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Spider
12-11-2010, 11:05 AM
This isn't a big deal but is giving me cause to waste a disproportionate amount of time. You know when you want to share something on Facebook or you want to enter a link to another page or website? When the link details come up, there is a thumbnail picture from that website. Some websites have a number of pictures from which you can choose - the notation next to the thumbnail says 1 of 4 (if there are 4 thumbnails to choose from.

Okay - with me so far?

When I click on the Facebook share button on my 'Making Business Fun' blog I get as a thumbnail the only picture on my blog, which is a mugshot of me. (I presume the same happens for everyone else who wants to share my blog with their FB friends.)

Thinking that I would like a different thumbnail - even give sharers a choice of thumbnails - I entered some icon-type images to my blog hoping that they would be picked up by the Facebook 'share' app. But they are not being picked up.

Any idea how to get these other pictures to display at FB?

Harold Mansfield
12-11-2010, 01:14 PM
From the way it looks, the function scans for photos on the page. If they aren't directly on the page, it won't pick them up. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it will pickup all images.
That's pretty much all I know about it since it is a Facebook function and not something that we have any control over.

Spider
12-11-2010, 02:20 PM
You don't suppose there is something we do at FB? I ask because I was trying do this a couple of days ago and it took one of my thumbnails. But I didn't like that thumbnail so I removed it from the blog page AND deleted it from the WP gallery, but it continued to show as an alternative at Facebook - but only if I entered the url at FB as a link to be shared. If I clicked on the Share button at the blog, it only showed 1 of 1 thumbnails.

But now we have a new development. In order to check that the above was accurate, I went to Facebook and tested it. Lo and behold, I have 9 thumbnails to choose from - the very ones that wouldn't show up yesterday. So, clearly, there is a time element involved here.

But wait! (the man says!) There's more! When I click the Share button at the blog, I still only get 1 of 1 thumbnails. So, FB takes these thumbnails and stores them for future use, at some time that doesn't relate to the clicking of a Share button. And it doesn't relate to the position on the page - like, perhaps it will only take one thumbnail. Because when I moved one of the thumbnails to be first, in front of my headshot, my headshot was still the only one available.

Curiouser and curiouser!

Just thought I'd give you the latest in case you run into this yourself and wonder what's going on.

Harold Mansfield
12-11-2010, 02:40 PM
Sharing from the blog and sharing inside of Facebook are going to give you different results because they are not the same script written by the same people. The only way that I have found to get the choice of available images to use as thumbnails is to physically share the link inside of Facebook, ie; post to my wall or activity stream.

Spider
12-11-2010, 02:59 PM
Yeah - that's what is happening to me, too.

It's not that I don't want my mugshot to be too prevalent on Facebook - I just don't want a crowd of teenage girls hanging around my house all the time!

Harold Mansfield
12-11-2010, 03:18 PM
It's not that I don't want my mugshot to be too prevalent on Facebook - I just don't want a crowd of teenage girls hanging around my house all the time!

Yeah, I know. It's get's old after a while, doesn't it?
I meant the groupies, not your mugshot.

greenoak
12-11-2010, 07:05 PM
im having kind of the same trouble...i think...i want my blog on the facebook sometimes so i put the link on and walla....the wrong picture comes up...not the current main blog picture...which i meant to relate to the facebook post......and even more confusing..... i think it goes on my personal page just right....
im trying to get used to the new lay out...

jamesray50
12-12-2010, 01:15 AM
Just wait another month or so and Face Book will change everything again and no one will know what's going on.

Spider
12-12-2010, 11:49 AM
I don't know what's going on now!

Actually, another "don't know what to do with it" thingy has arrived - Community pages. What on earth are community pages - nothing to do with communities, from what I can see.

