Toward the end of last month my wife was on Facebook. For those of you who know her that is not much of a stretch since she regularly enjoys it.
She was reading things from her friends, looking at pictures from across the world, looking into unfolding world events, catching up on politics (not), seeing who had coffee that morning…you know the important Facebook stuff.
She stumbled across an advertisement while using her tablet which Facebook had placed in her timeline. She found it unpleasant. I will not mention the company here since they have high priced lawyers and I do not; however, I doubt very much that you have ever heard of them. They were probably trying to get a “big” start on Facebook by generating interest and attention. Although, I do not know if they got the attention they wanted.
As you may or may not know, Facebook provides a small triangle in the upper right corner of each item or post. She clicked it and chose, “I don’t want to see this.” If you use this as my wife and I have in the past Facebook walks you through a few simple questions. They next asked, “Why don’t you want to see this?” Then she chose, “It was inappropriate or offensive.”
Then the ad disappeared from her timeline, never to be seen again. She figured that would be the last she would hear of it and that would be that. She was happy to know it would, at the least, not be bothering her again.
So for a few days she went back to the important Facebook stuff in the world.
Five days later — as unbelievable as it seems to me, they contacted her regarding her choices. They basically told her that they had removed the offending commercial post from Facebook. After that they sent her a follow up message which quite surprised us both.
Here is what the “Facebook Help Team” sent her, “Thanks for letting us know you don’t want to see this ad on Facebook. Ads that feature nudity, adult toys, adult products or images of people participating in activities that are excessively suggestive or sexual in nature aren’t allowed on Facebook, so we’ve removed the ad.” They went on to explain, “If you see something similar in the future, please give us feedback about it. Feedback like yours is an important part of keeping Facebook a safe and welcoming environment, and we appreciate you taking the time to send it to us.”
For those of you who know me, I use Facebook but am not a huge fan of it or any social media for that matter. I use them some but do not stay on too long. That being said I was encouraged by this encounter particularly the, “Feedback like yours is an important part of keeping Facebook a safe and welcoming environment” part.
This tells me that when you see something on Facebook in particular but in any social media you are on and find something objectionable, you should report it in any way possible.
Help clean up some of the mess.
