Welcome to Facebook they say when you get to their website, more like welcome to jail. I have been building a Facebook account for a good year now, actively engaging in discussions, networking with individuals local to me, joining groups that pertain to my interests and Facebook has decided to shut my account down. I thought this was extremely strange since it is a “networking” website and it is a little difficult to network if you are not allowed to request people you don’t know. Facebook asks you to only requests people that you know. Yeah ok most people couldn’t even name off twenty people they know but they are supposed to only link to people they know on a website that unlocks them to thousands of people with just a few clicks away. Barack Obama’s Facebook account currently at this very moment 1,450,617 friends, wow he has a lot of real life friends because you can only connect with people you know in real life. I don’t’ see his account getting shut off.

Facebook has fallen and bumped their head if they think they can control this. I think they have commissioned the secret service to monitor everyone’s behavior because I read the other day that someone had gotten kicked off because they used the search function too many times in one day!! The search feature?? What’s next getting your profile booted for thinking about sending someone a friend request? How is using the search feature too many times in one day bothering anybody? I have spent an entire year networking on Facebook with many other young adults promoting their website and this is how they repay you. When you try to log into your account they say they can’t tell you specifically what you did wrong for “security reasons”. What security? Am I going to hire a lawyer because my Facebook account got shut off, probably not. You have to send 17 emails to Facebook in the hopes of prying a reason out of someone. Why they hiding it?

I don’t think Facebook is going anywhere but they are quickly infuriating many people with these new rules and regulations and I don’t think Facebook wants to face another class action lawsuit. Maybe they are doing it to get a buzz going? If you send a friend request to someone they have the option to deny it. Easy and simple, click no thank you, go about your day and the problem is solved. Did it ever occur to Facebook that for every ten people that might actually enjoy receiving that friend request that the one person that triggers an abuse flag might just be ruining a good thing for everyone else? I think the whole point that Facebook is missing here is that if you want to call it a social networking site but you are not allowed to meet people you don’t know than it is useless. The whole point of networking is so that you meet people you don’t already know! Isn’t the whole point of networking to meet other individuals whom you can communicate with and feed off each other’s knowledge and strengths?

I am not promoting spamming social networking websites but Facebook needs put in place some much more tasteful strategies for monitoring its members. Sending friend requests is not spam, accepting a friend and having them nonstop slander your wall with ads is and should not be tolerated. It is time for Facebook to rethink their ink or they might just be shopping around for a reputation management firm!

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