Talk about frustrating!
For the past few months, I’ve had no activity at my Facebook Fan Page, despite the fact that I’ve been posting videos, notes, tips and photos.
If you click on that link or paste http://www.Facebook.com/publicitytips into your browser window, you’ll end up in your own account. Yet the page comes up in the search results if you do a search for pages under the keyword “publicity.” So I know Facebook hasn’t yanked the page.
When I post a note, I tag people. Under each note, I can see the number of impressions, so I assume those people can see the notes on their walls.
I’ve contacted Facebook twice through their “bug report” form but have gotten no answer. If you’re my fan and you can’t see my content, there’s no sense in posting content, don’t you agree?
Does anyone have any bright ideas about how to solve this problem? Publicity Hound DeeNice Rhodes suggested going to LinkedIn and connecting with someone from Facebook, then explaining my problem. I’m going to try that today. Are you connected to anyone on Facebook who might be able to help, and to whom you can make an introduction for me?
I’m also going to post the question to the techies on LinkedIn.
Help, please. Has this ever happened to you? What did you do to solve the problem?
Update on April 13, 2011:
My Facebook Fan Page is alive again! Please read this update about how someone helped me solve the problem and what you can do if this happens to you. If you can find your page, or if you can’t and you create a new one, start making up for lost time. See 12 More Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on the New & Improved Facebook.
Before contacting Facebook, be sure to check the privacy settings on your Facebook fan page. Visit the page as an admin, click “Manage Permissions” and look at “Page Visibility” on the top line to make sure the “Only admins can see this Page” box isn’t checked. If it is, uncheck it and save your changes.
May not be the problem, but it’s sometimes the little things that cause big problems. 🙂
~Shannon
Yes, I’ve looked there twice, Shannon. It is NOT checked.
Joan, your page actually isn’t showing up in my FB search results today – just your profile page and a Friends of the Publicity Hound Group. Very strange.
What is the full title of your Page?
The full title is “Publicity and public relations tips, ideas and strategies”
That isn’t showing up in my search results at all on FB.
Joan,
Try getting hold of Mark Zuckerberg via Twitter. His handle is @finkd. Just send out a tweet with a “.” in front of the @finkd. Hopefully he’s monitoring his own account. I had a frustrating issue with my mobile app for Foursquare while I was en route to San Francisco last month to speak at TWTRCON, so I got onto Twitter to ask Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley about it and he replied. As did some other kind souls and my problem was fixed. As was a problem with my laptop! Best of luck!
I believe I have your problem solved –as you have solved many of my PR problems!
You have a GROUP not a PAGE at Facebook there are very different rules for these different types of accounts.
Having said that your URL for your Group section is below:
http://www.facebook.com/publicitytips/group#!/group.php?gid=58255926944
I tested it in various browsers and it worked for me.
I reccomend that you change your Facebook account to a PAGE and be sure it is a BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION page NOT personal. This is important to comply with Facebooks policies.
Once you have the PAGE you will be able to generate a LIKE button – like the one on this site – right column and then use THAT URL in all your communications.
Paula, you’ll notice the group hasn’t been updated in months. Joan replaced it with her Page and now the Page is gone (sorry if I am being presumptuous in answering for you Joan).
Forgot the site I referred to that features the LIKE button – here it is
http://www.elih.org/
Would you copy and paste the facebook url here? I couldn’t find it under pages but I did find the groups page and your personal page, like Lynda Lippin found.
The URL for the Fan Page that’s missing is http://www.Facebook.com/publicitytips
Hi Joan,
If you really can’t get it resolved & you’re sure the problem isn’t at your end, how about using the problem for a press release ? Something like “everyone is so reliant on Facebook these days, but how many people experience problems & are they happy with the service to resolve them ? This question came to my attention when … ”
Even if the problem is at your end, the lack of support is an issue. PR question :-
“Is Facebook behaving too much like a corporate entity?”
Joan: Definitely goes to my Home on FB and not your site.
Last year I had my account hacked and I had excellent luck after contacting FB support. They had everything fixed within 24-48 hours, I believe.
Though my story is different from yours, here’s the lowdown on what happened and how FB responded:
http://www.artbizblog.com/2009/07/changepasswords.html
I have never been able to find anything separate for my page from my profile page. I do not have a manage permissions and page visibility on my biz page, and for me, I’m fed up with something new to deal with continually. I post a lot to my biz page but it automatically posts to my personal profile page which I never wanted. So, Joan, I think I’m doing okay if even you have such problems. I hope you get them solved. I’ve never had any luck with sending FB a bug report or ever getting an answer!
Joan, right now your url still takes me direct to my F/Book Home page & photos of my cat !! The only problem I’ve had to date with F/Book was log-in not working & I sent a ticket & they replied with it sorted within 24 hours. But I’ve been planning to get a designer to set up a F/Book business page & this is rather off-putting. Like Bea above, no-one wants new problems to deal with continually.
You need to create a Fan PAGE instead of a Group to use a ‘vanity’ url. So, your group is still here but that url is not linked to this page. I confirmed this thru FB Help:
Can I claim a username for a group or event?
Usernames are available only for Facebook profiles and Pages. It is not possible to claim a username for a group or event created with these Facebook applications.
If you have a really rocking Fan Page, FB may convert it to a group if they feel it’s in the best interest of the community. The original FanPage owner should still be able to access the group, but won’t be able to control it as much as they could when it was a page.
