I have two Facebook accounts. Well, anyway I used to have two. One is my “fan” page which I was required to set up by my employers when I worked in local TV news. The other is my personal account. While anyone is welcome on my fan page, I only friend people I know on the personal version.
If you got access to this particular blog post from a Facebook link, then you must have “liked” my fan page, for which I am very grateful. The reason I know this is because weeks ago I tried to access my personal Facebook only to receive a message that it had been disabled. I received a message saying this happened because FB has reason to believe that someone other than me was using the account. In order to have my account reinstated, the message went on to say, I have to “apply” for it by proving that it is really me trying to get in.
No problem, I figured. I’ll just call the customer service phone number and talk to a helpful tech person and we’ll straighten this all out………except that there is no customer service number. In fact, there is no direct way to contact Facebook whatsoever. You are directed to a “help center” where you can “send them a message”.
In order to get reinstated, I had to send them a recent photograph of myself. Whereupon I was informed that I then had to send them a photo of a valid picture ID, such as a driver license, to prove its me on the first photo.
I was convinced this was a scam from some hacker and I did some internet research on it. Turns out it was completely legit. FB does indeed require all these hoops just to “apply” for reinstatement. Then, having sent them the picture ID photo, I was tersely informed that it may take longer than usual to review my application because of the Covid 19 effect on their personnel.
That was about a month ago. I’ve never heard back. I still have no access to my personal account. Apparently Facebook will get around to it when they feel like it, if ever.
I couldn’t help but wonder how any business can get away with treating customers like this. But I have since come to some moments of clarity.
First of all, I now understand that I am not a customer. I paid no money for FB. The customers are the advertisers and the services that buy the email addresses of all the accounts. Secondly, the most recent public tally puts the world wide number of FB users at 2.6 billion……..2.6 BILLION!
Just think. You could have one billion unhappy users, and still have 1.6 billion more! With that kind of user base, Facebook doesn’t have to provide a customer service phone number. They don’t have to be in a hurry to help you get back on. They don’t have to care about you, period. And evidently, they don’t.
Turns out, there is life without them. The first several days I found myself trying to get back on just out of habit. but after about a week I have pretty much forgotten about them. If they never get around to reinstating me, I’ll be okay with that.
It does occur to me that if I was hacked and my account hijacked, the same could well happen to my fan page. I truly do appreciate you for reading my blog posts. If you get any enjoyment out of them, the best way to ensure you get them is to subscribe. That way you’ll get them in your email. In case you’re wondering, I don’t make any money off of these. I am not even remotely close to having enough subscribers to interest advertisers, and I’m totally okay with that. This is just a hobby and self therapy for me. Occasionally someone will comment that something I wrote made them laugh and brightened their day a bit and that is wonderful reward for me.
I will admit that Facebook has been good for me. It has enabled me to reconnect with several childhood friends and former co-workers with whom I had completely lost touch, in addition to keeping up with the day by day adventures of all my community friends. But if the FB gods never get around to plugging me back in, I’ll use the fan page and Twitter (@KenLass3) as much as I can.
Either way just know that your reading of my musings is a blessing to me and makes my day.