Starting Over on Facebook is More Challenging Than Necessary

Trolls and Bots are Ruining These Apps

Years ago, there was a widespread saying that states,

Facebook has the people you went to high school with; Twitter has the people you wish you went to high school with.

I couldn’t agree more.

After spending years on the app, I noticed something: people who “know you” don’t want to see you prosper.

After spending many years on the platform and collecting 5K friends and hundreds of followers, I realized that those who genuinely supported my progress and self-development were few and far between.

Granted, no one owes me anything. But at the same time, getting dozens of comments on negativity while having my writing, music, and other ventures virtually ignored was too much to handle.

New Beginnings

So, one day, I packed my meta bags, deactivated my account, and never went back… until now.

For years, I worked in spaces that didn’t require a social media presence. I also focused on socializing with those who cared enough to contact me in real life rather than simply sending me a “thumbs up” here and there when I post controversial memes and status updates.

Nevertheless, now that I’m building and expanding my personal brand, I felt the need to return to the app to connect with like-minded people and find my village.

And rather than return to my old profile, I decided to build from scratch. Unfortunately, this proves to be far more complicated than expected.

You see, as stated in the past, social media is a numbers game. Read more about my thoughts on that here:

Social Media Success is a Numbers Game: Tips from a Sociological Perspective

Likes attract likes…

medium.com

Either way, apparently, when you don’t have many Facebook friends, people think you’re a troll or bot, which makes them hesitant to add you. And if nobody adds you, nobody adds you.

Indeed, it’s been many years (over 5) since I’ve been on the app, and not only did I have a different name (I used my artist name the first go-round), but I also have different pictures, etc., so even the select few people I actually know don’t seem to realize it’s me. Fine and dandy.

They will also restrict your account if you like too many pages or add too many people too quickly. What else am I supposed to do?!

The real kicker is that many groups have a restriction that disallows users from joining unless they’ve been on the app for a year or more. A year?! That’s wild!

Granted, Facebook is one of the largest apps on the internet, and most people have profiles, but most are by no means all. I’m pretty sure plenty of people are joining and re-joining the platform daily, only to be shunned by people and groups suspicious of their motives.

The State of Ivy Lock on Facebook

I’ve only been on the app for a couple of months and have been networking for a few weeks. So far, I have around 30 friends (most of whom are strangers with shared interests) and have been admitted into 10–20 groups.

Nevertheless, hitting the ground running as a “new user” seems next to impossible on the app. So, for now, I’m just enjoying the slow growth and considering setting up an Ivy Locke Writes page in the near future.

Either way, Facebook and its communities give very little consideration to those starting or restarting their social media journeys. And given that it’s a sector that thrives on numbers and new users, this seems counterproductive, to say the very least.

But I’m sure Mark Zuckerberg won’t take any advice from little ‘ole me… at least, not yet.

At the end of the day, I blame the trolls and bots. But at the same time, you’d think there would have been some technology by now that can more easily identify and remove these accounts to protect all users involved.

Have you recently created a new Facebook profile?

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