Over the past few days I have seen numerous status updates about animal groups loosing their Facebook privileges for 15 day stretches. While I do feel bad for those behind the pages who are just trying to get the word out about animals in desperate need they are going about it in a way that is Spam-ing Facebook and therefore people are calling them out on it.
Tag me once in a picture of a dog in urgent need of pulling who is in my area that’s one thing. But tag me repeatedly on dogs who are no where near me suffering from all sorts of diseases that you think I should bring into my home not only will I unlike your page or un-friend you but I will mark your posts as spam. For several reasons if I untagged myself once please do not do it again. If you tag me in the picture my friends see it thinking it is a picture of me and most of my friends do not want to see that in their feed and will get upset after a while and mark the pictures as spam.
Or how about when the organization goes on a posting spree and instead of posting all the dogs in need that day in one album puts up 10 – 15 wall posts in a 15 minute period so your entire feed is full of really sad looking animals. It might look like you have a ton of people who like your page but in reality they can neither see your posts anymore or have purposefully hidden them.
Like I said I do feel bad for these organizations but in a way they have brought it upon themselves. Let’s face it if someone posted their products for sale like this you would mark it as spam as well or if someone had their twitter feed go through their Facebook page so that every post went through it would not take you long to un-friend them. This is no different but because people are so passionate about what they are doing by spreading the word about the animals in need it feels like an attack on themselves.
Now if you are interested in learning how to set up a page to advocate for animals that will not get banned by Facebook or thrown in Facebook Jail I have spoken to BlogPaws gave me the ok on an impromptu session after the days events on Friday night. Here’s the deal though I can teach a small group with no problem but if we find that 20 or more of you are interested in the session then I will have to have to get a room to hold the session with more advanced equipment. If you are interested in meeting at about 9pm on Friday night please leave a comment below letting me know. Please share this post responsibly so we can get the word out to everyone and get a more accurate count for what I will need. Or if there is even a need for this session.
Hi. I am working with college students on animal rescue, advocacy and responsible ownership. I am interested in staying out of Facebook jail:) Please let me know details. I am in Tucson, AZ. Thank you.
Heather are you going to be at BlogPaws next week? Or were you interested in a webinar at some point?
Thank you for posting this. I manage the page of a local rescue so I am more than rescue and adoption friendly. However, some of the rescues and cross-posters are out of control. The tagging and the over-posting kills me.
Facebook’s terms of service are clear; read and abide.
A webinar sounds like a great idea! Unfortunately, I’ve got a bunch of meeting at BlogPaws that night, as I’m only there one night, but it sounds like a good topics. I totally agree with you. When I get tagged in a post that has nothing to do with me, I always get confused. The fact is, I’m doing all I can, and no matter how sad the puppy looks, there is nothing I can usually do about it. I know rescues need to get the word out about needy dogs, but having a page that is regularly updated with needy dogs AND other interesting stuff is the best way to get people to pay attention.
I couldn’t agree with you more! Thank you for posting this! You know we all love animals but I must admit that I was thinking of “unfriending” a number of people who abuse the posting rules.
This is going to sound mean but sometimes I wonder if some of the animals they are posting are even legit. It is totally out of control.
Couldn’t have said it better myself! I hide or unfriend people who send repeated postings showing sad-eyed pit mixes in Idaho to me; I belong to a national breed rescue for one breed and a regional rescue for another, and I live in Maine. I can help only the ones I can help. If Fb post-o-maniacs care so much about the fate of some poor needy dog, they should get the hell off Facebook and go do something about it.
It’s so easy for people to fire-hose only those interested and able to help, by using Facebook Lists. On the other hand, “slacktivism,” including flooding Facebook with “This dog is going to die NOW” messages all day long is easy, and involves no actual effort. That’s largely what drove me off Twitter.