Facebook just released a new feature that helps with privacy and spam, but it could also cause problems for you if you use a personal profile to promote your business. I am very excited about this new feature and you will find out why in a second.

On the big FB, I always recommend not using personal profiles for business reasons. For one thing, it goes against their terms and conditions. Second, Facebook Pages offer a lot more viral options and useful connectivity for a business. People argued against me and didn’t like the fact that you couldn’t go straight out and add people to your list.

I never paid much attention to this (as I saw what REALLY happened to this type of feature when I was using MySpace for marketing). I thought people who were totally against using content to attract people would learn the hard way how social media really works.

However, it looks like Facebook is going to teach that lesson much faster. The company has added a new feature to the Friend Request with a statement that reads: “If you send a friend request to a stranger, it will be considered spam and your friend request will be temporarily blocked.”

The person you sent the request to has the option to approve or reject it. If the person you are sending a friend request to denies, you will be placed on a temporary friend request block. If you get a certain amount of these, you will be banned from Facebook (which includes your email address).

So, I don’t mean to say that I told you, but if you are using a personal profile to promote your business, now is the time to enter a fan page. Pages offer many more opportunities than profiles and you don’t want to risk having your business banned from the website entirely.

Think about it. If you send a friend request from a personal profile (that you are using for business) to someone, who then denies it and marks it as “spam”, your account will be flagged, reviewed and probably banned for infringement. of the terms of service (using a personal business profile). Do you want your company to be banned on Facebook?

I’m very glad that Facebook is kidding and taking these privacy issues very seriously. If you used MySpace for internet marketing, you already know how bad it can get.

– Jerry Nihen