I’m in a bit of a bad mood when it comes to Facebook, which isn’t like me. Facebook is the social network that I watch like a hawk because of its sketchy behavior, but I don’t tend to bad-mouth because I get to keep in touch with so many people who are so far removed from me. But today things changed. I became a victim of some SERIOUSLY POOR DESIGN on Facebook’s part.
To the tune of 660 emails.
Downloaded to my iPhone.
And my iPad. (I didn’t yet know how many there were.)
That stayed on my email provider’s server, because that’s just how I manage my email.
That means I downloaded 1320 emails and deleted 1980.
Wouldn’t you be in a bad mood too!?
HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN!?
It happens when Facebook adds a cool new feature that allows Page administrators change to a Group. Groups are great things when they’re used in the right manner. They can provide stellar engagement on a topic or project and I honestly believe they are good things.
But the page that converted today and spammed me? NOT A GOOD USE OF GROUPS! Groups are good for people that are collaborating, sharing or providing support on particular subjects. They are not a great place to move a page that has hundreds of people who are just generally reminiscing. Why, you ask?
I’ll tell you.
Because Facebook did something pretty dumb with groups. They made email notifications opt-out. Meaning, when you get added to any group, by a friend or because a page you liked decided to convert, you automatically get an email sent to you about every single thing that’s posted to said group.
This is just bad form, in my humble opinion. Also, I had the audacity to not log in to Facebook for over 12 hours and ended up getting spammed because I didn’t even know to get my keester out of that group!
I had to say “please” because I’m teaching Brandon that it’s the polite way to ask for things. Seems a tad hypocritical if I don’t use it too.My advice to Facebook
- Allow users who are added to Groups consent to being in a group (or continue in a group when it comes to Pages converting).
- Don’t send the spammy emails to users who haven’t had a chance to consent to being added to a group.
- Better yet, make Facebook Group notification emails opt-in to avoid that whole spam issue in the first place. Trust me - people who want to get the emails will go looking for the setting. (Yeah, I know - who wants them? Not me, but you never know.)
I’ll get over it and I still like Facebook - even Groups
Facebook does some dumb things when it comes to its user interface and privacy settings. We all know this. It doesn’t mean I’m going to stop using it because Facebook is a great tool (as are groups)! It just needs to stop being so tooly.
Just sayin.
It turns out that the group I got moved into is an “Open” group. Open groups on Facebook allow anyone to search on the group and also see the content, as opposed to closed groups that you can search for, but posts are hidden OR secret groups that you can’t see in search or view content for - in other words, they are by invite only.
The thing about Open groups is that if you’re in one, every time you post to the wall, everyone in your friend list gets to see what you post. Every. Single. Time.
I have a lot of mutual friends who “liked” that page that converted. It’s a regional group about my hometown. It was fun as a page, but as a group it’s a nightmare. What’s worse - a few of my friends joined another group about a nearby town. So, even though I’m not a member of one group and I left the other, I still get to see most of the posts. Woohoo!
I may have to hide some people’s posts so I don’t lose my mind.
