Are You a (Facebook) Jailbird?

You've heard of it, you've seen friends complain about it, maybe you've even got locked up yourself. Facebook Jail...a term that didn't even exist five years ago but that's now as common as peanut butter and banana sandwiches. (yep, that is gross, btw)

Urban Dictionary defines Facebook Jail as "Facebook itself blocking you due to something you've either posted, words you've used or for harassment of another user." Let's dig a little deeper...

Ending up in Facebook Jail doesn't necessarily mean that you're unable to use Facebook altogether. Generally you will be blocked from just specific features of Facebook, usually the ones on which whatever offense occurred that landed you in jail in the first place. So, for example, if you sent messages through Facebook Messenger that people reported to Facebook, you might be blocked from using Messenger for a period of time. If you posted something in a closed group that someone reported, you might lose the option to post to groups. If you friend requested too many people that denied you and marked you as a spammer, you might be unable to friend request any more people for a set amount of time. Facebook will limit your functionality, or jail you, for anywhere from 24 hours (think first offense, or just one complaint against you) to 30 days (serious repeat offenders get that 30 day sentence.) If, after a 30 day sentence, you've still not learned your lesson, you can probably expect to have Facebook shut down your account altogether.

So, you're thinking...but WAIT, I'm no spammer!! Hey, we get it. We believe you when you tell us you have nothing but the best of intentions. But here's the deal: sometimes you end up in Facebook Jail anyway. Call it wrongfully accused, appeal the conviction (which rarely works) but it happens. So let's look at the best ways to avoid the Facebook Slammer completely, shall we?

1. Stop taking other people's content! When you take those great company pics that everyone else is using and throw them out on your customer page, business page, etc. there's a really good chance that those images have a spammer label attached to them already, simply due to their widespread usage, and you putting it out there throws your name in the spammer pile. Instead, create your own images using Canva, PicMonkey, etc. 
2. Don't post in random local groups asking for bookings, sales, recruits, etc. Let's say you're in 6 local groups (you know, yard sale groups, local mom's groups, business women's networking groups, etc.) If you write a post talking about the amazing sale you're currently having or how you are looking for "just two more women who want to make money from home", and then you copy/paste that post into all those groups, there's a really good chance Facebook is going to jail you. First off, THAT is spammy and gross, and just don't be that girl. And secondly, if you're using the exact same content back to back in rapid fire procession across all these places, that's a red flag to Facebook regardless of the actual content of your post. Which brings me to our next point...
3. If you're running multiple Facebook parties over the same span of days, and using a fabulous scheduling service like Cinch Share, do NOT schedule all those posts to go into all those events at the exact same time. For the same reason as above - it's a red flag that you might just be a robot. Stagger your post times from event to event so that you're not gushing about your customer special in all 7 Facebook parties at the exact same millisecond. 
4. While we are on events, if you're doing a single night live party event, make sure that you're staggering the posts for that. Every three minutes is a good rule of thumb right now. If you're posting more frequently than that, Facebook might snatch you up and not let you post at all, which is WAY worse than your guests having to wait and extra minute for your next pearls of wisdom in the party.

Hopefully those tips will help keep you from racking up a Facebook criminal record. If you've been jailed for something else, leave us a comment, we promise not to laugh at you!!