your family. That Profile then can create a Business Page to promote you the “Professional” side of you.

PS: ActiveRain has it's own TOS - when was the last time you read that?

Import Facebook Friends To Twitter (techie-buzz.com)
7 reasons you need a Facebook Business Page (AreWeConnected.com)
Facebook Profile, Group or Page? (AreWeConnected.com)

This post brought to you courtesy of Mike Mueller.
Feel free to ReBlog or ReTweet as you like as long as you credit the source (him).
Did you know? He's for hire! He builds Blogs, Graphic Images and Widgets and Facebook Pages and besides… He knows lots of really cool stuff.

Hire Mike (925) 456-4567

Posted by Mike Mueller on 08/21/2009 01:18 PM

Comments (115)

Facebook in the ActiveRain Channel

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Originally posted at: Mike Mueller, Social Media.ist: Banned by Facebook!

Post is included in group: The Lounge at Active Rain
Post is included in group: Social Networks
Post is included in group: Social Media Marketing
Post is included in group: Real Estate Technology
Post is included in group: Facebook Tips

115 Comments on Banned by Facebook!

AUG

Mike,

Great Post. Thanks for sharing this information. I will definitely keep it in mind.

Thanks,

Matt Naumann

Wow - that's the first I've seen of this. Thanks for posting!

Mike ~ I would hate to have my FB page disabled! Creating a Facebook Business page sounds like good, solid advice and a great way to avoid this from happening!

Mike - Nice job of summing things up here! You are the "go to guy" when it comes to Facebook business pages.

Thank you for sharing this information. I am going to try the business page later. I don't want my FB page diabled.

This is great information. I am just using Facebook more and truly apprecate this warning!

Great info. My friends list recently started swelling with fellow Realtors so I'm particularly glad to read this now before it's too late.

This post is very valid and applies to a whole lot of us. I guess I had better set up a fan page before I get caught breaking the terms of service..

So Mike, it's just a matter of time before all the listings and open houses that fellow agents are posting daily, bring attention from FB gurus and get deleted? Thats scary after all the work I put into my profile and over 1900 friends. That would really hurt! I think I will contact you for help via your FB business page! Thank you so much!

"Mike, that's easy! I NEVER send out Spam! NEVER!" This is funny!! Thanks for the great information Mike!

Never heard this before. If thats the case a lot of my friends, including myself, will be deleted! Thank you for the heads up Mike.

Mike - I had thought about this some time back and then forgot about it... I guess I got too busy. I stopped feeding our blog posts there but there might still be something popping up. I need to go check. Thanks for the heads up. ~Rita

Wow - this is very informative! Thank you for giving me this insight, I will definitely be more careful on my personal page!!!

Forewarned is forearmed (looks funny in print, but it's spelled correctly). Coming up on a MAJOR class reunion, I've been adding former classmates, and they've been adding me. Some know I'm a real estate agent, but I don't use my profile that way. My next update there will clearly state that, and why. Would never have thought of that without your post. Much appreciation, and I'll share with my office.

Mike... Great post! I really didn't know, evidently, like so many others. I'm setting up a business page, but is there any way to get all my realtor friends over to that page and off my friends page to avoid a bot run amuk? Most of the realtors are really my friends too.

Mike: Great details on this.. I recall you speaking about this on Social Media Edge on Tuesday...

How can we change out auto post to show on our fan page ?

Thanks for sharing...we did not know all the info you have in the post...thanks

Very good post - I have the same problem with FB so I moved to Twitter.

So the bottom line is to keep your personal page personal and your business page business, then, right?

NO - I did not answer yes to any of your questions Mike!

I know of Realtors who use the FB personal pages to promote their business, but actually have trouble wondering why anyone would do that...I can't imagine friends and family having the slightest interest in my new listing! I do have past clients on my friends list too, but still, Facebook is where I show a private side of me - not a platform for my real estate endeavors.

I had heard that FB has deleted some accounts for violating their TOS. Hopefully not ONLY because of the number of Realtor friends they have...

I'm glad you wrote this post for all the Realtors apparently unaware of FB TOS. I'm surprised that there are so many.

Hrmmm...interesting stuff. I've always maintained that having a presence on FB is important...mixing the personal information with the business. (hey - letting people know that I am waiting for clients, etc. is a nonthreatening way to continually remind them of what I do.) But i should really look into the business page. Thanks for looking out for us!

I had Facebook tell me once that I "needed a life". I was checking out some of the friends of my friends from the area where we lived for 26 years prior to moving to Virginia. A window popped up and said that I needed to have some friends in real life so basically I was insulted by a computer program!

Mike - I guess Facebook is really trying to separate the social/personal side from the business side. One question I have for you - is a business page the same as a fan page?

