One thing that I always warn people about is becoming a fan of a company or person to keep an eye on them when in reality you don’t believe in them, you don’t like them and/or you don’t think they are ethical or have the same standards or business/social values that you do. Many people look at who you are friends with and who you follow or become a fan of. When they see you are a fan of a certain site, company, Agency, etc… it gives that company credibility. It’s sort of like sending an email and the person reads it how you did not mean it.
You could mean something completely innocent but the way they read it they could react very negatively, take it the wrong way or end up reading into it to much and getting the wrong opinion of you. Compared to Facebook fanpages, etc… if you are a white hat Marketer or you don’t work with Parasites but your competitors do and are on your friends list or you are fans of their company, people don’t know you are just trying to keep an eye on them and see what they are up to and sometimes may assume that because you have friended them or become a fan of them on Facebook you support them or believe in them and the person may begin to work with them because you have now given them credibility and raised them above others.
In a different post I had mentioned how a small niche Affiliate Network had assumed that two OPM companies that are “reputable” were good people so they sent them new Clients when a company that was not a good fit for their Network would apply and want help. When they told me I laughed and asked if they were joking.
The one OPM firm works and pushes adware and the other is plain scum in my book (no I will not be listing names here so please don’t ask). The reason they didn’t send them to me was because they didn’t know I went back out on my own. After having a brief conversation with them and showing them where to look and in which programs they quickly realized their mistake and I told them a couple of other firms to recommend Clients to as there are a few good ones left out there that I personally recommend, even though we are competitors.
Anyways, I gave them validity because they were listed as friends of mine in Facebook and feel bad that the Merchants would get screwed by a few unethical OPM firms. I also felt bad that when things went down hill it would look bad on the small network since the recommendations were to two firms that I have no respect for and would never send anyone to.
When you do friend someone on Facebook it really does add credibility to them. Be cautious who you friend and be even more cautious when you join a Fanpage. You never know if someone is going to evaluate and use a firm because of the people who are fans. I still have a few people on my friends like that I think are the scum of the earth and so I am posting here to let anyone and everyone know, if you want a referral of someone to work with, and you don’t want to work with my firm, just ask me and I’ll give you my honest opinion. I follow and friend some people only to keep an eye on them and I encourage you to really think about who you friend and who you follow or become a fan of because you never know if you will accidentally give someone credibility or make someone who doesn’t uphold the same values and ethics you do look like they could be someone you would work with or recommend.
What sparked this post was a Youtube video an Affiliate friend of mine sent me this morning. It is a light hearted South Park skit about Facebook profiles and how things can be taken out of context. I do have to warn you that although most of this post is office friendly, there are a couple of colorful words in here so you may want to turn the volume down or wait until you get home to watch it.
