All Your Face(book) Are Belong To Us: Facebook Bans Recruiter

Harry Joiner sent me a note two days ago telling me he was banned from Facebook for uploading his addressbook.

I know that sounds crazy - but that's all he did, and his response was a notice telling him he had been banned, and then a second notice telling him the decision was final.

What? What kind of idiot company encourages you to upload your address book and then bans you for doing so?  Facebook, that's who.

Predictably, the recruiting blogopshere is coming to Harry's defense.  Here is a list of sites writing in support, and they include the Animal's research into other Facebook members who have been banned, and don't know why.

So the policy of Facebook is to ban its members without warning, and refuse to tell them what they did to get banned.  Who made up that rule?  I signed in to my account, and I can't see anything that tells you not to upload your address book.  The Facebook website even encourages you to do so and tells you how to create a contact list. 

I wonder what that number is?   100 people in your contact list  equals banning?  1000 people?

Or maybe it's because Harry is a business?

In addition, it is a violation of our Terms of Use to use one's account for advertising or promotional puroses.

 

One - their employee needs to watch out for typos. Two, if you are in business, and you want to network with other people for business reasons, it stands to reason that Facebook doesn't want you.  Well, I guess they better cancel my account then.  And while you're at it, cancel the account of every other person I'm connected to.  We're in this to make money, and we wouldn't sign up to Facebook if we weren't.

I wonder how many of those 30 million members signed up because they wanted to make money, and heard Facebook was the next big thing?  If we can't use it, we'll leave.  And if we leave, the Facebook bubble pops, and returns to a social website for teens and college kids.  That's over half the users.  Yep - over half of Facebook Users are over the age of 25.  We're not on it to arrange parties or meet people.

Here's a scary thought.  Let's say you build your social network on Facebook instead of LinkedIn.  You speak to clients, and add them to your list as you grow.  You use the site to stay in touch with those clients, and then one day, you're banned.  No reason, no recourse.  Everything you built up is gone, and Facebook won't tell you why. 

Don't think it can't happen.  Lucky for Harry he was banned on the first day, and not after he invited his entire network to join.

This whole situation is mindboggling, and represents hubris of the first order.   Maybe when you have 31 million members, you don't have to pay attention to your actual users, but my hope is that reporters catch wind of this story, do some digging, and start poking some holes in the Facebook mythology.

Right now - every Web 2.0 company is rushing to build widgets to grab hold of the Facebook community.  I wonder what happens when one of them violates the Terms of Service while using their widget.  Many companies are planning multi-million dollar widget strategies.  With the kind of arrogance displayed in banning Harry Joiner, it won't be long before people start to question why they're investing time and money into a company that doesn't want them there. 

Marketing Professors has more on who owns your data.  In this case, Facebook does.

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You'll find physician jobs on TheRecruiter.com.

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Comments

[Recruiting Animal]

What can we do to protest successfully?

[Recruiting Animal]

I'll bet that the press would pick up on this because in Toronto at least, Facebook is huge.

[Matt Taylor]

Hold on a second.

I'm on Facebook, and I'm over 25, and I do NOT want to use it for professional, money-making reasons. I do NOT want recruiters using it to contact me. That's what I use LinkedIn for.

For me, Facebook has a niche as exactly the thing it was designed for: keeping in contact with my friends and our social events and interests.

I say 'good show' on Facebook for recognizing a recruiter and banning him/her.

[Jim Durbin]

Matt,

Then you are one of a small number of people doing so.

Facebook has received enormous benefit from news stories that tout the social networking aspect of the site.

The money and man-hours that are being poured into Facebook are based on the idea that it will return that money in profit.

If Facebook doesn't want business networkers, then they ought to come out and say it. They won't, because it would ruin the growth of their user base.

At the same time, internal policies on Facebook are still geared towards the college-age social site.

Those two dynamics are colliding, and the damage will only get worse. Facebook will soon have to decide if they want to be a friends site, or a business one.

And if you don't want recruiters contacting you, it's because you're employed and happy at your job. It wouldn't hurt to have a trusted recruiter in your network when you do need one, but the won't be on Facebook.

And that means you have to be on at least two social networks.

[Matt Taylor]

I've been thinking about this today.

I can use Facebook for whatever I want. I don't have to add recruiters as my friends there. I can just use LinkedIn for that purpose. So I guess I don't really care what rules Facebook enforces when it comes to their business policies.

So I don't have a problem with recruiters being on Facebook at all. I don't even care too much about unsolicited contacts, as long as I can choose to ignore them and continue to use Facebook for my own social purposes.

[Mike Tiffany]

It seems Facebook and Linkedin don't fully understand what has made their sites successful. Open communication! That means in what ever form: social, business AND RECRUITING. If you believe there is a true separation between business and social networks, you're just fooling yourself.

[Matt Taylor]

Maybe they are not separated in the manner you use them, but they are with me. I think it's personal preference.

[Hasan Murtaza]

There is a silver lining to every cloud. Right now, nobody has any reason to create a rival to facebook -- since it is just good enough. When they ban business activities, that will leave a gaping hole in the Web 2.0 sphere which will give room for another competitor (hopefully better) to flourish.

