Facebook Booted Me for Having 5000 Friends!

Bymayor

I’ve been a fan of Facebook for a couple years. I think it’s a great way to network with others and build your business.

I’ve used the site create my own groups, build a fan page, post videos, interact with family, friends and fans, and basically enjoyed its functionality.

I’ve always abided by their terms of service, even though thousands of people break the rules every day.

I’m a credible marketer with a 15-year history on the web. I’ve built dozens of sites, written best-sellers, speak all over the world and am respected in the industry. I’ve even written a 30-page report on how to use Facebook for business.

So what happened?

This morning, I logged into my account and was greeted by this message.

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What?

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Here’s what happened…

I reached my 5000 friend limit on the site.

When that happens, people can still make friend requests of you, but they are told that the user has reached his or her limit.

On my end, I see the friend request as usual and I approve them as spots open up.

Should I ignore the people who have made requests while they wait for approval?

Or should I communicate with them and tell them other ways in which they can interact with me?

I choose the latter.

One by one, I’ve been going through the friend requests and clicking the link that says “Send a message” which appears directly next to the approve and decline buttons.

My messages have been different for each user. I often try to personalize based on their own profile or any previous encounters we have had.

A typical message would say…

Thanks for the request! I’ve reached my 5000 friend limit on Facebook, but you can follow me on my fan page at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Joel-Comm/9907159309?ref=s

Hope to see you there!

Or another message might say…

hiya! I’m glad you had the opportunity to see me speak at Harv Eker’s event. I’m at my Facebook friend limit, but visit my blog and you can stay up to date on my activities. http://www.joelcomm.com

An admin at Facebook apparantly decided that I was SPAMMING people who had REQUESTED contact with me!

I contacted no more than thirty people who had made a friend request. What am I supposed to do? Just be rude and leave them hanging?

If I had done something wrong, I should have received a warning. The fact that I was trying to use Facebook as intended should not be a cause for suspension.

This should make anyone who is serious about using Facebook a little gunshy.

Apparantly, my “Friends of Joel Comm” page and “Joel Comm” fan page remains in tact.

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I have appealed to Facebook to reinstate my account. They also need to revisit their “shoot first, ask questions later” suspension policy. I’m just a bit offended that some lacky without common sense can push the “off” button on my account when I have worked so hard to build it.

What happens next?

It’s in Facebook’s hands.

But be warned. If you have over 5000 friends, don’t even THINK about corresponding with anyone else that wants to friend you.

Do the right thing, Facebook. Reinstate my account, please.

1/24/2009 – Robert Scoble interviewed me about my Facebook trials. Read the article here

1/26/2009 – I’m back on Facebook! Read all about it

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189 Comments

  1. i have been disable from facebook pass 4 days,i have been complaining facebook about it pass 3 days but i have not receive an answer from them.please help me to get my account back…

  3. I had the same troubles with Facebook with the “shoot first ask questions later”. They set things straight, but I had to expend more effort than they did. They acted as if they’d done nothing wrong even though I followed the “rules and guidelines”. It can be very frustrating.

  5. My Account was disabled a week ago,I have asked them for the reason and they have sent a reply that they would get back to me soon,I used to add friends randomly to increase my Mafia size in Mafia Wars..The game FB supports and people get addicted to it because of FB and now i get thrown out of FB for using their games?? this aint fair..i had 2400+ friends and i owned a group relating to mafia wars which has 1600+ members,My account has vanished from FB..the group is still active becoz i had an admin for it..PLEASE HELP..PLEASE GIVE SOME ADVICE.. I AM REALLY DEPRESSED..HAD A LOT OF FRIENDS THERE

  6. I think this is reasonable. Facebook was not designed nor is it intended to build businesses. It is for connected with real life friends. With how many of those 5000 “friends” have you shaken hands? Facebooks creators do not want their site turned into a marketing platform. It was originally created for college students and people are now abusing it.

  9. Mr.Comm,
    You seem to be a “Robin Hood” figure on the net as the ultimate under dog from being “Disabled” & now Re-instated!
    My account was disabled this wed the 14th of April! Can You please help me on directing the best solution on getting my account “Re-instated” back now?
    I was punished from what the rep stated as “Harassments & Complaints!” Yet how am I as a African American male Business owner that was simply recruiting fitness models to Both receive & wear my 3 new clothing lines All FOR “FREE” yet I’m accused of “HARASSING”? Well I apologized and promised to stop GIVING MY CLOTHES AWAY FOR “FREE” F R E E ! All in return to being part of a Model search contest & win MORE FREE PRIZES & $$$$ Both US & EURO! So today the 15th of April I’m now told It’ll be “PERMANENT” yet I’m confused as to if this means I’m BANNED for Good or What?
    Can you please Help me Mr.Comm on getting my Account back up which only has 2300 friends & over 100 Fan pages that I do LOVE! To be back up & reactivated asap! (I have so much riding on this along with my future investors that will want to see my FB action in regards to my potential on making money with my clothing line! I don’t want to be BANNED for life & try to Sneakingly start another page up but wake up one day to have it “DELETED!” Please help me Mr.Comm!

  10. Facebook has some serious issues seriously. Lately they disabled my profile for posting a video which was anti-isreal. Freedom of speech isntd?
    But what they are doing on 20th may to Draw Muhammad day .. performing such a blasphemous act is fine for them. Bravo

  11. I have had the same problem. Facebook has unexpectedly suspended me from my account, yet i was given no warnings about any suspicious behaviour, nor have they told me what i have done wrong. To make matters worse, every time i try to log back onto my account i am forced to go through 7 steps in order to ‘restore’ my account. The problem is, it is impossible for me to get passed step 3, as facebook will not send me the security code needed to do so!!! This is extremely annoying and putting so much stress on to me as i use my account for almost everything! I have already missed important work meetings as i was not notified of it over facebook (which is how we communicate after hours). I have even sent numerous emails to [email protected], but have recieved no replys. Is this the address i should be complaining to? Please, HELP ME

  12. I have created a group called THE FACEBOOK USER GROUP.
    This group is for sharing opinions and experiences.
    Do you think I’m doing something wrong?

