ATLANTA, GA -- Earlier this week I read about Robert Scoble getting over the hump regarding Facebook, so I decided to spend more quality time with the application. As I mentioned in my Scoble post, I have seen some smart people blog favorably about Facebook, so as a marketing recruiter I figured I had better get on board the Facebook Train.
After signing up in mid-July, my profile just sat there while connection invitations from personal friends trickled in. By yesterday afternoon, I had a whopping 23 friends. Not enough for a really friendly guy like me -- especially since Scoble had said that "Facebook is the modern day Rolodex. It is the replacement for the business card."
Then last night, I realized that I could invite my entire personal Gmail email list to join my network. In all fairness to Facebook, there are 4600 people on my Gmail list. However, since there is no limit to the number of LinkedIn connections a LinkedIn member can have, I figured it was the same with Facebook. Mo users is mo betta for a pre-IPO company, right?
Busted for speeding on an unmarked highway.
Everyone knows that the value of any network grows exponentially with the number of nodes on it -- and Facebook's push-button interface encouraged me to import my contacts not already on their system. Moreover, I don't remember seeing a Facebook warning not to exceed "X" number of invites.
To the contrary, my entire Gmail address book was inhaled into Facebook's robust platform in about 20 seconds. It even served up photos of hundreds of my contacts who were already members.
So I teed up my 4600 email addresses in the Facebook invitation application, and >BLAM!!< Off goes my mass invitation. Call me krazy, but again: Given Facebook's 30 million active users, more than 50% of whom return daily, I'm thinking "Facebook is the new Rolodex." And there is nothing in Facebook's UI to disabuse me of this notion or limit my actions. Two minutes later I get the following email from Facebook ...
Hi,
Your account has been disabled for persistent (my bold) misuse of the site. Please contact [email protected] for more information.
The Facebook Team
D'oh! Kicked to the Curb! So I respond ...
On 8/1/07, Harry Joiner wrote:
Hi there.
I am a new Facebook member, and I was learning your application and I realized I could invite my Gmail list to join (all 4600 of them). So I did. Did I do something wrong?
I thought that's what I was supposed to do.
Kind regards,
Harry Joiner
EcommerceRecruiter.com
Ph. (678) 795-0900
Developing ...
UPDATE: Here's a great post on the 13 ways to get banned by Facebook.