As you guys know, we have published ads from our market to our Facebook business page for years. Two days ago, we got our first post banned.
While in a way this isn’t surprising, it had seemed like up until now Facebook had granted immunity to business pages. I’m not sure if this dialog is still being shown, but a few months ago, users were seeing this:
Their policies suggest that MM’s page should still be okay because they highlight “private individuals” here, however I have no idea how to appeal this. Clicking on “See Options” just errors out.
But it also has a section in their community standards that they do not allow animals sells of any kind… so which is it… seems like facebook contradicts itself a lot.
Thanks @wreckroomsnakes that’s more evidence to me that it should be okay (we’re a feed not a group). I feel like their moderators are probably confused.
Facebook used to be a great place to go. I spent a lot in ads to get people to like my page. When I posted something everyone who had liked my page saw the post. Then they changed the algorithm to only show a tiny fraction of those who liked my page the post. So if it wasn’t something really incredible or controversial the post died because it wasn’t shared a lot. They wanted us to pay again. I paid to get the people now they wanted me to pay to show them anything. I did that for a while but unless you pay a lot it is a waste of Money. I think Facebook sucks. I deleted my personal FB about a year ago. I love my life without FB. It is a waste of time. Best of all when someone tells me that someone is talking bad about me on FB, I don’t have to care because I live in the real world.
Bottom line. I believe that FB will eventually run all the animal people off of their platform. Hopefully the MM forum will give them a place to go.
I’m upset about these changes. I’ve bought and sold snakes over Facebook before, and while I’ve done most of my business elsewhere, I’ve had some really good transactions come out of it. Granted MorphMarket has provided much more business, but as a hobbyist breeder with a small collection, I can use all the exposure I can get. The banning of sales on FB is just one more lost opportunity. I’m very disappointed.
The only good news within all this mess at the moment here in Europe seems:
It doesn’t really matter one way or the other. People have made Facebook, incl. all the Groups their selling platform, undermining eachother’s prices and projects for absolute year. The result has been a market in dire free-fall, and to a point were people rather kill their own, and other people’s projects than to be reasonable. Then come the legions of quitters, and they’re the ones that finish the entire thing off.
Couldn’t agree more Mike, the only real reason I have kept my facebook is for reptiles and exotic plants. The reptiles have already been hit pretty hard and the plants are just now starting to see some restrictions. I am actually looking forward to the day where I don’t need to use it.
What i hate here is that i dont leave the house and so i dont get to be around alot of the community. Facebook has let me meet so many in the local and global community. MM is awesome but it just cant replace the social interactions Facebook gave me. On another note, the community’s are at least trying to switch to mewe. Maybe theres still hope for people in my position. Oh, i second for a full dedicated MM app.
I am not a fan of facebook, but there is a large market share of customers active on there. Breeding ball pythons is a special niche, and I get 90% of my sales through MorphMarket and only a handful through facebook. It seems like MM members are more serious buyers.
MorphMarket has created a great platform to advertise our animals without any oversight issues from a higher authority not involved in the business. It keeps prices in check on a single platform to keep most sellers honest on pricing.
The MM Community is growing quickly, and I think it will replace Facebook in the long run. Let’s be honest- FB will be shutting down all animal sales eventually. Be proactive and register as a seller on MorphMarket. One sale pays your annual subscription.
Let’s all thank John for his efforts in maintaining a safe selling platform, and forum community for the industry. John responds to these issues in a expeditious fashion. The forum was created in a record breaking short time, and is growing by the week.
You guys can thank me by just helping to promote the site if you think it’s a boon to our hobby. In particular, the easiest non-pushiest way is probably to simply share links to good topics on the MRC on facebook from time to time, so more and more people will become aware of it. Or bring it up as an option in comments when people talk about FB problems.
There are some alternatives that are coming up as well, such as MeWe and other social-style sites. In my mind, they are a different style platform to accomplish very similar purposes. Personally I like this format but to each his own. We do have quite a bit of flexibility to customize this forum and may be able to bridge the gap a little more in time.