  13. What a fiasco. I wonder how they determined that you can only have 5,000 friends. I would think that such user unfriendly policies would be counter-productive for them as they aren’t the only gig in town. They should give the royal treatment to their heavy hitters.

  15. I lost my account through no fault of my own and I honestly believe, we are far better off sticking to Google and isolating these untrustworthy social-media site into oblivion. We don’t need Facebook in our lives, what possible advantage would we have by trusting a site that has multiple restrictions and ever changing house-rules. Google may not have the numbers of fans but it reins in good quality, a one-to-one relationship with it’s users and a reliable mainframe that we can use easily. We at least have a guarantee from Google that our Privacy will always be intact, what I say, about Facebook?
    For those people who melt at the very word of Facebook and need to link in accounts, here is the sharer you have all been waiting on the edge of your seats for: http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=file%3A%2F%2F%2FC%3A%2FUsers%2F after the last letter (F) put your details there and send my sincere wishes to them for betraying a user, one of many they have systematically offended by their poor online service.

  16. I’m on facebook & i also have a facebook page for my website & things like what happened to Joel is alarming & to remove people’s accounts for having to many friends & too much mailing between friends is stupid as it goes against the grain of social networking.
    I’m just glad Joel has been reinstated & the powers that be maybe coming out of their dreamworld as social networking is supposed to free people & not make slaves of them to some sort of corporate ideal.
    Look me up on facebook if you’d like to add me as a friend, i play quite a few of the games and am aways willing to try to send people the gifts they are looking for on the game apps.

  17. Hello,
    I need help. My Facebook account was disable yesterday because of multiple accounts. I don’t understand this because I have only one account with Facebook and only one email. What can I do?

  18. good morning Joel, i recently had a friend be deactivated from her facebook account. she was not warned about friend limits, etc. they simply just deleted it. Like you she used it for her business (kinda) she is social worker that helps banded teens and kids get back on their feet. Also helps adults with recovery from addictions, abuse, etc. She would do posts (status updates) on new advice etc. If you could please let me know what more she can do to get her account back i would greatly appreciate it. let me know what information you need. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

  19. My personal account has been disabled and now i really need it back so is there any other way i can get it back? please can anybody help me with that problem?

  20. In my opinion FB is based on communist rule. You cannot ask anybody that you don’t know personally for friendship.
    FB recommends people that you may know somebody on your home page. You ask for friendship and they suspend your account for 2-4 days. We do have a choice, we can accept somebody for friendship or ignore it but not with FB. They take away our freedom of choice.

  22. I think the 5000 limit is understandable from the point of view that they don’t want to be used as a CRM system, but if you are a large company it’s perfectly normal to have more than 5000 people in your contact list, or even have more than 5000 people wanting to contact you!

  25. I get there.here is my other account FB recommends people that you may know somebody on your home page. You ask for friendship and they suspend your account for 2-4 days. We do have a choice, we can accept somebody for friendship or ignore it but not with FB. They take away our freedom of choice.

  28. What’s there reason for banning your account? Is it because you have 5000 friends? Oh common, I think that wasn’t right. They should include on the terms and conditions the limitations of confirming friends, so that the users will be aware of that also. It would be better if you will just create another account; but sad to say that all those being included in your business deals will no longer appear.

  29. I am also disappointed about this matter. In my case, I’ve been to different schools and companies (I am working) and met many good people around and became my friends. Here comes the Facebook era, and of course almost all of us have this account. I was able to find friends and of course I’ve got to add them up. Out of no where, I was immediately logged-off, and I logged-in again, and I was informed that I’m suspended adding friends for one month. What are their basis on suspending user to add someone? How are they sure that I am a spammer? How come once I got online, they keep on suggesting a person to add as friend, and now they are suspending me up. I suggest that they have to remove the friend suggestion.

  31. Because you weren’t putting money in their pocket to mass mail/SPAM would be friends, it’s in violation. If you fork money over to them, you’re allowed to do anything you want. People need to dumb this social media site for one that isn’t greedy. Like that’ll happen.

  32. I am disable to access my facebook account. Because they have sent me a reregistration link but this this time i was unable to reregistration. That’s why they have blocked my facebook account. At this time what should i have to do to get back my facebook account.

  36. Hey Joel – this is how I’ve handled this issue.
    When I hit about friend #4850, instead of contacting each new person wishing to friend me (pretty time consuming in and of itself), I modified my profile pic, adding text that says the page is now full – please stay in touch with me at my FB fan/business page (more or less).
    Since doing this, I’ve still gotten a steady influx of friend requests, but seen a fairly substantial boost in my fan page’s membership as well.
    Hope this helps!

  37. Oh the perils of someone else “owning” your assets! I was suspended by LinkedIn when I argued with them about their insistence that I take all mention of the word “LinkedIn” off my profile. I think I may have made it worse by just not rolling over and complying but after all, I do focus on LinkedIn, so I wanted word from them on how to state that fact without looking like I was a company employee.
    I also blogged about it… and filed a BBB complaint.
    http://rocktheworldmedia.com/blog/linkedin-penalty-box/
    Knowing how to navigate our profiles and accounts on someone else’s site is critical to our success nowadays. I applaud you for blogging about this issue to make other people aware, and to give people like Matt (who commented Oct 21) a chance to share workarounds.

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