Social media is one of the greatest innovations of the 21st century. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other similar sites are some of the most easily accessible, user-friendly, and free ways to market yourself and your business.
However, just like SPAM clogging up the inbox on my e-mail, I’ve had a few run-ins with people who abuse social media, particularly Facebook.
I am appalled at the already-famous people on Facebook that troll for clients…going through my friend list and sending requests to everyone on it, including my elderly relatives, my young nieces and nephews, etc., because they have apparently jumped to the erroneous conclusion that everyone on my page is related to massage. People do this because they are trying to sell a class or their books or whatever. It incenses me when my dear elderly aunt e-mails me and wants to know who so-and-so is, because they’ve sent her a friend request and the only friend they have in common is me.
The awful thing to me about this is that some of the most well-known and well-off people in this profession are the ones doing it.
The majority of my FB folks are massage therapists. I didn’t friend many of them; most of them friended me. I assume they’ve read my blogs, read my articles, bought my books, or attended my classes, and I have no problem accepting their friendship. A couple of times when someone prominent in the field sends me a friend request, I have gladly accepted, thinking that maybe they read my blog….so when they start trolling my friends and relatives, it’s a big let-down for me that they’re not interested in me at all, except as a conduit to harvest all the people on my friend list so they can pitch their classes, books, or whatever they’re selling.
I think this is pathetic, and the only way I know to stop it is to un-friend these people and out them for the trolls they are. I just hate it when that happens.
Laura Allen
June 22nd, 2010 at 3:27 pm
That’s so bizarre – I’m pretty shocked that anyone would do that!
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:54 pm
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June 23rd, 2010 at 9:58 am
This is why I keep a separate fan page and have a separate profile for only a few people and my real life friends. It doesn’t stop them from trolling the list and asking people to be friends but it can keep them away from your friends. It does take an extra step to post to your fan page rather than just your wall but thats OK with me. From what I know your friends list is limited to 5000 people so if you are trying to use FB to promote your business you will have to start a fan page when you get to 5000 people. Fan pages allow unlimited fans.
Just a few things to think about.
Julie Onofrio
http://www.massagepracticebuilder.com
June 23rd, 2010 at 11:25 am
Thanks for this blog post Laura. Deleting people from our friends list on social networks who spam is a disappointing thing to have to do. I understand how you feel. I have had the same thing happen to me.
The Internet is a reflection of the real world and unfortunately some people do not operate to the professional standards as others.
I appreciate your professional standard of interaction on the Internet. You are a leader.
Kindest regards,
Rob West
June 26th, 2010 at 7:38 am
I’ve had a few people farm my contact list – and not just from the massage industry. If that is how some marketing “experts” are gaining a following on social media sites, then to me it seems they really don’t understand the concept of how social media is intended to work – that people will seek out the knowledge and experts they need.
I also encourage my social media students to only connect with people they know or have a legitimate reason to contact such as meeting the person at a conference or class.
Otherwise I suggest they ask for an introduction to people they want to meet or look to cross market with professionals whose “list” or clientele is similar to their own so that all parties may benefit.
July 31st, 2010 at 5:32 pm
I agree whole heartedly with you Laura and I would like to take it one step further. The old saying “if it is in the newspaper then it has to be true” comments on the fact that when people see something in print they beleive it to be true or that the person(s) who have written the article are “experts” or “qualified”. This is very dangerous becasue people are blindly putting their trust without checking out the qaulifications of the authors. Now with social media and U-tube it frieghtening how easy its to just post a home made video and boom you are an “expert”. Even more terrifing is the number of people who just beleive in everything/one they see or read. Unfortunately there is no way to control this outbreak of self proclaimed expertise.
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