facebook friends

[greenoak]

im getting several friends who are treating their personal page as a business page..... ive hidden 2 of them...one advertizing another antique shop where he consigns and the other an auctioneer putting his auction ad in his post........i thought this was against the rules?
i see a lot of this in sites i want too, mostly new stores who are new at facebook..
..i wonder why they are allowing it...seems very widespread and out in the open.......

[Capitalist]

To my knowledge, there's nothing wrong with it. It's annoying, though

I tend to talk about what I'm doing with my business, but stop short of advertising it. I might say "Just finished working on a new site - this time, I'm selling ice to Eskimos. Let me know what you think: http://sellingicetoeskimos.com".

No, I don't have a site selling ice to Eskimos. If I could find an affiliate program that paid well, though, I might tackle it.

[Spider]

It is against the Facebook rules.

Click "Report/Block this person" (bottom LH column)
In the dialog box that appears, click "This profile is impersonating someone or is fake."
Another area opens "Choose a type" - click the arrow and a list opens.
Choose "Represetns a business or an organization" or "Does not represent a real person."

Click "Continue"

I didn't go any further because I didn't want to erroneously report someone, but if you are reporting someone, this is how you do it.

As for FB allowing it, they do not, but with (what is it now?) 5 million users, they can only keep on top of this if people like us report offenders. Whenever I come across such abuse I always report it.

Really, we can only keep our own room tidy, but we benefit by helping Mom keep the rest of the house clean!

[greenoak]

I WANT TO DO THAT..but you know, they are my friends..... would they ever know who reported?....
i do talk about the store on my personal....but hopefully in a normal way...like about my day...i try not to too much...

[Spider]

According to FB, the person you report is not notified. FB people will probably deal with the offender as if they (FB) discovered the offense. They have no incentive to do otherwise.

[Capitalist]

Spider - as long as they aren't saying that their profile is for their business, then they aren't misrepresenting.

There are places out there that will pay you to advertise on Facebook for them...

[greenoak]

even if it is OBVIOUSLY for their busness? that doesnt compute...
.i understood like spider said that it was against the rules.....hmmmm...????? i thought i read that when we signed up....

[Spider]

It's not for us to decide. FB makes the rules and FB enforces the rules ... or not. If you see something you don't like, report it. FB will deal with it. Either they will ignore your report, if no rules are beinng broken, or they will act on it, if rules *are* being broken. If enough people report something that is not a rule being broken, maybe they'll change the rules.

It's not a problem. Nobody gets into trouble because you reported them and they were abiding by the rules.

[Patrysha]

I've never reported. I have written messages to people I've noticed are using personal profiles for business. And I give some basic instructions on setting up and maintaing a business page. All so far that I have noticed(I don't keep perfect track) change their approach. I don't think any legitimate business owner wants to break rules, but they can end up doing so by following the wrong advice or by misunderstanding the platform. Of course, that sort of approach fits what I do, but I think I would pass the advice along even if I wasn't.

[Capitalist]

I guess I just don't understand the concern. If you don't like the updates, hide them or remove them. Dealing with the consequences of that is just part of it.

Then again, I've always been a black-and-white kind of person, and prone to making executive decisions quickly. To each his own.