This is a true story—a tale of woe, if you will. In early December, Facebook decided that I was a robot and closed down my page. When I couldn’t get into my Facebook page, I immediately tried to contact the help desk. What did I learn? Facebook has no help desk. I tried to find a phone number. I searched desperately on Google for a number to call to explain my situation. Finally, I found one. Excitedly I called.
Yes, the man told me, we can help you. Let me take a look. And before I knew it, he had somehow accessed my computer. That’s when I got scared and immediately hung up the phone and called my local computer nerd.
“Turn off the internet. Now! Do not turn it on until you bring us the computer,” the nice man said. So I turned off my internet and headed to his store. That’s when things got exciting.
He connected my machine to his Wi-Fi, and switched on Google. And immediately slammed down the lid of my laptop.
“There was someone looking back at me from your camera as soon as I turned on the internet,” he told me. He cautiously opened the lid just enough to hit the Wi-Fi off button. “We are going to have to wipe your computer,” he explained.
Luckily, I have all my files backed up on Dropbox, so I went for the cheaper route of wiping the computer but adding my various apps back on my own. It worked, my computer was healed, and I returned home to begin the tedious process of getting my apps back.
The computer was fine, but my Facebook page was still dead. Gone. Lost. Dead. As. A. Doornail.
Now I had three connected Facebook pages, a personal page, a business page, and a page for a new pen name I’m creating. (More on that later.) All gone. The ten years of photos I had on the pages—gone. The friends and followers—gone. I was starting my social media from scratch.
I’ve got a new Karen Hodges Miller Facebook page now. If you get a friend request from me, please add me. It’s not a scam—it’s just me trying to find my friends again. I have not opened an Open Door Publications page. I’m not sure I’m going to. And I went to a new social media site, Blue Sky, and opened an account under my pen name Lee K. Rogers.
So what’s lessons did I learn?
- There is no way to contact Facebook. If you see a phone number online, don’t call it! It’s a scam.
- Back Up Your Work. If I didn’t have a dependable online backup it would have cost me a lot more money to make sure I did not lose anything. But the most important thing I learned is:
- Own Your Own Platform. This means that if you are depending on a Facebook author page as your only way to communicate with your fans, you are endanger of losing them. ALL of them. You must have a website. You must have a way to collect the names and emails of the people who buy your books.