The new personal profile page now has no linked tabs at the top, has dropped the About me box that used to reside under one's picture, and has limited information under one's name in the center column. I have my own coaching practice of a name not recognized by Facebook as a company employer, so what I entered there as become a "community page" which no-one owns, according to Facebook. But it is my domain name, so I do own it. And, try as I may, I cannot claim ownership of it, even though Facebook seems to provide a way for one to claim community pages. But if a person can claim a community page as their own, it's hardly a community page, is it?

I guess it will all come out in the wash!


ADDED: Digging around further, I find--
What are community pages? Why would I want to link my profile to community pages?
Community pages — the pages that link from fields you fill out in your profile — are for general topics and all kinds of unofficial but interesting things. You "like" these pages to connect with them, but they aren't run by a single author, and they don't generate News Feed stories.

So - now there is a community page called "frederickpearce.com" that is about all kinds of unofficial but interesting things that are not run by a single author - So, who the hell is going to adding these unofficial but interesting things about my website? Jeez!


MORE ADDED: Community pages are meant to be the best collection of shared knowledge on topics that interest you. Where available, they show Wikipedia content for the relevant topic, which Facebook has licensed under the creative commons license. If we can’t find the right article from Wikipedia, we might be asking for help from the community. You may see messaging on these community pages inviting you to make these pages more useful and interesting by signing up to contribute in the future or by suggesting a Wikipedia article.

WHAT?! This could be good, but considering how shitty some people can be on the web, I'm not sure if I like the idea of having my website open to general comment from people who seemingly don't even have to go there and consider it before making a comment. And, as far as I can tell, I will have no redress or means of removing false information. This is beginning to sound like a nightmare in the making!


MORE STILL: And it seems that this community page with my domain name as its title now belongs to the community and cannot be removed! WHAT THE HELL!!!

Spider
12-12-2010, 06:17 PM
BTW, Harold - Have you noticed that there is a community page at Facebook called "1st Internet Media" over which, apparently, you have no control.

I just posted my status from my Facebook homepage saying you made great webpages, but I could have written that you do crap and I don't think you are able to delete it. And, in fact, I don't seem to be able to delete it, either! (Oh. wait! I can delete it on my profile so, that will presumable remove it from the community page.)

Can you understand what is going on here, because this is driving me crazy!

Spider
12-13-2010, 12:39 PM
Back to the Share thumbnail question - it must be time-related, because all 9 of my images are now available to use as thumbnails whether one posts on Facebook or Shares from the "Making Business Fun" blog.

Harold Mansfield
12-13-2010, 04:10 PM
BTW, Harold - Have you noticed that there is a community page at Facebook called "1st Internet Media" over which, apparently, you have no control.
I filed a claim on it already. Waiting for some kind of conformation or something.



I just posted my status from my Facebook homepage saying you made great webpages, but I could have written that you do crap and I don't think you are able to delete it. And, in fact, I don't seem to be able to delete it, either! (Oh. wait! I can delete it on my profile so, that will presumable remove it from the community page.)

Can you understand what is going on here, because this is driving me crazy!

I don't understand why they do that. It's some kind of automated thing that just creates pages and hopes that you will claim them. I claimed it and still don't have access to it. I had no plans to even make a page for 1st Internet Media.

I don't like it. No sir, I don't like it one bit.

jamesray50
12-13-2010, 06:10 PM
Where do you see Community Pages at? I have looked every where for it and can't find it.

Spider
12-13-2010, 10:34 PM
Jo Ellen - if you look on your pages at Facebook, you will see under your name that you live in Lexington, Kentucky. Click that and you will see a page about Lexington, Kentucky. That is a community page.

That is what I imagine community pages are all about - communities. But there are other types of communities. If you worked for Coca Cola and put Coca Cola down as your employer, all the employees of Coca Cola form a community. There could be (probably is) a community page about Coca Cola. But nobody else works at 1st Internet Media but Harold - yet a community page has been created. Nobody but me works at frederickpearce.com - in fact, frederickpearce.com is not a company for anyone to be working at it. It certainly isn't a community, but it now has a community page, and I cannot post to it, cannot delete anything that appears on it and cannot remove it. But I own that domain name.

