Question

Topic: Social Media

Irrelevant Wall Posts

Posted by mktgcbb on 2/7/2011 at 4:32 PM ET 500 Points
Our organization has an active Facebook wall with a lot of participation from our customers and others within the industry. Unfortunately, every so often we get someone who makes an irrelevant self promoting post about their business--not responding to a thread but starting a new topic. We feel it takes away from the valuable and relevant comments - if only because it pushes them further to the bottom of the page where they are less visible. What is the protocol for deleting such posts. We welcome most any comments and want to be transparent in our dealings. Is it ok to delete these posts? Is there some way to address this before it happens? What is the industry best practice? thanks!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by michael on 2/7/2011 at 4:38 PM Accepted
    It might be good to post a reminder of the "policy" for postings. You don't have to do it each time but often enough to remind you regular readers that you are serious.

    Michael
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 2/7/2011 at 4:41 PM Accepted
    The page's owner can delete these. But it depends if this is a personal page named for the company, a group page, a company's page, etc.

    But it may not be as bad as you think. Usually only those posts by the owner of the page show up on everyone's main screens' info stream. For example, when I log into FB, I get a listing of friend's updates and business updates under my "most recent". The business updates only show those that are posted by the owner of that page or posted by a friend of mine. Only if I go to that business' facebook page would I see posts by others, such as what you are talking about.

    (sorry - I am not totally up on FB terms).
  • Posted on 2/7/2011 at 4:47 PM Accepted
    Hello:

    We're also currently assessing our (lack of) policy and guidelines and we chose to address this issue by adding some vary basic disclaimer text on our Info tab that provides for some messaging rules and guidelines. The text will stipulate the standard respect, civility, blah, blah stuff, as well as let our Fans know that we have the right to remove posts that fall outside the general interest scope of our Fan base (public university).

    Frankly, we've had only rare cases requiring deletion and tend to keep a somewhat liberal approach. We do have a tipping point, however, if an unsavory topic starts to gain traction. As such, we've planned subtle tactics that hopefully detracts attention from said topic.

    Good luck!
    Terry
  • Posted by Kevin McIntosh on 2/7/2011 at 4:51 PM Accepted
    Adding to what Michael said, I suggest you publish your blog/Facebook wall policy to your FB page. Create a new tab, called "Policy" or similar and publish the policy there.
  • Posted by melissa.paulik on 2/7/2011 at 6:26 PM Accepted
    I agree with W.M.M.A. Just delete the posts that are self-serving spam. These posters deserve no more respect than they gave you.

    However, I still recommend a posting policy page encouraging others to start relevant discussions. I find that a lot of company pages only have posts by the company. I think customers are sometimes afraid to start discussions (even relevant ones) for fear they are doing something the company doesn't want them to do.
  • Posted by mktgcbb on 2/8/2011 at 7:03 AM Author
    Thanks for all the great responses so far. This is definitely a "learn as you go" process and at times uncomfortable. We actually have great participation without much prodding from us. We do post news from our association members on a separate tab so a policy and suitable outlet would give us a good reason to delete irrelevant posts on our wall. BUT. . .one poster talks about a lawsuit against one of our major donors. . .I don't know the merit of the case, and don't want to offend a donor. . .what's our obligation in this case? Do we remove and potentially look like we're hiding something? Is there a way on Facebook to hide it and say "this post removed due to the fact that you might jeopardize our much needed funding and possibly get us sued?????"

    Thanks again, I really appreciate all of the helfpul insight!
  • Posted by mktgcbb on 2/8/2011 at 2:10 PM Author
    You all have been awesome. Thanks so much for the insight!
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