Facebook may have shadowbanned you without your knowledge

Are you being ghosted or shadowbanned?

If you have been posting regularly on Facebook but notice that no one is commenting or liking what you share don't assume that you are being ghosted. It's more likely that the social media platform has shadowbanned you.

Without letting you know it Facebook can limit your reach and keep your friends and contacts from seeing what you post. This is supposed to cut down on spam but it hurts people posting to inform others or who are sharing to make a living. My youngest son said that people get annoyed when they see multiple posts from the same person pop up in their newsfeed and shadowbanning is a way to cut down on this.

Entrepreneurs cannot promote their business

I have Facebook friends who promote their books, goods or services, and other products with ads they tag me in. Shadowbanning might indicate their efforts are in vain if nobody sees what they have posted. Someone sharing notices of church or community events might not even realize that what they are sharing is not reaching the targeted audience.

I used to share my soap opera stories on about 30 Facebook groups and on several occasions I received spam notices. I would be blocked from sharing anywhere from 12 hours to 21 days which hurt my income. l always appealed the decision but you cannot appeal what you don't know about. Facebook certainly has the right to moderate the content of its users but this comes off as censorship from the platform.

You can pay Facebook to promote your business

What is offered now is to pay Facebook a fee of $25.00 and up to have them promote your business page if you have one but self-promotion will get you ghosted by the platform. If posts are negative or harmful in some way it is understandable that they would be removed. Hiding posts from friends who have not complained is a bit much but what can you do?

If you are posting back to back the algorithm may interpret your posts as spam and they may no longer be visible to others. On Saturday I posted 3 music videos and a regular post within 30 minutes and no one commented on any of it. This is when I asked my youngest son to go on my page and see if the videos were showing. He said they were but probably were not in the newsfeed.

This means that if someone goes on your page they can see what you have posted but your information may not be coming up when they scroll their newsfeed. of your Facebook friend. Repetitive content such as sharing videos or events you are involved in could trigger the algorithm and decrease your visibility.

The algorithm is set up to trap us

It's very disheartening that the innocent are punished right along with the spammers but this is the way of social media. My late husband loved sharing music videos and sending shoutouts dedicating songs to his Facebook friends. At times he spent several hours sharing his music but today this would be in vain.

In the meantime, Facebook does not seem to be able to do anything about all the spam accounts and message requests from people who are already on our friends list. Platform users have been complaining for years but nothing has been done to stop this practice.

I don't think Facebook should shadowban their users. If there have been complaints it should be made known and dealt with. The algorithm is set up to trap unsuspecting users and its not right but it just is.