I think Facebook is overstepping the mark on this one. I do not give them permission to use my registered domain name in this fashion. Furthermore, I have been unable to find an e-mail address to which I might write and complain.

Spider
12-13-2010, 10:45 PM
Harold, I claimed ownership of the community page for frederickpearce.com but I don't think anything is being done about it. If what happened to me happened to you, I don't think any confirmation process is in hand.

I clicked the "I claim this page" link, filled out the form and clicked "Submit"

I was then instructed to click the link in an e-mail FB sent. I received the e-mail and clicked the link.

All it did was take me to the Help page. No further action seems to be taking place.

Apart from this nonsense I have thought to game the system until they get enough complaints to take it down - though I have no idea how anyone could complain if there is no e-mail address to complain to! I entered as my employer the word "large," and "Business coach and personal mentor" as my position. Now th notation under my name reads "Business coach and personal mentor at large."

And, yes - there is now a community page for "large" --- how stupid is this?!

greenoak
12-14-2010, 07:17 AM
i hate this too!!! it keeps asking me if i want to claim the page...well not really, especially if i cant control it....i just want it to go away....a little paranoid? oh yes....i dont want to be unfairly besmirched by the great unknown...or have a bunch of misinformation out there...im not a community or a public politician....i thought about taking greenoak off of my work page....would that do it?
i dont like having all that info up at the top now..work college etc etc......i put pig latin under languages...butit didnt take...ha ha...
what are the options?

Spider
12-14-2010, 09:38 AM
Ann, according to the blurb at FB, you cannot remove a community page. In fact, if the wording is to be believed, neither can they! (It says, community pages cannot be removed.)

Look at 1st Internet Media page. You will see posts by Harold and a post by me. These were made as status updates on our home page or profile page. Seems to me, these community pages are specific search results pages, just like 'Todays Posts' is on SBF. If that is so, a status update from you should appear on your community page as long as it has the approrpiate keyword (the name of your community page, I suppose) in the body of your status update.

That's my logic. Last night I made a status updat and included frederickpearce.com - the name of my community page - in the body of my status update and it still doesn't show this morning. So, maybe that's not the answer, but there is an answer 'cos Harold has entries on his community page.

What I'm getting at - once you discover what it takes to get your posts appearing on your community page, you can keep writing good stuff to overwhelm any bad stuff that might appear, and use it to your advantage.


BTW. Removing your community page title (your employer, in this case) from your profile, does not delete the community page. I have removed frederickpearce.com as my employer but the community page for it still remains.

Otherwise, if you remove the details of your profile, that information disappears from under your name.

greenoak
12-14-2010, 09:47 AM
crap....i have been avoiding the things that are telling me to claim it...hoping it would go away..
..im really nice and popular ha ha....not notorious anyway..... but in a small town and have drawn some , not lots, of animosity expecially from the folks i outbid!!! all the time at auctions...so i hope they dont get on there and rile things up....

Spider
12-14-2010, 09:50 AM
What are you getting inviting you to claim your community page? I have received no such notice.

Harold Mansfield
12-14-2010, 10:28 AM
Even more confusing is I thought if I made a page "1st Internet Media" it would take precedence. I now have 2 pages in my admin named 1st Internet Media, but neither are the only linked from my profile.
I'll mess with it some more later but this is pretty confusing and there doesn't seem to be an any documentation on what is going on or why I can have 3 pages with the same name.

Spider
12-14-2010, 10:38 AM
You're right. When I search for 1st Internet Media, I get three separate pages called 1st Internet Media, one of them is a community page with search results, and two regular pages both empty. I guess you can have as many 1st Internet Media pages as you want.

Technically, I suppose, *you* don't have 3 pages of the same name - you have two and "the community" has the other one!

Spider
12-14-2010, 10:44 AM
Wanna know something else odd? Now that I am a business coach and personal mentor *at large* the word 'large' is a community page and anyone who ever used the word 'large' in a posting at FaceBook has their status displayed on this community page.