Ack!! Getting disabled by Facebook would not be a good thing for my business. The problem is trying to get all my "friends" on to my Fan Page.

Mike,

Thank you for posting this information. I will look into setting up a fan page.

Sharon

Mike,

Thanks for the post. I wonder if asking your Facebook friends to sign up to be a fan of your business page is a violation?

WOW! I had no idea. I've got to give myself a cease and desist order and tell the other agents in my office. I do have a fan page and like Christine, somehow need to get all my friends to become fans. Yikes, just when I thought I was going to be early tonight!

Mike... I am telling people about you and FaceBook Business Pages left and right. And I would certainly hate losing my FaceBook personal profile...

Should I start dumping the real estate agents?

;^ )

Great Post. Thanks for sharing this information.

Oh wait that is certainly not what I mean to say....

I don't especially like Facebook but I was seeing this saga via Twitter (?) last night after a day at REBarCamp resolving to try to use Facebook better (not that I am spamming...)

I think from most presenters / facilitators at REBarCamp there was a strong don't SPAM message.

I was looking at what you offer as far as setting up pages and I will have to go back and look at some you have done.

I love your post! Some take TOS too lightly. If they ever even cared to read them. Thank you!!

Mike - Great info as always. I love Facebook fan pages but didn't really think about the terms of service. I'll have to watch my personal account a bit more.

Hey - also, NICE JOB on the RECR Fan Page :)

I'm doing both and I definitely don't add many real estate agents.

Very interesting info, I wonder though, like Roland how to get my posts to show up on my facebook page.

Thanks for sharing today. It's appreciated.

Patricia Aulson/portsmouth NH

Wow! There's no way to answer all the questions but I can point you to where you may find answers.

Here is EVERYTHING I've written about Facebook Pages

Here is EVERYTHING I've written about Facebook - obviously there's a little overlap on the generic FB catagory. You can also try the Search Function on my site - It's pretty cool.

Thanks for the info! I heard something about this last week but hadn't taken the time to research it more and how it can affect virtual assistants and the realtor's we work with. Appreciate the time you took to bring it up.

--Kim

I thought about this too since I've started my own business/fan page but haven't figured out how to cancel the twiiter feed to my personal page

Thanks for this heads up, I was just kicking myself earlier today for not putting listings on Facebook, but now it appears that is not a good idea.

Mike,

I know that I don't use Facebook to advantage,

Thanks for the links to your other posts.

Brian

Mike - Thanks for the information . I'll have to stay inside the guidelines. I wouldn't want my account banned.

And aside from the TOS issue . . . Spamming about our business is annoying. So why inflict it on friends, family and potential clients? Thanks for the heads up.

It's good advice. I know that we should all heed the warning. :0)

Mike: This is really a great blog post on Facebook, thanks for all of the information.

Interesting -- guess everyone best watch out and stay clear of the violations.

AUG

Wow! Something new to watch out for. I'm going to have to rethink my facebook strategy.

TOS is probably the most overlooked part of any site. I'll need to revisit those just to be safe.

I have a little note about being a realtor and my web address on my profile page. I never mention real estate besides that. I hope that they don't shut mine down!

Okie-dokie. I just deleted a few listings that were on my personal profile, and I deleted the Simplaris BlogCast function from my personal profile.

All the listings and blog posts are on our business/fan page. (I do wish they'd call it a "business page" instead of a "fan page", I think the term "fan page" is rather lame.)

I can understand Facebook's concern about users receiving unwanted business communications -- unfortunately many Faceback users evidently don't know how to use the "hide" feature, or how to group their friends into "lists".

The truth is, that for most real estate professionals, there often really isn't a clear line dividing their business and personal lives. I suppose that's true for many small business owners.

Being forced to divide up personal and business stuff is certainly an interesting physcological excerise. "What's left of me if you take the real estate away?" :-)

Mike, Good points. I rarely use Facebook. I am doing well just to allot a few hours here in the rain. Not that I am anti-social, I just have too much to do and not a whole lot of time to do it. Congratulations on the feature...

helping you live your American dream...

Just an aside re Flickr: Several years ago some of my online photog friends were big on pBase.com as a photo hosting site.

I think I just may revisit pBase as a photo hosting option.

Mike, I'm bookmarking this post...know I need to set up a FB Fan page for my work...thanks!

Mike - Excellent post. I have bookmarked to come back and read in depth... I'll have to look into this some more when I have some time....

Haven't been banned yet but all my blog post go their automactically. I am working on a business page, but you need to be where the action is and that is on the main stream of people. Seems like the are biting the hand that feeds them.

Mike, thanks for the advice. I better check my pages today..

So Mike, is the bottomline to not bother even using FB and get onto things that allow you to promote your business.

