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Rob Eagar

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Mar 10 2014

Why Facebook Makes Me Furious

I hope the title of this email got your attention, because I want your attention for a moment. I’m really ticked off with Facebook and you should be, too. Here’s why…

The Facebook Principles page, the first sentence states: “We are building Facebook to make the world more open and transparent, which we believe will create greater understanding and connection.” Further down the same page, it says, “People should have the freedom to access all of the information made available to them by others.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? I feel so warm and fuzzy, let’s all gather and sing “kumbaya.”

However, the truth is that Facebook doesn’t abide by their own principles. Instead, they purposely “throttle” what you post, which means they choke off your ability to send bonafide friends and “likers” important posts and updates. Facebook’s throttling process kicked into high gear on January 1st as a ploy increase advertising revenue. They are desperate to make money, even if it means ignoring their own principles and manipulating their own users.

Several of my consulting clients have experienced this problem first-hand. For instance, I’m working with a well-known author who is conducting a free video chat for people to personally ask him their pressing relationship questions. That sounds like a cool online event, right? It’s free. It’s helpful. It’s benefitting other people.

Here’s where Facebook ignores their own principles. Whenever my client creates a post that includes a website hyperlink to register for his event, Facebook limits the amount of followers who see his post by over 50%! Facebook seems to penalize posts that include hyperlinks. He can tell the difference because when he sends out a post without hyperlinks, a lot more people see his messages. (If you’re a Facebook page administrator, you can see statistics that say “XXX people saw this post.”)

Facebook prevents my client’s audience from seeing his information. Yet, these are people who have requested to receive his updates! They want to see posts from this author.

According to Facebook’s guiding principles stated above, “People should have the freedom to access ALL of the information made available to them by others.” In other words, people who want to know about my client’s event should be able to hear about it. But, there’s only one way he can make sure ALL of his Facebook followers find out about his event. He has to click on the button that says, “Promote This Post and pay Facebook to tell everyone. This feels like highway robbery.

I have no problem with Facebook charging users to promote a post beyond their audience of followers. However, forcing users to pay money to promote a post to the followers they already have is manipulative and unethical.

Facebook needs to stop this deceitful behavior. How will they stop? When users like you and I refuse to pay money to “Promote a Post.” Giving Facebook money to promote posts to people you already know condones the company’s stupid behavior.

It would be better if Facebook simply made sure that every person who wants to receive a post gets it without any extra payments needed. Until that happens, we’ll have to call Facebook by its real name…Fakebook.

 

To watch detailed videos that demonstrate Facebook’s questionable tactics, click here.

 

Written by Rob Eagar · Categorized: Author Tips, Marketing Tips, Monday Morning Marketing Tips

About Rob Eagar

Rob Eagar is the founder of WildFire Marketing, a consulting practice that helps authors and publishers sell more books and spread their message like wildfire. He is one of the rare consultants to help both fiction and nonfiction books hit The New York Times bestsellers list. Rob has consulted with numerous publishers and trained over 1,000 authors. He is the creator of The Author's Guide Series, a comprehensive collection of resources that teaches authors how to sell more books. Find out more at: WildFire Marketing and follow Rob on Twitter.

Comments

  1. KC Frantzen says

    March 15, 2014 at 1:43 am

    THANK you. I’ve noticed this as well.

    I tried paying for some FB ads last year and close to nothing tangible from it.
    My $ is much better spent elsewhere.

  2. Nannette and the Sweetheart says

    March 17, 2014 at 11:44 am

    You are so right! I have been aggravated about this for some time. I can tell a huge difference when I post without a link. Unbelievable. I admit I did try paying $5 to promote a post a couple of times to see the difference and even though it says X amount of people saw the post I am not sure I believe that either! I would get no increased traffic from it at all compared to NOT paying. So I would stop the promotion before it ended every time. Total waste. I will not do it again. I have resorted to posting on my personal page when I have a link. Not near as limiting from what I can see. Pointless to have a “page”!

    Even on our personal timeline and newsfeed, it is regulated by Facebook as well. I am not seeing posts from those I interact with the most on there any more. Even my own children. My newsfeed will be totally different from my husband’s and we are basically connected to the same people. Ridiculous.

  3. Catrina Bradley says

    March 17, 2014 at 6:00 pm

    Oh, my – you’re right! I just checked my stats page, and the posts where I shared a link have less that half the traffic. Frustrating!

  4. Carolyn Williamson says

    March 18, 2014 at 4:39 pm

    I agree. It’s not fair or reasonable. Does this apply to listing my website too?
    Carolyn Rae Author – facebook

Publishing Predictions for 2023

January 1, 2023 Posted by Rob Eagar

As we enter 2023, let’s look ahead to the major issues that will affect authors and publishers. Here are five predictions that deserve your attention…

Continue Reading »

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