Facebook changes it up

It’s interesting times at Facebook. Places, the social media giant’s location-based service has launched in the US and will be here soon. VAT has already arrived; from September onwards ads purchased on Facebook will be subject to Irish Value Added Tax. And there’s one other development of note. Facebook has begun cracking down on promotions that contravene guidelines published in December 2009.

Here are some of their promotional edicts:

• No promotions open or marketed to individuals who are under the age of 18.
• No sweepstakes open to individuals living in Belgium, Norway, Sweden, or India.
• And no promotions in which alcohol, dairy or firearms form any part of the prize.

However, the real issue that will concern many Irish brands and businesses using facebook is that now, you must get written approval to use Facebook’s native functionality in a promotion.

Off the wall

What does that mean? It means if you ask people to enter a competition via your page’s wall, or by uploading a photo, tagging a photo, changing status, or doing anything they normally do on Facebook, you’re gonna get a rap on the knuckles. To use native functionality for any sort of promotional activity, you now need to have promotions approved by Facebook before they can go live. You’ll need to submit your full designs and working application to an account executive. It seems the social networking site is trying to push promotions off the wall and into applications, which sit in a separate tab and are administered by a third party.

This is a real kick in the teeth for those of us using Facebook in Ireland. Only now are brand managers beginning to realise the power of Facebook. And now one of its key attractions has been taken off limits.

Get familiar with Facebook T&Cs now and amend your Page or else you could find your page turned off.

You can read full details here.

Steve Dempsey is the Social Media guy at Slattery Communications.