Heaven only knows what the Wonders at FB were thinking of when they started this!

greenoak
12-14-2010, 11:35 AM
well i claimed ours but didnt merge it .... hope that was the right thing to do....i assumed the page would be there with or without me...
spider i would just get a claim this page pop up at random.....

Spider
12-14-2010, 11:55 AM
I've never had a pop-up -maybe they don't want me to own my own domain name! And what do you mean, "I didn't merge it?" Where and how did you have the opportunity to merge a community page?

Spider
12-14-2010, 12:18 PM
Harold, take a look at Ann's pages - search in FB for Green Oak Antiques. There are three pages called Green Oak Antiques. One is Ann's own business page with lots of Likes. One is another business page with nothing on it but a map, and the other one is a community page, with the same map.

But here's the question. Under Ann's name on her own personal page is the information: Owner at Green Oak Antiques, but the Green Oak Antiques link is to Ann's business page and not to the community page. How did that happen? Any ideas?

greenoak
12-14-2010, 01:41 PM
the merging was in the sign up process.... ..during sign up i had to get a pin number at my phone number...so facebook called and gave me the pin number and i put it in...then i was official and then they asked if i wanted to merge........well thats a new one.i think it meant merge it into my site....and maybe some changes to my site???? ..and im waiting to hear all aobut it....
maybe grandma mary has some info... calling grandma mary....http://www.facebook.com/grandma.mary#!/GrandmaMaryShow
?????

Spider
12-14-2010, 02:53 PM
That sounds to me like referencing your own business page, not the community page. But Hey! What do I know?!

greenoak
12-14-2010, 05:18 PM
well i was on the process of claiming the community page as the owner..AND THE QUESTION WAS DO YOU WANT TO MERGE WITH YOUR GREEN OAK PAGE... this is so dumb, i just want one page...

Spider
12-14-2010, 05:44 PM
Ah well. I must assume the nerds inside Facebook know what they are doing and they will explain to the world in due course.

Or not!

In the meantime, I'm not going to let it upset my Christmas.

Spider
12-14-2010, 05:47 PM
Delete ...duplicate.

Gosh darn! There are just too many buttons to press!!!!

jamesray50
12-14-2010, 05:56 PM
I'm confused. When I search for Top Notch Bookkeeping then the first one is my FB page. Then when I click on see more results there is a link to my website. And that is it. I don't have a community page. Wonder why I don't have one?

Spider
12-14-2010, 06:05 PM
Join the club - I think we are all confused!

You don't have a community page for Top Notch Bookkeeping, Jo Ellen, because the system hasn't made one. And the system hasn't made one, I presume, because no information has been presented in a fashion to prompt that bit of software wizardry. If you complete your profile where it lets you fill in your employment details - name of employer and position, etc. - FB will automatically create a community page for whatever you enter as your employer (unless one already exists, I imagine.)

Harold Mansfield
12-14-2010, 09:38 PM
I don't get it either and I'm so pissed that it's confusing instead of making it clear that I don't even want to spend time trying to figure it out.

jamesray50
12-14-2010, 11:39 PM
Well, I'm not going to lose any sleep over not having a community page. Just one less thing to worry about.

Harold Mansfield
12-15-2010, 06:42 AM
OK, so I change my current employer from 1st Internet Media to HaroldMansfielddotcom, since there is a page named HaroldMansfielddotcom and it still links to a community page instead of the actual page.
And then I see this, "Community Pages are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, anyone associated with the topic."

I think it's a stupid idea. Why give the option of creating a fan page for your business if your profile links to a random listing of possible mentions that may or may not have anything to do with your company?
It's pissed me off so much that I have removed my company information from my profile since I'm not going to have any control over where that link goes.

Here is the low down from Facebook on these "Community Pages" where it is all explained. I read through it and even though I understand it, I still don't like it.
Help Center | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=1067)
I really think it's a dumb idea and I don't think people want their profile information (especially professional information) linked to random community pages that are not created by the company.
It's misleading, and a misuse of the information in your profile. I'd rather have nothing in my profile rather than have Facebook redirecting people to what ever pages or information that they have chosen, instead of the actual pages that exist..

