Because the last two years haven’t been challenging enough for our little live music venue, we’re now dealing with a wildly inconvenient new wrinkle –
I’ve lost my personal Facebook account for 30 days and possibly forever. That doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, right? But for someone managing a music venue, it’s a kind of a nightmare.
Some delightful human being reported my personal Facebook page for posting CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, of all things, and it’s been taken down for violating their community standards. Obviously, I didn’t post anything of the sort, but that doesn’t seem to matter. I was given the option to disagree with their decision, which I did. Now when I log in, I get this message:
According to this update, it takes one day to review my information, but due to COVID, they may not be able to review it at all. I disagreed with their decision on January 17, and I’m typing this post on January 31 with no updates. When I log out, I get another message that tells me my account is scheduled to be permanently disabled in 12 days.
If I was only using Facebook for personal use, I would be annoyed, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world – I would just move on and learn to like Twitter and Instagram more. But, in order to manage a business page, you have to have a personal page. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one set up to be an admin for the 443 page, so I can access it through other accounts. Initially, I set up a 2nd personal Facebook page for the sole purpose of managing the business page – no photos, no posts, no friends. That account was shut down within a couple of days because someone reported that I have more than one Facebook account – I didn’t realize that is also against their Community Standards.
I can’t boost my posts or run ads on Facebook because that’s connected to my personal page as well. We currently have 4552 people who “like” the page, and 4957 who “follow” it, but if I don’t put money on a post, we are lucky if 100-200 people see it.
I’m also completely locked out of our Instagram account because they are owned by the same company.
Aside from all the obvious business marketing stuff, I use Facebook to decide which bands to book. I follow tons of musicians and I’m always on the lookout for great stuff my music-loving friends are sharing. When I start seeing a band name popping in more than one place, it’s a good sign I need to take a closer look at them. I like to see how active musicians are on their social media channels before I book them too.
Look, I don’t love Facebook – it’s a massive time suck if you’re not careful. The very worst of humanity is on full display – nastiness, bullying, racism, homophobia, and willful ignorance, not to mention people making it their job to pick fights with total strangers. But I do like being able to keep up with friends and family, discover new artists and creatives and keep up with what’s happening around town. Since the Syracuse New Times, our venerable 50-year-old weekly entertainment rag went belly up a few years ago, there really isn’t one central place to find out what’s happening. And if you stay away from the toxic personalities, there are a lot of lovely, decent people having interesting conversations, finding lost dogs, rehoming kittens, and sharing cute baby photos and recipes.
It’s not perfect, but it does serve a purpose and there isn’t another platform that works the same way.
I’m fully aware that Facebook is a private company and can do whatever the hell it wants. Before we opened up the 443, I used to do freelance marketing. I always made sure my clients understood they couldn’t put all their energy into Facebook or any other single platform. It’s critical to have your own self-hosted website that acts as your home base because it’s the only platform you actually own and can control. Cultivating an email list is important too, for the same reason. We have both of those things, but Facebook is still an important tool for us to reach our customers.
I guess I just never thought I would lose access to my account over something I didn’t actually do. With no real way to get someone to review the case, I’ve resigned myself to losing all of it in a couple of weeks.
Who knows, this may end up being another COVID-related shift in our business model that works out to be for the best in the long run.
Sooooo, who is behind all this?
It’s a good question. Right before I was thrown into virtual Facebook jail I got some pretty aggressive messages from anti-vaxxers who disagree with our vax policy.
We have required proof of vaccination since we reopened last summer and will continue to do so. We understand our policy will not work for everyone, and we’re okay with that. It’s working incredibly well for our core customer base, which is overwhelmingly vaxxed and cautious. Our guests got their shots as soon as they were able and are more than happy to show their cards at our door. They appreciate that we care about their well-being, that we’re keeping their favorite musicians working, and we have more sold-out shows on our calendar than ever.
Since I haven’t pissed anyone else off to this degree since I divorced my second husband, I have to think it’s one of the fine folks who believes the policy we made in our privately owned business (the one they’ve never even been to) is something they should get involved in. I can’t imagine going out of my way to be that malicious towards a small business that has been through hell for the last two years, but society has shifted in the last few years and I guess this is our new reality. You can report someone to the Facebook gods for something they didn’t do and they will suffer the consequences. Someone, somewhere, is pretty happy about my virtual lock up.
But here’s another thought –
If you don’t like me personally and don’t agree with our policies, you could just keep scrolling, unfollow our page, and/or defriend me… and we’ll ALL live happily ever after.
Stay warm and healthy, my friends –