Somebody actually reads the TOU? Presented the way you just did, a fan page would make more sense. I am just a casual fb user, will look into this some more. Thanks!

Mike, great point about following the FB Terms of Service to the letter, or else...

Goodness Gracious, Mike, so much information it's mind boggling. I'v posted a few links on the Friend Feed linking to my Fan Page, but not on a regular basis. Does that mean I might get suspended? Hope not, but it seems to be a very thin line.

So what's the trick to getting people to become fans once you set up a business page?

Love all the great information!

Hi Mike--

Thanks for the info. I guess the only advantage of getting banned is less time spent on the computer!

I can't figure out how to upload to the fan page I have created, like my listings and so forth. I will need to work on it some more, but I honestly had no idea about tos, so many of my friends do the same thing and promote thier business.

I've never heard of this before. Good to know and lessons learned. My co-workers and I talk to each other on facebook promoting our wares. Uh, oh...

Hey Mike,

This is a great and interesting post--no wonder it was featured.

Now, on one hand I think it's great. I have you to thank for me extra cool fan page so I'm not worried about it for myself, and I think there are ways around it.

For example, yesterday I posted in FB "Yay! Finally got my buyers an acceptance on their offer!!!" This lets friends know I sell houses without trying to sell them a house.

In a way, I like this rule and hope it is enforced because I dislike all the salesy posts I read. As you said, we need fan pages for this and I know just the guy to build them ;-)

ta ta,

Tamara

Very interesting Mike. I never realized it was against the rules...what an eye opener!

Mike - Great post! I've been a little concerned because FB is a social network, NOT a business one (hence I don't conduct any business through my page)...yet I keep reading articles telling agents to get on FB. The Fan Page is the solution, however I'm not convinced everyone knows about it. You did a good job here.

Mike,

Thanks for this info. I certainly don't want to be DELETED! (Most of my friends are REALTORS,too!)

Kathy Opatka

Great article. I love the one click twitter update at the bottom.

Thanks. I now have a "Fan page" on Facebook.

Thanks for the information. Very interesting and informative.

Mike, Good information and since I am barely using facebook yet, I can do it in a way that helps me promote my business, but not get kicked off. Hopefully, somebody that is reading this blog can give us all some insider sggestions on the best route to go.

I'm ashamed to say I haven't done my Business Page yet after reading your last article.

Mike,

Thanks for this informative post. One major problem I see with Fan/Business pages is that they do not carry the "feed" of all followers like the standard page does. If I were successful in transfering my friends to my fan page, I won't see any activity unless they actively post on the fan page. I don't want to risk my FB account because it is "realtor" heavy but I really enjoy the banter even though the RE agents post non-real estate related items. After all, my (Realtor/real estate agent) friends have families, relationships, hobbies, photos, etc that are not business related.

I'm not trying to short cut the TOS, just looking for a solution that keeps me in the guide lines.

I use my face book for friends/family which I don't mix with other networks, however, I have on occasion posted a link to my blog on my wall. I didn't realize this was a violation. Thanks for posting this valuable info. I can't tell you how much I apprecicate the AR network. I learn a lot from folks like you.

Thanks!

This is interesting indeed, especially with the likes of Twitter and Tweetlister which we signed up for which then gets autmotically sent to facebook. I was never a fan of the facebook fan page idea but may have to rethink that !

ugh....I guess I will be starting a new Facebook page this weekend. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Mike: Great advice, I've sent a link here for my clients. Thanks!

good to know. I have a fan page, but have not really done much with it. I need to get it going more.

Social Network is so in right now that we all need to keep informed on this. I'm pretty new to Facebook for thanks for posting these tips.

Great information Mike. I have to forward this on to many others I know that do use their FB for their clients and business. Personally, I use my facebook for personal use and leave my other accounts for business, my friends are all over the map, and know what I do so they can always contact me. Plus, I wouldn't want clients or business associates knowing about my personal life and friends. Business is business and keep your personal life out of it, or at least that is what I have always been told.

It's almost funny, considering how many people use FB for exactly that!

Mike... I will agree... great information. I will admit, I use my profile page as promoting my business and that half of my 3,000 friends are those that are realtors. Right now, I still have a profile... but I do write a lot of other basic stuff on my personal page... that I have 10 realtives listed on my profile page... etc, etc. Wondering if this would help some. But I did do a fan page over 2 months ago and I now have 1,400 fans. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

jeff belonger

Thanks, Mike. My FB is mostly for friends, but yes, I do post my AR Blogs onto Twitter, which feeds into FB. I shall be a bit more careful there!

AUG

It seems that the social networks want to keep it social as much as they can. Its a complex maze of balance and Its hard to reach.

Very good information. This is something I had been wondering about recently. Thank you.