It's an opportunity in disguise.

Business *should* have its own networking site, preferably one open source with no arbitrary restrictions or rigid decision making bureaucracy to hold it back.

[Hasan Murtaza]

Facebook should be renamed "fasc-book."

fascists.

[Noah Patrick Torres]

It is refreshing I am not the only one that is suffering from "Facebook Hubris.” I was permanently banned from the site yesterday for adding friends in the area that I have relocated to in Seoul, South Korea. I am a graduate student at Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea and do business consulting with major firms in Korea and actually an advocate for facebook but I have really been ill-treated by them. These are the initial emails that have been going back and forth between them and me so far. So I think you can understand my situation clearly from these correspondences. It is just mind boggling that I have brought hundreds of people to facebook only to be banned. I am not soliciting or harassing anyone. But I have been banned for adding friends to my profile. It is just really unfair their behavior toward individuals like me. It is nice to know now that I am not alone.

Thank you all for creating a forum were I can vex and be honest about my true feelings of how facebook is forcing their culture onto others through there rules.

Discontent in Seoul, South Korea,

Noah Patrick Torres
American Citizen originally from San Francisco, California
University of California at Berkeley Graduate in International Relations
Yonsei University of Seoul, South Korea Graduate Student in International Relations

PS. If you need to contact me feel free to do so at my email address at noahpatricktorres@hotmail.com

Dear Facebook staff,

I have over 300 friends, 12 albums, my graduate school network contacts and personal emails that were sent to me and to others on my facebook account. You have blocked me from accessing any of my information. I have been a loyal user of facebook and I do business and educational consulting all over South Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the USA and I have been an advocate for using sites as Facebook and now I have been banned to use my account because I have asked people to be a friend.

I think permanent banning of my account is much too harsh for what, Riley, a Customer Support Representative deems as misuse of the site. I have used myspace and msnspaces and there is no such thing as banning people for asking for friendship or having too many friends. There are individuals that have over 3 million friends on those sites and they have never been banned. I have at last count only a mere 322 friends.

I am University of California at Berkeley graduate, Yonsei Graduate School Student in Seoul, South Korea and have studied pre-law. This site has been a great tool for me to expand my networks professionally, academically and personally.

I would like the Facebook staff to reconsider reinstating me as a member at the address of noahpatricktorres@hotmail.com. The punishment simply does not fit the crime. I have been an advocate of Facebook academically, professionally and personally and now you have banned me from the site for seeking out friends. It is very difficult to understand. I hope to see a resolution to this matter that is fair and just.

Thank you for your time and efforts,

Noah Patrick Torres

Re: Hello my account was disabled please reinstate my account‏
From: Facebook Support (appeals+ngvbv51@facebook.com)
Sent: Wed 12/05/07 12:07 PM
Reply-to: Facebook Support (appeals+ngvbv51@facebook.com)
To: noahpatricktorres@hotmail.com
Hi Noah,

Your account has been disabled for misuse of the site. It is a violation of Facebook's Terms of Use to harass users on the site, whether through unsolicited messages, friend requests, pokes or other features. We will not be able to reactivate your account for any reason. This decision is final.

Thanks for your understanding,

Riley
Customer Support Representative
Facebook



-----Original Message to Facebook-----
From: Noah-Patrick Torres (noahpatricktorres@hotmail.com)
To: disabled@facebook.com (disabled@facebook.com)
Subject: Hello my account was disabled please reinstate my account

Dear Facebook Staff:

I am an American citizen living in Korea and I am using Facebook to meet new friends in the region. Also I am using it as a method to contact my classmates that presently I am going to school with. It is very vital that I have Facebook to maintain my networks.

I know that it may look excessive the amount of friends that I add at times but they are all people that I would like to make a network with as I am living in a foreign country. I am not harassing people or sending illicit emails. You can look at my history and the only thing that I enjoy doing is asking people to be friends and then they have the choice to become friends or not.

I don't see how this could be grounds for disabling my facebook site. I would really appreciate it if you could reinstate me and I will try not to break anymore rules that facebook may have. I would like to apologize and say that facebook is a great opportunity and site serving a great purpose for me and millions of others. I would like to thank you all for providing such a great service.

Sincerely,

Noah Patrick Torres

[Igor The Troll]

I just have one thing to say.

FuBar!

[Sam]

Well, this is terrible. Facebook needs to be stopped. There is an equivalent service run by google which somehow seems fairer. If you still need to use Facebook just create a new account. It’s the easiest way, you won’t be breaching terms and conditions because you only have one account working.

The other method is through their telephone and address.

The Google equivalent is called Orkut. Maybe it pays to join several community systems rather than one as a back up.

Let it be a lesson for all!

[SJ]

My Facebook account was disabled yesterday and I still don't really understand why. I had less than 100 friends, and I've only sent messages to friends, posted on one discussion board and played a couple of games.

I'm not a teenager and while I didn't use Facebook for professional purposes, several of my friends there are professional colleagues, many of whom I encouraged to sign up for and use Facebook, and having my account banned for supposed "spam" is embarrasing, arbitrary and just plain stupid. Way to go to alienate their customer base.