Facebook Jail

Hang on, I just need to check something before I carry on… no, still blocked.

Last Tuesday morning I posted on Facebook about the Alabama Stills gig at The Dog & Duck in Bognor on Sunday afternoon. It was pretty standard…. In fact I’d say it was absolutely standard. The poster we’ve been using since the band started five or so years ago… a few words, nothing contentious…. But apparently, this was a problem.

The offending article, aledgedly... probably

Fifteen minutes later and I can’t log in, because the Stills page has violated Facebook community guidelines. Further more, my personal profile has been disabled, which means I can’t access any of the other pages I manage, like Coustics or Open Mic. Oh… and my Instagram account, because it’s all owned by the same company now, and it’s all linked. All I had access to was a page that asks, very politely, if I’d like to appeal this decision. I click ‘yes’. “Decisions and reviews are often made in just over a day” Facebook helpfully tells me, “Check back soon”.

That was eight days ago.

Which leaves me wondering if all the hard work we musicians are virtually required to put into social media these days, has been simply taken away because of an algorithm error…. Or a malicious report??? I might need to Google that……

Apparently, multiple negative reviews can result in an account deletion. Or a high number of automated ‘red flags’..... Quite how four blokes playing a beer festival causes ‘multiple red flags’ I don’t know. Anyway - useful Google, because my search has revealed a few avenues for the reinstatement of my account which I haven’t tried yet.

I don’t hold out much hope though. Facebook has over three billion monthly users. Can I realistically expect them to read their emails? And respond to my complaint / comment with regard to their ‘free’ platform? Like I said, I’m not holding my breath. It’s just maths.

All of this might have you thinking that I’m some kind of Facebook junkie, but realistically, nothing could be further from the truth. This last week without social media has been surprisingly ordinary, and once over the initial outrage of being blocked for a crime I didn't commit, ( I understand how the A-Team and Dr. Richard Kimble felt now ) I've felt pretty okay with it.

Yes, I am upset when I think that my personal account held / holds so many personal memories, and that now could be lost to me. I have a lot of precious personal memories from before Facebook existed though, so I’m quite happy it’s not integral to enjoying life. It does make work difficult though.

As a musician, many of my connections, with venues, other musicians, students, audiences and bandmates are maintained by social media. My enforced social media detox has been a breath of fresh air, but quite frankly, it’s also been a pain in the bum. There are certain elements of it which I have no choice but to rebuild, but I suppose if that proves to be the case, then I do have the opportunity to rebuild in a different, perhaps more resilient way, to defeat the whims of the mighty algorithm. 

The question is, how long do I wait to see if the problem corrects itself?

Some Facebook bans last thirty days, but I think if that applied to my case I would have had a message to tell me that….. How long do I feel comfortable with? I’m not sure really…. I suppose it’s a question of how long before I feel that I’m not doing a good enough job in the promotion of my work. I don’t think I’m there yet, but there are some things I can do to mitigate the circumstances, and I think maybe that’s what I ought to be doing right now….

Thanks for listening, you’ve been very helpful in making my mind up.

But also, if you receive a new Facebook friend request from me in the next week or two, it could very well be legitimate ;-)