You HAVE Been Banned FROM SIFG!?!

Each week, since the beginning of November, we receive at least a dozen emails from folks that are fans of our Facebook page, asking if we have banned them. We have been getting reports that people cannot see our posts, that our page doesn’t show up in the Facebook news-feed (especially on mobile) etc.

And even though they have changed their settings so that we show up in the news-feed, they still don’t see us.

We have not banned anyone. Unless you have used excessive foul language, issues death threats, or done something really really creepy, we don’t ban folks. Even if you have a different opinion than someone else, or have something mean to say to us, we don’t just ban fans out of habit. Seriously, who has the time for that?

At SIFG, we have tried to build a COMMUNITY! Do we sell things? Sure. We do, and we won’t apologize for that because we think we sell awesome products, and we too, are trying to make a living. But since the onset of our page which is now reaching nearly 60K fans, we have limited promotional posts, and STRIVE TO POST HELPFUL COMMUNITY BASED INFORMATION to our page. Our number 1 priority is to be useful, and to encourage and empower our community, and provide entertainment at times, as well as to connect all of us from sea to shining sea.

A new Facebook algorithm that started in November, and will be further implemented in January, has made it extremely difficult for pages to reach their fans. The bottom line is that Facebook wants us to PAY to reach you. And they say that they are trying to make sure that our personal news feeds are not filled with promotional stuff. Haha whatever!

The real truth is that Facebook is a business with stock holders and that they are trying to make advertising money. So general posts, such as fan questions, or fan pictures, or fan shares, or prayer requests, or generalized text posts in general, are being scrapped so that the newsfeed can be filled with posts from pages who have paid to endorse their posts.

The problem of course is that in efforts to control spam, and promotions on the news feed of general users like us – they have made it so that anyone with enough money can bump posts from pages that you have actually liked. Not just ours, but other pages that you have actually LIKED and interacted with over the years. Truth is, we cannot compete marketing budget wise with Dicks Sporting Goods, Target, or even some of the pages run by overseas page admins that offer no community value, but aim to sell their products in the softball niche. 

Additionally, if you DON’T interact with the page for X amount of days, and are just a comment surfer (which our insights show that many of you are) Facebook will automatically take the liberty to unlike our page for you, and un-click your settings to DON’T SHOW IN NEWSFEED. And just like that, we are gone and people think we are banning them.

Are we frustrated? Yes. Absolutely. We think that each and everyone one of us on Facebook should be able to choose what is in our news-feed rather than be hypnotically coerced. We believe that if you have LIKED our page on your own, and that you are interested in what we have to offer, you should be able to see us.  We believe that fan questions, prayer requests, fastpitch news, fan pictures etc. –  are all wonderful things that give us insight into the lives of one another, and that bring this community together. We hate that Facebook is deciding for US (and you) what you will be allowed to see.

So what can we do? We have thought about just pulling the page which is what many small businesses are doing today. But we also realize that despite its nuances, Facebook is a massive platform. So we will keep going. For a little while longer.

WHAT CAN WE DO? 

• We are upping Instagram and Pinterest and Twitter interactions.

• We have added a FAN FORUM to our website so that you can ask and answer (even anonymously) fan questions. Here is the link to that. http://www.sifg2021clone3.flywheelsites.com/sifg-fan-forum/

• We will share players and teams of the week on our website and still ask that people share their pictures on our wall and via email!
• We will be sharing REALLY important stuff via email, so we ask that you sign up / subscribe to our email list at the bottom of this blog post.
• JOIN the SOFTBALL IS FOR GIRLS Facebook GROUP!

WHAT CAN YOU DO? 

• Like, comment and share from our page as much as possible. And, instead of waiting for us to show up in the news-feed, go directly to our page to see what is new.
• Additionally, help direct people to our website, and our page, as well as our Softball is For Girls group on Facebook.
• If you haven’t signed up for our emails do so at the bottom of this post.
• When you see sponsored posts in your news feed from pages you have no interest in, or that you haven’t liked, take 2.6 seconds to let Facebook know that you don’t want to see things like that by opening the drop down menu and clicking, I don’t want to see this, or spam, or something that lets Facebook know that you still want to be able to decide what is in your new-feed…
•  Check your settings. Often.If there are pages that you LIKE and ENJOY on Facebook, check your settings on those pages and make sure that they are set to show in news feed, or create an interests group of all your pages from your personal page, so that you can see what is going on.
• Say something in comments. Like, smiley face, hello, whatever. In other words, if you enjoy reading the comments, every once in a while click on something. Otherwise, you are basically banning yourself because Facebook takes no activity, as a sign that you are not interested in the page. 

We truly appreciate Facebook. While the changes make things difficult, we plan to adapt and adjust, and make changes so that we can keep our COMMUNITY going strong. Together, with a little more effort from all of us – we can make this work. If you want community pages such as ours to stay up and running – then we need to work together to make it happen.

And please….do not think that we have BANNED you!! We believe the MORE the merrier – even if that does mean opinions and ideas may clash from time to time.