Mike...WOW....great post, and I'll be jumping to your other posts about Facebook.

I'm a fan of myself (oh, didn't that sound good?) and so when I post on my business page, it ends up ON my personal wall. I guess I will "unfan" myself so all my business related stuff goes just to my business page....now if I can just figure out how to get other things to only go there, and NOT to my profile wall.

UGH!

Appreciate the heads up. I swear I'm going to call you about getting my business page set up when I get back from vacation.

Vacation - haven't had one in so long - don't know how to act!

Mike

Great info - no wonder one of my friends was kicked off fb 3x - realtor biz...thanks.

Hi Mike, thanks for sharing! very relevant information!

www.charlottelakewyliehomes.com

Great post Mike,

I very rarely post any business related info on my facebook page...it is sort of my personal social playground. I do however have two business pages in which I use and my Facebook friends can choose to hoin if they are interested in that specific content.

I will add my thanks you you for posting this information Mike!

Thank you for the Facebook knowledge. I had no idea that updating my status with "real estate" and/or posting links about real estate or my blogs links could get my account disabled. Thanks again for the useful information. I guess I will create a fan page!

Hi Mike - I heard about this, and about accounts being disabled! Is there any way to transfer my realtor friends to my business page/fan page??

I just recently lost my personal profile to this...not fun to rebuild. But my Real estate page stayed? Im with Tom, the business page isn't so friendly.

I appreciate your post, had no idea but it does make sense!

AUG

Mike does a fantastic job of staying current on social media!

Thank you for this information. Looks like I havesome work to do on my FB pages...

I think with Facebook adding business accounts, they will eventually start to ban people from using the personal section for commercial use. But, we will see.

All I can say is WOW !!! I guess I need to get my business FB set up finally ...

AUG

Mike,

Great factual information you provide here. Thanks for your help and sharing this information.

Mike -

Great information! I have a fanpage but I also post everything from the fanpage into my personal page as well as allowing twitter to send the updates to my personal page... I will change this now so I don't get the boot!

Mike,

What great timing. I have been a rainer exclusively, although having a FB and Linked IN page, I just never took the time to expand. I got an invite from a high school friend on FB and BAMM hooked up a chat. It was fun to connect. Then I started browsing the site and said what a great way for posting what I do, a Realtor.

The other day I was warned that my clients or even friends that look at not only my posts but my "Friends" could be offended. What is stopping a "friend" from having a page full of sexual nature, political, religious etc...? Some would /could be offended. That was my hesitation. Today I was going to update my "business side" but not with the same aggressiveness since this post.

THANKS BIGTIME

All right Mike, you definitely save a lot of us who routinely advertise our listings either via a blog post or a video, I cannot even think of not having all my family and friends in one place and to be able to connect with all of them.

Antonio

Great post Mike! Keep up the great work of remaining at the front of the social media movement.

I'd love to interview you on my new Small Biz America podcast (http://www.SmallBizAmerica.com/Selling) about this, and anything else that small business people need to know about the fine line between marketing and violating terms of agreements.

Stefan

Mike, thanks so much for this post!

AUG

Thanks for the warning Mike. I better check if my Facebook has not been disabled too. LOL

Need a book on all the do's and don'ts for all these different sites. Thanks to folks like you for your help.

Mike

As usual, you have provided important information for all of us in the industry. Thank you.

It sure will change some of the things I've been posting for sure.

AUG

Thanks, Mike:
I will have to reconsider how I am using FB personal page.

The Stage Coach - Austin Home Stager

AUG

In my opinion - if the majority of your friends are agents and the majority of your posts etc are real etate related then YES you need to set up a biz page - b/c that's what you pretty much have - most likely people that are your friends that are interested in your real estate 2 cents will follow - if not - they've already hidden you cause they are annoyed at your Spam

AUG

So...

Facebook is social networking.

I live, eat, breath and sleep real estate. I do other stuff too, but mostly, I'm real estate.

My facebook profile is for the other stuff. My page is for business (and to some degree neglected--have to work on that.

Here's the part I find ironic. FB wants us to post to our Page if it's business related, but the default for feeding information is to the Profile. Makes no sense. I need to be able to do both... easily...

Is there a solution?

SEP

Oh, bother! I have a business page but it is difficult getting the fans there! I know I have to play by FB rules, but they could improve their system, making it easier to use the fan pages. Basically, my friends and family don't seem to mind my talk of work-- some are even interested in what I'm doing! If not, they can always "unfriend" me or "hide" me-- no harm done. I guess I'm wondering why the strict rules when it's so easy to deny someone's "friendship?"

SEP

Mike,

It's all out now, and pretty much clear to what can and cannot be done at Facebook. Nobody wants to be sent to the penalty box, so they ought to read this.