Wednesday 9 November 2011

Please 'like' my facebook page - a rant

How many times did someone you didn't even interact with  -- on facebook or elsewhere, sent you a friend request, just to immediately post a link to his or her facebook page, asking to take a look or 'like' it?
Does that annoy you as much as it annoys me?
No, seriously. I don't have a problem with people building their pages and if a fan happens to like it -- fine by me.
What pisses me off is the cheek people have to pester me with their generous offers on my wall. I always feel like I've opened the door to someone I just met and, without saying hello, he comes in to placard my walls and leaves flyers everywhere, just to bugger off after that.
I don't like that sort of behaviour. Facebook has become more and more a pain in the backside and people only use it for promotion instead of communicating with each other. Every time I get a friend request, I check the person out to see if they plaster their links on the new friend's wall or not. If you look at their own pages, it's often full of links to their books which are available on amazon, smashwords or even on the moon. Despite having 2548 friends, they don't interact with them. Gee, why don't you just tattoo the title of your book in bright red on your forehead and walk through the streets? Would get you certainly more attention than get on fellow writers' and authors' nerves.
As you probably have guessed by now: I'm allergic to it.
You know, I wonder why those people take themselves so damn seriously? Who do they think they are, written a book, sold three copies and feel the need to force their fan-page down other people's throats?

Do they not understand that begging to take a look and like their page is not only the pathetic attempt to gather some better looking figures underneath the like-button, but also preaching to the choir?
I used to have a page for my novel No Wings Attached and I remember that I asked my few friends I had back then to 'like' it. I think I ended up with something around 26, oh dizzy heights of stardom.
I'm trying to understand what the point is, because unless you have hundreds or more people following your updates, it's just more work for a site nobody's interested in. How many of those who've been asked to 'like' the page actually go back for a follow up? I place my bet on 1%. 

I have you know that I'm going to build one in the near future and be it only to take revenge on all those authors who thought it's appropriate to leave their rubbish in my living room. And I'll leave a link three times a day, every day.

There, now, I feel better.

11 comments:

  1. LOL! I think the point is so they can get your email address and spam you. LOL. My email address is freely available so I rarely like anyone's Facebook page, especially if I don't know them and have never read their book. :)

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  2. What? You're telling me that when I clicked 'like' on my beloved Bruce Lee page, they will send me now several e-mails about Bruce Lee?

    I think I need to sit down.

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  3. Isn't that how it works? I don't know. I don't have a Facebook page. (Though I am on Facebook). But I think I read a book marketing blog along those lines saying why "Likes" were important. So you can email all your fans when your new book comes out. But I agree with you, Stella. :) I'm on my way to the tattoo parlour now, LOL.

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  4. Now that made me laugh. I'll be on the lookout for a pretty girl with a bright-red tattoo.

    I don't know how the likes work. I thought it's more of a popularity thing. Gosh, I would be ready to murder if people would e-mail me about their books, in addition to sending sneaky messages or bluntly posting links on my profile.

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  5. It's simple, really: the more likes you have, the more weight your page has in the FB algorithm that chooses which pages to show in the people's timelines and which to hide.

    People can't send you spam emails if you've liked their page. They can see your public profile, but that's it. They can see it anyway.

    Personally, I advertise to target audience to get my likes (just got about 800 in one month). Very few people really interact, so I don't sell them anything. I just chat about my genre (Historical Fantasy).

    And if someone posts links on my wall without invitation... I just delete them and move on. *Shrug*

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  6. Hello, Austin, nice to meet you.

    You see, that's the point: I don't want to target. Instead, I'll put a button on my blog and if people think they want to know more, they can go from there. I don't click on anything facebook suggests. If your book is written well enough, word of mouth will do the rest and when one is 'famous' people click 'like' because they want to, not because they've been asked to.

    Of course it's only how I feel. Someone targets me and they see me running for the hills.

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  7. I see. Thank you for correcting my misapprehension, Austin. Those algorithms give me a headache.

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  8. Hi Stella, nice to meet you, too. I understand exactly how you feel... because I feel the same way. I hate to be targeted.

    But when I'm targeted well, I bite the bait. Right now I'm considering shelling out $68 for an internet marketing course that had reached me via a Facebook ad. How sad is that.

    Hi Vanessa, good to see you here! I've come to Stella's blog via your Facebook page :) I know I can trust your recommendations.

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  9. Austin: yes, we are a pathetic little species, we humans. I, too, bite when properly targeted. Guess we all do.
    But those 'oh I just unload my shitty links on every new friend's wall' are anything, but certainly not marketing pro's. I don't even accept friends anymore, unless they're not authors or I have 'spoken' to them before.

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  10. Hi Stella,
    Now that we have met, please stop by and "Like" my site. The desperation of my clamor for publicity is exceeded only by the mediocrity of my material.

    Kidding!
    Rant on. Love your site.

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  11. I can't help but to like your comment ;-)

    Made me smile. Thank you.

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