It's really stupid.

Spider
12-15-2010, 08:43 AM
Two points from your post, Harold -

1. It IS possible to link your profile information to your own page rather than the community page, because Ann's does. Check it out!
http://www.facebook.com/annburtonfurnivall -- if you can find out how, let me know, because I can't figure it out.

2. You can remove the details from your profile but that still doesn't remove the community page. Once the community page is made, it stays, and there is no getting rid of it. In fact, I gather that you can close your acccount at Facebook, remove all traces of yourself from their system - except that the community page about you will still remain and will continue to gather and display everything anyone says about you. (Or, more accurately, will continue to gather and display everything anyone says that includes the title of that community page.)

I recommend anyone who does not have a Facebook account consider seriously whether they should have one. Peope who already have a Facebook account - Forget it! It's too late! Your stuff will now be displayed outside of your saying and outside of your control whether you like it or not.

Or until someone with deep enough pockets sues the hell out of Facebook!

I'm surprised none of the big technical papers, blogs, e-zines, etc. have taken up this issue.

greenoak
12-15-2010, 09:17 AM
spider...when i put my where do you work info on my personal profile i think i that made the words greenoak antiques a link to my business site... i didnt try to do it.... ive always had a link to the store on my personal page...it was over on the left before...

...i got lots of chances to get a community page.they were pop ups.....maybe because of my number of likes....
. also i think/hope i turned mine off...after claiming the page, i was the admin...and pushed the button under edit that said can only be seen by the admin!!!! who knows....before i found that i pushed the button that said no one could post...
grandma mary sounded like the offers were random.....or at least not across the board...
www.facebook.com/greenoakantiques

Spider
12-15-2010, 09:43 AM
I have found a way to complain to Facebook - Suggest as many people as possible complain over these Community Pages.

This is my feedback to Facebook--

COMMUNITY PAGES
These community pages are a good idea in essence but being poorly executed. Community pages are being made for private businesses that are not community property. FB has created a community page for 'frederickpearce.com' which is my personal domain because I entered it as my employer. Now I cannot remove it or edit its contents. This is certainly not a topic owned by the community. I have several friends in the same position. We feel it is an imposition and a breach of trust by Facebook misusing our personal information. Please rethink this application - it is open to much abuse.

You can give your feedback by going to the bottom of any Help page where you will see a link for "Have a suggestion?"

Spider
12-15-2010, 09:54 AM
Ann, Please don't think I am complaining about you or anything you did. I guessed you didn't know how or why your profile 'employer' links to your own business page. But it does and Harold's and mine links to the community page.

There is still a Green Oak Antiques community page, though, even though your profile does not link to it.

The description you gave suggests you were not dealing with your community page, but one of your own business pages. Before, I noticed you had three Green Oak Antiques pages, 2 business pages, 1 community page. Now, when I search, I see only 2 Green Oak Antiques pages, 1 business 1 community -- so you have deleted one of your business pages and the community page remains.

You are admin of your business pages but community pages do not have admins because - as FB says - Community Pages are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, anyone associated with the topic.

If this annoys you, please complain to facebook as I described above.

Harold Mansfield
12-15-2010, 09:57 AM
I didn't see anyway to do the same thing that Ann was offered, nor have I heard from any clients who's pages I did. They aren't happy either.
I also complained to facebook, but I'm not holding my breath about it.

greenoak
12-15-2010, 10:02 AM
thanks spider.i didnt take anything bad.... ..i was working from the community page pop up so???? i believe you tho....
i dont want a community page out there either...greenoak isnt a community.... maybe i erased a business page we got but didnt realize earlier...

since the changeover...
i got a lot of pop ups asking if this is your business and do you want to claim it... and it did mention community page...