When the page is converted to a group, it will no longer pull up under the custom fan page name.
At this time FB doesn’t appear to have a custom naming convention for groups, but you can get a free URL for your group using http://www.fbfollow.me/
Honestly, I got fed up with my Facebook business page & deleted the whole thing…(This is not the answer you were looking for)…I am kept busy with the personal page & having two different locations was silly…On my blogs & sites I find I get out of it what I put in…I find on Twitter & Facebook, less is much more…
John – Facebook is the worst customer service website on the Internet. IMHBAO.
They are a monolithic erudite jerk of a business that doesn’t care about support and have taken down 2 different groups I’ve put up over the last two years – with no explanation and no manner of recourse.
Seriously, if you have to rely on the crazy idea that twittering Mark Zuckerberg gets a support issue handled then everything is wrong in Oz.
Facebook is a 1 million pound gorilla that happens to have the momentum of the masses now and is feasting on the data mining and annoying advertising they get – and apparently don’t care if you live, die, quit, leave, are mad, or have been wronged.
They already have all of the market they need.
I did a search inside FB under pages, people and groups and only found “Friends of….” If it’s not showing in the search or doesn’t appear when pasted in the URL, then it may have been deleted by FB in error. I would hound FB until someone responds (no pun intended!). Good luck!
Joan, I’ve been wondering what was up with you by not seeing any posts. I don’t see your Page either:( I actually am having a problem where my Landing Page for new people isn’t defaulting anymore and when I got to Manage Permissions, there isn’t a way to change the default now! They take this stuff away or maybe a bug, but very frustrating.
I am glad to hear you’re okay because I was beginning to worry about you!
-Jamey
PS Love the idea about a Press Release….maybe that will be Facebook’s attention!
Joan,
When I had problems with my page — I found some answers after “liking” Custom Fanpage Templates on Facebook. They even helped me come up with the “custom” URL for my Facebook Fan Page for my business, K9 Instincts LLC.
So please do a search for “Custom Fanpage Templates” on Facebook, “like” them, and then ask away.
Good Luck!
Joan,
A better page for you to go to might be the “Fan Page Help Center” it is also from the “templates” folks. In fact, they have a couple of other fan pages you can like. I hope you get your problem solved soon.
Joan – THANK YOU! For posting this!
I’ve been having the same problem for the last month. People keep telling me that my site loads to their home page. It used to work, but now it doesn’t. I can search for it, but they can’t. That’s frustrating. So I went to google to see if anyone else had a solution. I too have already looked at the page permission and do not have the check box checked.
I will continue on my search – or I’ll just delete the page. Kind of disappointing, but seriously! I guess this is why they (whoever they are) suggest that you should not rely on Facebook as your on-line presence, that you should also have a website. Point taken.
🙂
Janice
Hi Joan – I may have just found your problem-solve. This was the same thing happening on my page, and the checkbox wasn’t checked. But what was – was a country restriction. In my page it was set to only those in Canada could view it – I’ve since removed that tag. So hopefully it’s now viewable.
Perhaps this may fix your problem.
Janice you were spot on…I just helped a student of mine with the same problem who thought she was restricting a single site but was actually restricting the entire world but that country ha.
Joan,
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been having this problem. Were you able to change your profile settings, perhaps you page is set to not be searchable by others?
Hope this helps :o{
Joan,
The link to your F/Book Page works as of now. Maybe it’s a good idea for you to tell everyone how you got it sorted…… at last ?
Hello Joan,
How did you eventually get your page to work? I’m experiancing the same problem.
You are so awesome for hlpneig me solve this mystery.
no on can see my page i have checked permission settings and they are ok what is it
Go into settings and make sure you have enabled people from all countries.
Go into settings and make sure you have enabled people from all countries.
Maybe you’ve selected some specific country (countries) to make your page visible to. If you have, just go to “Manage Permissions” and unchecked them. It might work that way.
That’s exactly what happened to me, Claire. But that was not done intentionally. It’s amazing how one little setting can change everything!
Hi
I recently created a Facebook business page and I am unable to find it on Google.Even when I type the exact URL- http://www.facebook.com/TravelistaProductions i can’t find it !!!
Secondly, my business page is not even displayed in Facebook drop down menu when my friends type its name. Even though they have liked my page, Facebook doesn’t show my page. The drop down menu says 0 results found. However, when they go ahead and click ‘See more results’ in the drop down menu, the link to my page is displayed.
I have ensured that I don’t have any country or age restrictions on my settings !
Please help me !!!
Facebook’s new features might still have bugs. I suggest you go to Mari Smith’s page at http://www.Facebook.com/MariSmith and post your question there. If anybody can help, you, she can. Good luck!
I am having the same problem with my personal page. No one can see posts that I make, but they can see posts from friends to my page.
Of course, I’ve reported the “bug” to FB, but have no hope of a reply. I am very, upset and would be VERY grateful for any suggestions!
I don’t know the ansswr to your problem. I suggest you go to Mari Smith’s page on Facebook. If anybody knows how to solve this problem, she does.
I’m having the same problem: my fan page does not appear for searches conducted inside FB (but HAS been indexed by the search engines). If someone goes to our page manually and clicks like, then we’ll appear in searches. Very frustrating.
I recommend you contact a PR agency that has contacts at Facebook. Contact Dave Kerpen at Likeable Media and see if he has FB contacts.