Thursday, February 10, 2011

New Facebook Page Admin Tools--Including Alerts!

Earlier today I saw that Facebook has added keyword moderation and profanity blocklists to the barely effective spam filter it introduced a few months ago. I say "barely effective" because my experience with the spam filter has been that it blocks posts that are fine and lets actual spam posts through.

I'm the first to admit I do a lot of complaining about Facebook, particularly about privacy stuff and the lack of functionality for Page admins. So it's nice to see that they are at least thinking about Page admins and attempting to incorporate more control into the available admin tools. So, in a departure from my usual ranting about how Facebook sucks, I'm going to try something new: a list of what I WISH Facebook would offer Page admins.
  1. Actual Spam Controls--the spam filter is a nice idea and better than nothing, but in reality it doesn't do much but add yet another headache for Page admins. First of all, I'd be willing to bet that many Page admins don't even realize there IS a spam filter because Facebook doesn't really advertise it as a feature. Second of all, I find the filter tends to trap mostly posts that are fine and plenty of spam still makes it to the Wall. How about let Page admins define what is spam and isn't? It would make my life MUCH easier if I could whitelist someone ONE time rather than see the same posters show up in the spam filter over and over and over again. So Facebook, if you're listening, how about adding a "unmark as spam and whitelist" feature?
  2. Comment alerts--after going for two years with no way to be alerted to new comments or posts on the wall of the Page I admin, I'm delighted to see new tools offering this capability. But if third party platforms can do this, Facebook, why can't you just add it to your admin toolbox? ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE! When I drafted this post I wished for comment alerts; about an hour later when I went to Facebook to check my Page, I had a notice that there's a new look for Pages. Not only a new look but new functionality--including NOTIFICATION WHEN SOMEONE POSTS A COMMENT ON YOUR PAGE! You're welcome everyone. ;)
  3. Updates on New Functionality--it's bad enough to have to spend every waking hour obsessively checking the Page you admin for fires you may need to put out; it's beyond insult to injury that unless you work for a big brand or agency, the only way you hear about new features for Facebook Pages is via blogs or other admins happening to mention that something's new. Take the spam filter, for instance--I didn't even know that it existed until it had already been there for over a month, then I had to sleuth out how to even FIND the filter because Facebook's help section only says that there is a filter, not how to access it. Pretty please, Facebook--can I at least get on the email list that announces new functions when they're released?
Ok, actually, that turned out to be a short list because off the top of my head I can only think of those three. What would you add?

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