Spider
12-15-2010, 10:05 AM
For the time being, I am going to create a duplicate but "real" page for anything of mine that FB creates as a community page. Then keep watch on the community page and keep posting on my Wall in such a fashion that it reproduces on the community page in words to the effect that "This is not an official page for XXXXX and the official page is here [link]"

I think that is the best we can do. I don't see ignoring the community page to be a very safe policy.

Harold Mansfield
12-15-2010, 10:19 AM
Nope. You can't ignore it. I suppose that if you just continue to post information for your company that it will just be reflected in the community page.
I think the biggest issue for me is the confusion. It's not clear (to the average user) that these are results of all mentions of what ever the title is, and not an official page.
If they would at least take care of that, instead of having the appearance look just like an official page, then I could stomach it a little more.

greenoak
12-15-2010, 10:33 PM
do you have a facebook BUSNESS page? or is it a personal page? that might be a factor.... ann

Harold Mansfield
12-15-2010, 10:49 PM
do you have a facebook BUSNESS page? or is it a personal page? that might be a factor.... ann

I have multiple business pages of my own, and am the administrator for a few others. How would that factor into it?

greenoak
12-15-2010, 11:18 PM
my dil andi tried to see spiders business page and didnt find his....didnt look for yours.....i was going over this community page thing with her today and she thought that might be a reason spider didnt get the pop ups like we did.... ... ...

Harold Mansfield
12-16-2010, 11:03 AM
Well, I guess something got fixed or completed. I started messing around with it to see if I could make heads or tails of it and when I put in my Business/Fan page address (instead of just the name of my business), it popped up and now links from the profile information.
I thought I did that before, but I guess I didn't.

Spider
12-16-2010, 05:43 PM
But the community page still exists - it didn't go away. In fact, there are three pages entitled 1st Internet Media, one company page, one product page and one community page. There is also a product page for haroldmansfield.com and your personal page - Harold Mansfield.

I'm wondering if I should create a business page for frederickpearce.com. Or list as my employer either "Keep Your Eyes On The Prize" or "Self Improvement" - these are two product pages I have. Or will doing that raise another community page? None of it really makes sense. No more sense that Business coach at large, I suppose.

Harold Mansfield
12-16-2010, 05:45 PM
I deleted one of the pages. I didn't really want them anyway.

Lets just pour on all of the bad news.
Looks like the change is coming to Fan Pages as well so that they look like the personal profiles:
Facebook redesign Facebook pages just launched (http://www.simplyzesty.com/facebook/facebook-launch-new-business-page-designs/)

This is not going to make a lot of people happy.

Harold Mansfield
12-16-2010, 05:54 PM
Now they are gone again:
The New Facebook Pages Are Here (http://mashable.com/2010/12/16/new-facebook-pages-2/)

Looks like it will probably be a permanent change sooner or later.
I can't help but think about all of the people that paid for a custom landing page that now can't use them that way anymore.
I can think of a few clients that will email me in a panic when this takes shape.

Spider
12-16-2010, 06:03 PM
That one doesn't affect me. I'm not concerned about menu links down the side or across the top. I fact, I always preferred them vertically - like a menu. Horizontal navigation always seems so restricting - vertially, there is no restriction at all. I suspect people didn't use Facebook tabs overmuch and the switch seems obvious to me. It should improve things for business page owners, is my guess.

Harold Mansfield
12-16-2010, 06:14 PM
That one doesn't affect me. I'm not concerned about menu links down the side or across the top. I fact, I always preferred them vertically - like a menu. Horizontal navigation always seems so restricting - vertially, there is no restriction at all. I suspect people didn't use Facebook tabs overmuch and the switch seems obvious to me. It should improve things for business page owners, is my guess.

What you loose is the ability to set a custom landing page. That's the big hit that will make page owners mad. A lot of people paid good money to build custom landing pages, especially this year alone.
I've even had a couple of clients have welcome videos produced just for that purpose.

But, that's the chance you take. FB is free and you really have no control to stop any changes.