I did a little social media experiment yesterday after being taken off of several facebook pages that serve the communities where I live. I posted a link to my book on ICM art which is available for sale, then I posted a link to an upcoming event at the Hendo-One Gallery for a show I am sponsoring there.
On three of the Facebook pages that I posted, my personal book advertisement was taken down because it was deemed self-promotion, or selling, in violation of page rules. Yet the same sites were OK with the Hendo-One announcement. Funny thing is, with each post, the beneficiary of someone clicking on the link is ME.
So, I started to look at what was going on with these Facebook pages regarding the types of posts being approved by the Administrators. I'll use the page 'All Things Greenville, SC' as it was the most recent place where my post was pulled. This page told me that absolutely no selling was allowed on their site as the reason for pulling the information on my book.
Within a minute of reviewing that site, I discovered that a little less than half of the posts on there are from people who own businesses that are offering a variety of services FOR SALE to their communities...
Some of the things found were as follows:
- A bar promoting local musicians - there are a lot of these on all of the community sites that I visit. Aside from using the bands to promote business, I don't think any of these sites consider the legal consequences of promoting drinking and driving. People have to get there and go home somehow, all the while consuming alcohol and listening to the band.
- That's Keto SC - a local restaurant selling Keto-themed food.
- Clean Estates - selling home cleaning services.
- Zoomin Groomin - another cleaning service site, maybe with pet grooming added?
- Travel Agency - promoting her special on tickets top Disney world.
- Lawn services - advertising for business in the local area.
And the ads go on and on and on.
The point I am making is that all of these 'businesses' are individually run enterprises and their posts are in violation of the no selling rules just as mine was. But for some reason, they are deemed acceptable while my self-promotion is not.
This puts artists who want to get their work noticed by communities at a distinct disadvantage. By nature, all artists are individuals, so anything they do on sites like 'All Things, Greenville, SC" is going to be labeled self-promotion or 'selling', while the 'businesses' get away with violating the rules on a routine basis.
My hope with this post, is that it makes the administrators of these community service sites think a little bit about their displays of hypocrisy when it comes to who can and who cannot put information on their websites.