It's been 7 years since chapters and states were first given the opportunity to obtain approval for their public social media accounts. This marked the beginning of social media collaboration between our national VIS Committee and states and chapters - a collaboration that has resulted in more than 850 approved social accounts.
In 2017, creating and managing a chapter’s Facebook page was easy and rewarding. It provided a free platform for chapters to reach prospective members and communicate the work they do promoting our shared mission of historic preservation, patriotism, and education.
Social Media platforms have changed dramatically since 2017. As those of you who have been serving as a DAR volunteer social media managers know, the social media landscape has become increasingly difficult to navigate over the years - especially Facebook.
Although we have had occasional past reports of Facebook pages being suspended, there seems to have been a recent uptick. The increase in the number of suspensions reported to our VIS Committee has given us the opportunity to compile information about each suspension and look for patterns that may help avoid future problems.
Because of the willingness of affected chapters and states to collaborate with us, we have identified two categories Facebook used to flag our pages as violating their “Community Standards”.
- Impersonation
- Connection to a compromised account
Impersonation is defined by Facebook as “falsely representing that you are authorized to speak on behalf of, another person, brand, business or organization.”
Facebook explains account profiles are acceptable if they
- Disclose “in your profile’s name and bio that your profile is intended to express support for a public figure”.
However, account profiles are unacceptable if their profiles
- Use “a name and profile photo that may confuse or mislead others into believing that your profile authentically represents a business or public figure” or
- State “that your profile is ‘official’ when you are not affiliated with the person or business your profile is intended to represent”.
These statements provided by Facebook indicate the charge of Impersonation is related to our profiles - not the page’s post content.
Connection to a compromised account occurs when a page admin’s personal FB account is flagged by Facebook as violating Community standards. Most often this occurs when an page admin receives a message telling her there is a problem with a post to her personal FB account. Sometimes, that message comes from Facebook. However, it can also come from a nefarious phishing attempt. Depending on the actions she takes in response to these messages, pages she helps manage may also be flagged as violating Facebook’s community standards.
Neither violation seems to be related to chapter page post content. Neither points to anything chapters are “doing wrong”. Rest assured, it's not you. It's the changes in Facebook’s moderation of their evolving community standards.
Unfortunately, in most cases, even when a chapter appeals Facebook’s claim, Facebook stands by its decision and denies the appeal. With that reality in mind, we quickly turned our attention to defining proactive measures that may help chapters avoid future issues.
These Facebook Page Suggestions address the factors Facebook identifies. They include housekeeping changes to existing Facebook page profiles as well as ways our page admins can better protect their personal Facebook accounts from being flagged.
Please keep in mind these are suggestions - not required changes. They are based on the information affected chapters have shared with us and represent our “best guess” into the mind of Facebook.
We also have prepared a Suspension Survey form you can use to advise the VIS Committee of a suspension. Continuing to collect information will allow us to view the issue, not within the framework of a single moment in time, but rather as an ongoing concern. If we see new trends arise, we can adapt and communicate updated suggestions.
Thanks to each of you who has worked closely with us this week. This information comes from your experiences and your generosity of time and resources to help us help other chapters.
A special thanks to Korrie Tosh for bringing us into the conversation and to Kate Johanns for reviewing these suggestions through the lens of Public Relations and Media and for adding the section regarding admin account management.
To all, please don't hesitate to contact us with questions or concerns. We couldn't do what we do without you. Working with you to evaluate this situation and then determine positive steps forward is a perfect example of our “DAR Ties of Service and Friendship”.